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There's no hiding that the A's have fallen well short of their goals for the season, currently sitting at 45-71 and on a nine-game losing streak. They're close to guaranteeing a fifth straight losing season by the end of August the way things are going.
With the franchise needing to get on track before its expected Las Vegas arrival in 2028, the team has fired longtime GM David Forst after 27 seasons in the A's front office. Assistant GM Dan Feinstein will serve as the club's interim GM for the rest of the season while they search for a full-time replacement.
The record is awful yet again. The pitching staff ranks 29th in MLB with a 5.47 ERA on the year ahead of just the Colorado Rockies, and the young pitching isn't developing as quickly as had been hoped.
While there are people who are sick of hearing the excuses, pitching in Sacramento is no joke. The A's have held a 5.62 ERA at home since the start of 2025, ranking 29th in MLB. Their road ERA has been 4.43, ranking 19th. Their last season in Oakland, the team held a 4.72 road ERA and a 4.05 ERA at home.
Baseball is a mental game, and opposing pitchers can roll into Sutter Health Park knowing they may never pitch there again. The A's staff is in the middle of a three-year stint in Sacramento. That mental strain likely explains why road teams outperform them.
The team just doesn't have the arms to compete this season, and that lack of pitching falls upon the GM. Obviously there have been injuries to deal with and guys filling roles they wouldn't normally occupy, but the plan right now is picking up anyone off the scrap heap and hoping for a gem.
That is a fault in the process.
At the same time, if another franchise was given the difficult assignment of playing in a minor-league ballpark — an ownership decision — their baseball operations departments likely would have figured out how to have more success in Sacramento by now.
The Milwaukee Brewers play in baseball's smallest market (until the A's get to Vegas), and yet they consistently have success because of the investment into the baseball operations department. Their front office is enormous, meaning they have plenty of smart people working on figuring out how to gain an edge.
The Brewers have four people with the title of Analyst - Baseball Research and Development and another six with the title of Analyst II. That's 10 people working on R&D alone.
According to the A's media guide, they have Ethan Rendon. One guy. The Brewers, who play in a big-league ballpark, have 10 analysts to figure out any other problems that arise. If Ethan works 40 hours per week, and the Brewers get 40 hours from each of their 10, that's 40 hours to 400 compounded week after week.
Even in baseball's smallest market, Milwaukee invests in R&D. The A's did not, despite facing Sacramento's unique challenges.
That's where the A's fall behind. It's that investment in the team, yet again.
Forst had demonstrated the ability to build a winning ball club over decades with the club, knowing what kind of players to target in order to maximize their performance at the Coliseum.
Then, because the fans in Oakland kept chanting, "Sell the team!" they had to leave for a minor-league park for the 2025 campaign. They had no data to work with going into that season for how big-league hitters would fare, so they had to collect that data themselves by playing games.
Meanwhile, there was no investment in the baseball operations staff to try and figure this major problem out, and now Forst is the second fall guy for the Sacramento decision in the span of a month.
Both Forst and former pitching coach Scott Emerson predated John Fisher in the A's organization. This has been a franchise that, as manager Mark Kotsay said on Friday, is built on loyalty, continuity, and success. Those first two have been dimming of late, and the third is what the franchise is chasing.
In the Forst Era, which began after the 2015 season, the A's have had some good trades as well as some pretty awful ones. Moving Sean Murphy for Royber Salinas, Freddy Tarnok, Manny Piña, Kyle Muller, and Esteury Ruiz was arguably the worst, as the A's would have been better off just releasing Murphy after getting negative value in the return package.
He also moved one year of Chris Bassitt for J.T. Ginn in a deal that's starting to pan out. Forst then traded Mason Miller for Leo De Vries and a package of prospects at last year's trade deadline.
The trouble that he had in Oakland was that he wasn't able to spend a ton of money, so when he had to trade key roster pieces, opposing GMs knew he needed to move them for financial reasons, and these big-ticket trades often flopped.
That predictability falls on ownership too. Everyone knew the A's would be selling pieces after the 2021-22 lockout and that they'd only have a few weeks to get those trades done.
Year after year, ownership constraints forced him to treat every trade as a lottery ticket, seeking quantity over concentrated quality.
In a similar vein to the trades, when the A's left Oakland, they needed to show baseball fans that things would be different. They signed Luis Severino to a two-year deal with a player option for 2027 to set the bar for the most expensive contract in franchise history at a precise $67 million — $1 million more than Eric Chavez's six-year, $66 million before Fisher became owner.
The A's then signed both DH Brent Rooker and RF Lawrence Butler to extensions, showing yet again that the club was committed to keeping a core intact.
Rooker and Butler were coming off monster second halves, so it made sense the A's would target them. They were two of the best hitters in baseball down the stretch.
