The Athletics have two weeks to convince themselves — and everyone else — that this season isn't over. 

GM David Forst said as much on Thursday morning when he spoke to the media for around 20 minutes, talking about recent moves, the team's recent struggles, and the team still being in the mix for a postseason spot. 

Last year at this time the A's were 41-57 at the break, 16 games back in the AL West and 11 back in the AL Wild Card race. This year they're a similar 41-55 at the break, but eight back in the West and 6.5 back in the wild-card hunt. A good couple of weeks puts them right back in the thick of both races. 

"I've had a couple of conversations with players over this break about the way we've played, and about where we're heading," Forst said. "The fact that the guys I've talked to are fully confident in their ability to turn things around, and feel like if we can get just a little bit healthier and get a little better performance, we're right back in this." 

He also said, on a couple of occasions, that he's optimistic the team will have more information about Nick Kurtz's injury timeline this weekend, once he has been in the splint for a week. 

"I did notice a couple of pictures from the All-Star Game where he wasn't wearing it on the red carpet and for a commercial shoot, and he assured us it was just for those two things," Forst joked. "With Zack, I did notice that he did keep his brace on for his engagement picture, so I appreciate him sticking with the program for that, and congratulations to Zack." 

Kurtz will be coming out of the splint on Friday, and more information on their injury timelines should be coming out in the next day or two. 

After the A's trip to Las Vegas back in June, Athletics Roundtable spoke with Mark Kotsay about some of his takeaways from playing there, and he mentioned that experiencing that ballpark firsthand opened his eyes to some of the struggles their pitchers face in the minor leagues. 

A's top pitching prospect Jamie Arnold took notice too, telling USA Today over the weekend, "I mean, I heard how the PCL is as a whole and how Vegas in general. But seeing the games there really solidified it for me. The ball flies. I mean, that’s not normal for the big leagues, 19-13, whatever, that was pretty crazy." 

So we asked Forst, who would have the power to implement a new philosophy on pitching development, if creating a pipeline from Double-A Midland to the majors is an option, or if having their arms go to Vegas and learning how to pitch through those struggles is part of the development process.

"We look at Vegas and the pitching results differently now than we did before we played a week there," Forst said. "There's no doubt about that. There have actually been a couple of game lines since then that Kots [has] mentioned specifically. Previously, he would have thought like 'it's too bad that guy didn't have a great outing.' Where now he's like, 'hey, did a great job limiting damage.'

"That said, I don't know that I want guys to skip that level of development. You're pitching, at times, to a lot of guys who've been in the big leagues pretty recently. I think that's important. I think dealing with the elements is an important part of their development."

He also mentioned that they have not internally discussed pitchers coming straight up from Midland. 

With Emerson's dismissal on Monday, Dan Hubbs has been named the interim pitching coach for the remainder of the season. Replacing Hubbs as the bullpen coach will be Javy Guerra, who had been in Midland with the RockHounds. This is his second year with the A's as Midland's pitching coach, and he isn't far from his own playing days.

He last suited up for the Washington Nationals from 2019-2021 as a player, winning a World Series. Being in a bullpen so recently helps address one of the factors that led to Emerson's departure: a different voice was needed. Being so close to his playing days, Guerra will likely be able to connect fairly easily with a new crop of players. 

Forst also thanked Emerson for his work the past 25 years with the A's, saying that he set the standard for having passion for his players and genuinely caring about his pitchers.

Athletics Roundtable asked what attributes the team would be looking for to potentially change what has been the norm for so long.

"It's a tough position. You have to maintain a relationship with every guy and know how to communicate with each guy," Forst said. "You also have to collaborate with our group of analysts, our group of biomechanists — you have to communicate with the minor leagues to make sure you know guys are coming up.

"It's a bigger scope than that job has ever had, so you need someone who has relationships throughout the organization who can communicate and who also can take information from the rest of the organization and help our pitchers execute on it. It's important that our pitching coach sort of speaks all those languages and is able to convey it to the pitchers."

The A's plan at the deadline will be determined by how the team plays over the next couple of weeks. As Kotsay said just before the break, they're not dead, but they've certainly made the climb toward the postseason more difficult. 

Forst did say that the potential for a lockout has certainly been discussed. "But any conversation that we have [in trades] is going to assume a full 2027 season, and you sort of go from there," Forst said. "While it's in the back of our minds, I don't see it impacting the way we operate."

The A's rotation is set up to provide the team with the best shot possible to make a quick push out of the break, with Gage Jump, J.T. Ginn and Jacob Lopez getting the starts this weekend, in order. They'll be followed by Jeffrey Springs and Jack Perkins on the road, for reasons that we touched on this morning. 

If the A's are buying, they'll be targeting pitching. If they're selling, they have some options to move, and will again be looking for pitching in return. 

With Tommy White set to join the A's roster on Friday against the Washington Nationals, the question on everyone's mind was how he'd be used. He's played mostly third base in the minor leagues and DH is a spot that is more open than usual with Brent Rooker's season-ending surgery. 

The immediate answer is that White will be playing first base while Nick Kurtz is on the IL. 

"I'm hoping that Nick's absence is not extended," Forst said when asked if White's stay in the big leagues will be a long one. "When and if Nick comes back soon, then we'll see how Tommy's done, and we'll make the decision."

Yunior Tur will be pitching out of the bullpen, as expected. 

Kotsay recently told us what the A's are looking for from De Vries to earn his promotion to the next level, and Forst believes that both Arnold and De Vries are in a good place with their development. 

"You're looking for both guys, as always, to sort of force their way to Triple-A, and I can certainly see that happening in the second half of the season. As far as the big leagues, we have not talked about either guy in that context, but once they get to Vegas, obviously, we've shown that there are plenty of guys here now who didn't have to be there very long."