Mark Kotsay, Taylor Smith to Begin Forging Relationship to Lead A's

The Athletics held their introductory press conference for new President of Baseball Operations Taylor Smith on Wednesday in Las Vegas, and while it was a typical introductory presser, there were some key takeaways from the event.

The first of which is that Mark Kotsay seems primed to continue to be the A's manager. When the team fired former GM David Forst in August, there was some speculation that a newly hired head of baseball operations would want their own manager on the bench, but that does not appear to be the case.

Kotsay was at the event in Las Vegas, and will be having a private dinner with Smith to begin forging their relationship. Kotsay is signed through the 2028 season with a club option for 2029. As the season wound down and Kotsay said he was given no assurances of his future with the team, he noted that building a relationship with whoever took over would be key. 

Now that work is beginning.

"From my conversations with Mark so far, he seems like a great guy," Smith told MLB.com. "He seems like someone who is hungry for all the information we can get him, and I think it’ll be a great partnership."

After Forst was fired, there was a noticeable and intentional change in how Kotsay would speak about the roster to the media, sometimes calling guys out if he felt someone needed a wake-up call. He wouldn't go after guys, but he'd peel back the curtain a little more, and the roster seemed to respond. 

Jack Perkins was one of those players who were mentioned, and he talked about taking ownership of his outings down the stretch. He was optioned to Triple-A in early September, but was called back up a day later when J.T. Ginn landed on the IL.

In the three starts after his talk with Kotsay and that option, Perkins combined for 17 ⅔ innings, holding a 2.55 ERA (3.04 FIP) while striking out 15 and walking just one. 

The goal for Kotsay seemed to be to elevate the expectations of the roster. Since he took over managing the club in 2022, the A's have been in perpetual rebuild mode, so some patience was required for those rosters. The A's have gone 319-491 under Kotsay. Now, with the reality of Las Vegas looming, that rebuild mindset has to disappear.

It's time to win. 

"Looking forward to building a relationship with Taylor," Kotsay said on A's Cast, "and getting this vision put together." 

Kotsay also mentioned that he texted Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash, who spent time working with Smith when he was a member of the Rays organization, and Cash joked that he's happy Smith will be out of the AL East, as the A's hired Smith away from the Boston Red Sox.