Right now, those extensions aren't looking quite as good. Since the 2025 All-Star break, Rooker has hit .221 with a .294 OBP and a 93 wRC+, adding 20 home runs. That's the same level of production (in wRC+) as Jonah Heim. In 166 games in that same timeframe, Butler has batted .206 with a .290 OBP and a 75 wRC+ — roughly in line with Colby Thomas.
Jacob Wilson, whom the A's signed to an extension this past offseason, has struggled since the 2025 break too, posting a 94 wRC+. The only extension that is working out so far is Tyler Soderstrom's, who has been the A's third-best bat behind Nick Kurtz (164) and Shea Langeliers (146), with a 125 wRC+.
These extensions were meant to show the public that things have changed, and while all four of these players are good, committing to these extensions has constrained their roster flexibility.
Back in Oakland, the club could trade players to clear a spot for an up-and-comer and address another area of need, or cut players that weren't performing. They also had a ballpark that helped the pitchers thrive with all of that foul territory.
Now there is pressure on the A's offense to perform each game, because if they don't score seven runs, then the team may not win.
Forst has always had the skills to put together a winning roster. Heck, look at the A's young core right now. They have the talent, but injuries and underperformance have sunk the season.
Now ownership has made a drastic move. Fisher has only worked with either Billy Beane or Forst in his time as the team's owner, and now, about 19 months before the Vegas ballpark is set to open, he removed one guy he knows has been able to operate within his constraints.
If the club goes with an internal hire, they'd be rolling with more of the same, which would make this move pointless. But if they hire someone from the outside, it would take that person time to get their bearings and build that same relationship with Fisher.
They still wouldn't have the R&D department needed to help solve the A's actual issues, either. This was a PR move that didn't address the actual problem.
Forst was able to succeed despite the constraints of ownership, and now that Vegas is on the horizon, the owner who put shackles on him repeatedly is scapegoating him for the club's lack of success.
The A's front office has been what has made the club a success, even without a high payroll and limited attendance. The winning seasons have come in spite of ownership, not because of it, and now Fisher has tossed aside the one person who has succeeded in his system, instead of providing the resources he needed.
Now, a new GM will manage that complicated relationship with ownership, build up a winner, and navigate a condensed offseason to get everything done, given the expected offseason lockout that would compress the prep window from five months to six weeks.
Time is ticking to build a winning team for 2028.
Continue reading...
With the franchise needing to get on track before its expected Las Vegas arrival in 2028, the team has fired longtime GM David Forst after 27 seasons in the A's front office. Assistant GM Dan Feinstein will serve as the club's interim GM for the rest of the season while they search for a full-time replacement.
The record is awful yet again. The pitching staff ranks 29th in MLB with a 5.47 ERA on the year ahead of just the Colorado Rockies, and the young pitching isn't developing as quickly as had been hoped.
While there are people who are sick of hearing the excuses, pitching in Sacramento is no joke. The A's have held a 5.62 ERA at home since the start of 2025, ranking 29th in MLB. Their road ERA has been 4.43, ranking 19th. Their last season in Oakland, the team held a 4.72 road ERA and a 4.05 ERA at home.
Baseball is a mental game, and opposing pitchers can roll into Sutter Health Park knowing they may never pitch there again. The A's staff is in the middle of a three-year stint in Sacramento. That mental strain likely explains why road teams outperform them.
The team just doesn't have the arms to compete this season, and that lack of pitching falls upon the GM. Obviously there have been injuries to deal with and guys filling roles they wouldn't normally occupy, but the plan right now is picking up anyone off the scrap heap and hoping for a gem.
That is a fault in the process.
At the same time, if another franchise was given the difficult assignment of playing in a minor-league ballpark — an ownership decision — their baseball operations departments likely would have figured out how to have more success in Sacramento by now.
The Milwaukee Brewers play in baseball's smallest market (until the A's get to Vegas), and yet they consistently have success because of the investment into the baseball operations department. Their front office is enormous, meaning they have plenty of smart people working on figuring out how to gain an edge.
The Brewers have four people with the title of Analyst - Baseball Research and Development and another six with the title of Analyst II. That's 10 people working on R&D alone.
According to the A's media guide, they have Ethan Rendon. One guy. The Brewers, who play in a big-league ballpark, have 10 analysts to figure out any other problems that arise. If Ethan works 40 hours per week, and the Brewers get 40 hours from each of their 10, that's 40 hours to 400 compounded week after week.
Even in baseball's smallest market, Milwaukee invests in R&D. The A's did not, despite facing Sacramento's unique challenges.
That's where the A's fall behind. It's that investment in the team, yet again.
