Baseball

Athletics nearing social control hire; Mark Kotsay among candidates, per report

New York Mets owner Steven Cohen declared on Sabbatum that veteran skipper Buck Showalter would become the team’s fourth manager since the tip of the 2018 season. The appointment of Showalter, World Health Organization had been competitive for the work aboard Houston Astros bench coach Joe Espada and bay Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, suggests that there is one social control hole to fill: that of the metropolis Athletics.

The A’s won’t have a vacancy for for much longer, however. consistent with MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, the A’s square measure “closing in” on hiring a replacement skipper, with third-base coach Mark Kotsay showing to be the highest candidate.

The A’s opened the position back in October, once they permissible old skipper Bob Melvin to bail for an equivalent job with the point of entry Padres. (The A’s later allowed bench coach Ryan Christenson to depart for point of entry, too.) metropolis has since taken its time within the method, with the last public update coming back quite every week agone. At that time, the A’s had narrowed their search all the way down to six candidates:

Darren Bush, A’s touch coach

Joe Espada, Astros bench coach

Marcus Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, A’s bullpen coach

Mark Kotsay, A’s third base coach

Matt Quatraro, Rays bench coach

Will Venable, Red Sox bench coach

Hiring a replacement manager is predicted to be the primary huge move in what is seemingly to be a transformative offseason for the Athletics. Once majors Baseball’s owner-imposed opposition ends, the A’s square measure expected to entertain mercantilism away many players from their recent cores, together with first sacker Matt Olson, third sacker Matt Chapman, and pitchers Frankie Montas, Chris Bassitt, and Sean Manaea.