Once thought to be in a no-win situation, Melvin makes job look easy
A moment of silence, please, for a piece of conventional wisdom that quietly has met its end.
The dearly departed? The concept that being the manager of the A’s is an impossible job.
As the A’s head into their first postseason in four years and Bob Melvin is poised for what should be a slam-dunk win of his second AL Manager of the Year award with Oakland, it’s amusing to remember that this was supposed to be the most thankless job in the majors.
That annoying genius Billy Beane sitting behind the manager pulling the strings. Very little autonomy. A cheapskate owner. A second-citizen status in the market. The situation aggravated, frustrated and stymied other men: Art Howe, Ken Macha, Bob Geren. Though the first two had some success, none of the three could make it work long term.
Melvin is completely different. He is from the Bay Area, so he understands the market, the competitive realities, the dynamic and pecking order between the different teams.
He truly loves Oakland. He grew up on the Peninsula and played for the Giants, but he went to Cal, embraces the East Bay and has memories of going to A’s and Warriors games in Oakland as well as a few rocking Days on the Green. He actu-
ally is “Rooted in Oakland.”
Melvin has extremely high emotional intelligence, and he knows how to get along with people, including Beane. How to survive within the strange parameters and restrictions that come with the A’s job. Though Melvin is keenly aware of his worth, he doesn’t have to get into an ego-stroking struggle of wills over every decision. He surely must have changed Beane’s opinion that managers aren’t all that important.
Melvin motivates and bonds with his players, both the wideeyed kids and the toughened 30-somethings. When the A’s clinched their playoff berth last week in Seattle, the main thing that struck me in the now-routine excess of the clubhouse Champagne shower, was how often the name “BoMel” was mentioned. Almost to a man, every player mentioned him, gave credit to him, celebrated with him. I’d never heard the manager mentioned as often during a celebration as Melvin’s was.
This A’s team knows that the reason it has had what virtually all of the players say is their most fun season ever is in large part because of Melvin. He communicates with them, is honest with them, lets than have fun and be individuals yet cohesive as a team. He imbued in them a sense of confidence and belief in their ability that has nothing to do with false schedules of when this team was supposed to come into its own.
He has been operating with a pitching staff that does not seem to have a healthy Tommy John ligament. His rotation consists of hope and duct tape. He has a great bullpen and knows how to use it. Still, I can’t imagine that Melvin is all that crazy about the bullpenning concept. But he’s open to new ideas and has made it work and isn’t bitching and moaning or rolling his eyes like some former A’s managers liked to do off the record, and sometimes on it.
The tactic has worked well enough that the A’s will “bullpen” the team’s biggest game in the past four years, on Wednesday in New York. That historic move takes guts and an openness to innovation. Melvin has both.
Melvin will take his team into Yankee Stadium in October, an exciting and venerable setting. Eleven months ago, the Yankees inquired about interviewing Melvin for their open managerial position. The A’s refused the request, saying Melvin was “absolutely the right guy” to oversee the development of the team.
That, of course, has more than proven to be true. But the A’s management didn’t do the thing most other teams would do — accompany the denial of the interview and the statement of support with a long-term commitment. Melvin had signed a one-year extension taking him through next season, but had no further security.
Last week, The Chronicle reported that the A’s will talk about a contract extension at the end of the season. That’s a nobrainer. Within a few weeks, Melvin likely will have won his third Manager of the Year award (he won the NL award in 2007 when he was with the Diamondbacks). He will have overseen this remarkable season with the A’s.
And committing to him long term would be a critical signal to weary fans that the A’s ownership is willing to do the right thing, to invest in the important people, to reward quality employees who excel at their jobs.
Melvin has taken what once was viewed as an impossible job and turned it into a job in which almost anything seems possible. That’s quite a feat.
Maybe the A’s job wasn’t really that thankless. Maybe they just needed to hire the right man.