Elephant Rumblings: Roles change for Beane and Forst

Nov 21, 2022 - 3:00 PM

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Happy Monday, Athletics Nation!

It’s the end of an era, sort of.

On Friday, the A’s announced that executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane will take on a new role as a senior advisor to owner John Fisher. Per Matt Kawahara at the San Francisco Chronicle, this means that general manager David Forst is now officially in charge of baseball operations. However, there has been no mention of a new title for Forst; rather, it seems implicit that Beane’s protegé will run the front office more independently as GM.

“I’m looking forward to essentially kind of being able to move forward on stuff without waiting for [Beane’s] sign-off, I guess,” Forst said on a media call.

“..I’m very excited about my [new] role and ... to see David sort of officially get to lead the baseball operations,” said Beane.

One might get the sense from Forst and Beane’s comments that even more of the day-to-day baseball ops decision making will be handled by Forst, in a continuance of the transition that began in 2015 when Forst succeeded Beane as GM.

In addition to advising Fisher on “broader organizational matters,” however, Beane will continue to provide an advisory role to the baseball operations. He could thus still wield influence tantamount to holding veto power of sorts over front office decisions—but that is speculation on my part.

Beane was clear that the move was made in part to free up time for extracurricular activities such as ventures in soccer, cricket, and data analytics. So while the imprecise nature of this shift might seem nebulous, it does seem apparent that Beane will be significantly reducing his overall involvement with the A’s.

So, AN: with no apparent new hire to compensate for Beane’s step back, it seems clearer than mud, at least, that Forst will be the mastermind of the A’s front office in the longer term. Is he ready? Are you ready? Kinda sorta? Sound off.

A’s Coverage:

• Nico: Aces Wild: Time For The A’s To Get A Break?
• Kawahara: Billy Beane hands off A’s top baseball ops job, moves into new role ($)
• Lockard: What Billy Beane’s new senior adviser role means for the A’s and for his future ($)
• Hampton: Hanshin Tigers Close To Signing Jeremy Beasley and Sheldon Neuse

MLB News & Interest:

• Polishuk and Dierkes: Active MLB Players Who Have Received A Qualifying Offer
• Hampton: Mets Considering Justin Verlander
• Hampton: Mets Believe Jacob deGrom Wants To Stay
• Polishuk: Giants Interested In Kenley Jansen
• Ahram: Free Agent Notes: Bellinger, Turner, Longoria
• Ahram: Free Agent Notes: Judge, White Sox, Strahm
• Franco: Dodgers Non-Tender Cody Bellinger
• Adams: Yankees Have Made New Offer To Aaron Judge
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter:

Update on minor league signings.

Happy Birthday, Pache!

I think I would very much enjoy living and eating in Osaka.