Forst had demonstrated the ability to build a winning ball club over decades with the club, knowing what kind of players to target in order to maximize their performance at the Coliseum.
Then, because the fans in Oakland kept chanting, "Sell the team!" they had to leave for a minor-league park for the 2025 campaign. They had no data to work with going into that season for how big-league hitters would fare, so they had to collect that data themselves by playing games.
Meanwhile, there was no investment in the baseball operations staff to try and figure this major problem out, and now Forst is the second fall guy for the Sacramento decision in the span of a month.
Both Forst and former pitching coach Scott Emerson predated John Fisher in the A's organization. This has been a franchise that, as manager Mark Kotsay said on Friday, is built on loyalty, continuity, and success. Those first two have been dimming of late, and the third is what the franchise is chasing.
Forst's Trade History
In the Forst Era, which began after the 2015 season, the A's have had some good trades as well as some pretty awful ones. Moving Sean Murphy for Royber Salinas, Freddy Tarnok, Manny Piña, Kyle Muller, and Esteury Ruiz was arguably the worst, as the A's would have been better off just releasing Murphy after getting negative value in the return package.
He also moved one year of Chris Bassitt for J.T. Ginn in a deal that's starting to pan out. Forst then traded Mason Miller for Leo De Vries and a package of prospects at last year's trade deadline.
The trouble that he had in Oakland was that he wasn't able to spend a ton of money, so when he had to trade key roster pieces, opposing GMs knew he needed to move them for financial reasons, and these big-ticket trades often flopped.
That predictability falls on ownership too. Everyone knew the A's would be selling pieces after the 2021-22 lockout and that they'd only have a few weeks to get those trades done.
Year after year, ownership constraints forced him to treat every trade as a lottery ticket, seeking quantity over concentrated quality.
Extensions
In a similar vein to the trades, when the A's left Oakland, they needed to show baseball fans that things would be different. They signed Luis Severino to a two-year deal with a player option for 2027 to set the bar for the most expensive contract in franchise history at a precise $67 million — $1 million more than Eric Chavez's six-year, $66 million before Fisher became owner.
The A's then signed both DH Brent Rooker and RF Lawrence Butler to extensions, showing yet again that the club was committed to keeping a core intact.
Rooker and Butler were coming off monster second halves, so it made sense the A's would target them. They were two of the best hitters in baseball down the stretch.
Right now, those extensions aren't looking quite as good. Since the 2025 All-Star break, Rooker has hit .221 with a .294 OBP and a 93 wRC+, adding 20 home runs. That's the same level of production (in wRC+) as Jonah Heim. In 166 games in that same timeframe, Butler has batted .206 with a .290 OBP and a 75 wRC+ — roughly in line with Colby Thomas.
Jacob Wilson, whom the A's signed to an extension this past offseason, has struggled since the 2025 break too, posting a 94 wRC+. The only extension that is working out so far is Tyler Soderstrom's, who has been the A's third-best bat behind Nick Kurtz (164) and Shea Langeliers (146), with a 125 wRC+.
These extensions were meant to show the public that things have changed, and while all four of these players are good, committing to these extensions has constrained their roster flexibility.
Back in Oakland, the club could trade players to clear a spot for an up-and-comer and address another area of need, or cut players that weren't performing. They also had a ballpark that helped the pitchers thrive with all of that foul territory.
Now there is pressure on the A's offense to perform each game, because if they don't score seven runs, then the team may not win.
Why This Wasn't the Right Move
Forst has always had the skills to put together a winning roster. Heck, look at the A's young core right now. They have the talent, but injuries and underperformance have sunk the season.
Now ownership has made a drastic move. Fisher has only worked with either Billy Beane or Forst in his time as the team's owner, and now, about 19 months before the Vegas ballpark is set to open, he removed one guy he knows has been able to operate within his constraints.
If the club goes with an internal hire, they'd be rolling with more of the same, which would make this move pointless. But if they hire someone from the outside, it would take that person time to get their bearings and build that same relationship with Fisher.
They still wouldn't have the R&D department needed to help solve the A's actual issues, either. This was a PR move that didn't address the actual problem.
Forst was able to succeed despite the constraints of ownership, and now that Vegas is on the horizon, the owner who put shackles on him repeatedly is scapegoating him for the club's lack of success.
The A's front office has been what has made the club a success, even without a high payroll and limited attendance. The winning seasons have come in spite of ownership, not because of it, and now Fisher has tossed aside the one person who has succeeded in his system, instead of providing the resources he needed.
Now, a new GM will manage that complicated relationship with ownership, build up a winner, and navigate a condensed offseason to get everything done, given the expected offseason lockout that would compress the prep window from five months to six weeks.
Time is ticking to build a winning team for 2028.
Continue reading...
