The Athletics fired general manager David Forst on Friday afternoon. No one saw it coming, but it happened. So, what now?
Forst didn’t even appear to be in danger of losing his job, despite the A’s entering the weekend on an eight-game losing streak and having lost 31 of their previous 38 games after being swept by the Cincinnati Reds.
David Forst, 27 years with the franchise, 11 as GM (photo courtesy Yahoo! News)
If anyone was going to be held accountable, perhaps it would have been manager Mark Kotsay. But that didn’t happen.
Most people assumed Forst would be around to oversee the Athletics as they prepared for their move to Las Vegas. After all, owner John Fisher has shown little appetite for making significant changes.
The idea that he would conduct a general-manager search—let alone make sweeping baseball-related changes—seemed unlikely.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Forst had expressed no interest in working for the Athletics once they move to Las Vegas in 2028. If that is the case, it explains why the organization decided to make the change now rather than wait. In that respect, Forst did the A’s a favor.
This franchise had grown stale, which helps explain why it is headed toward its fifth consecutive losing season. Some of that is on Fisher, who has been unwilling to spend enough money to acquire better players or retain the organization’s best talent. Some of it belongs to Forst and his staff, particularly their struggles drafting players—especially pitchers. And some of it falls on a farm system that has struggled to consistently produce major-league talent.
The Athletics desperately need a fresh approach.
They need a president of baseball operations who understands how to build a baseball team. Someone who isn’t a slave to analytics. Someone who values scouting and understands the importance of finding the right players, particularly pitchers. Someone who actually has a feel for the game.
I know, I know. That sounds like a quaint approach in today’s baseball world, where owners increasingly look for general managers and presidents of baseball operations who can identify players who produce at a relatively low cost. But scouting still matters.
Scouting requires instincts, observation and judgment. Analytics can tell you a great deal about a player, but numbers don’t always tell the entire story. The best organizations understand that scouting and analytics should complement one another rather than exist in opposition.
If nothing else, the Athletics need to embrace that balance when they hire their next general manager.
And here’s the scary part: Fisher will make the hire. He wouldn’t know a baseball from a Wiffle ball. What he does know is how to run operations on the cheap.
That raises the possibility that Fisher could simply promote someone from within rather than conduct a serious search outside the organization. But why would an accomplished baseball executive want to work for him, particularly when there have been so many questions about the organization’s commitment to winning and spending?
Things could change, of course, if Fisher gets Frank McCourt’d by Major League Baseball.
I still find it difficult to believe that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and the league’s owners want Fisher running the Athletics when the team plays in Las Vegas in 2028. Having Fisher serve as the face of the franchise in Sin City could be a difficult sell to the local fan base.
One can only hope that Forst’s firing could eventually lead to something bigger: a change in ownership.
Mark Cuban (photo courtesy The Sports Animal)
Remember, Mark Cuban and several others have purchased stock in the Athletics. It is difficult to believe Cuban would invest in the franchise simply to have his name attached to it while doing nothing. Perhaps there is more going on behind the scenes.
As for the baseball side, former Minnesota Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey would be an ideal choice to run the Athletics.
Falvey would bring a fresh perspective while also bringing years of experience in the game. He has worked for multiple organizations and has developed a reputation as a strong personnel executive. During his time in the Cleveland Indians organization, he was regarded as someone who understood how to identify and develop pitching.
That is precisely what the Athletics need.
It is no secret that the A’s must develop pitching if they are ever going to become an elite team again. That means drafting pitchers, developing them, and acquiring them through trades and other avenues. Falvey could be the right person to lead that effort.
Under Billy Beane and Forst, the Athletics became heavily focused on offense. For years, the organization tried to get by without enough pitching. That strategy has come back to haunt them, particularly in recent seasons.
And now they are headed to Las Vegas.
If pitching is difficult in Oakland, imagine how challenging it could be in Las Vegas, where the altitude and environmental conditions can make life even tougher for pitchers.
The Athletics also seem far too dependent on the long ball. Baseball is about more than home runs and exit velocity. There is value in bunting, moving runners, stealing bases and manufacturing runs. There is value in doing the little things correctly.
Maybe the A’s need to rediscover some old-school baseball. That doesn’t mean abandoning analytics. It means using analytics alongside scouting, experience, instincts and an understanding of how the game is actually played.
With all due respect to interim general manager Dan Feinstein, he should not be the permanent choice. Promoting him would feel like more of the same at a time when this organization needs something different.
And that is where Fisher’s tendency to choose familiarity over uncertainty becomes concerning. Forst’s firing was the easy part. Now comes the heavy lifting.
