Oakland Athletics Officially Hire New Manager

The Oakland Athletics have a new manger, as they have officially promoted Mark Kotsay from third-base coach to the role. There were rumblings that he was the frontrunner, so it isn't too surprising to see.

A’s hire Mark Kotsay as manager
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 20, 2021

Kotsay has been coaching with the organization since 2016, as he also was formerly a bench coach for them, too. Thus, there's a real familiarity when it comes to his leadership abilities, so it's apparent that he must have been impressing them. Now, the 46-year-old is the official replacement of Bob Melvin, as the latter surprisingly left to take over as manager of the San Diego Padres. Kotsay will have big shoes to fill.

Kotsay played four seasons with the Athletics as a player from 2004 to 2007, too. In 472 games with the team, he had 38 home runs, 224 RBIs and a .282 batting average. With them, he played some of the best baseball of his entire career and even sported a .314 batting average during the 2004 campaign.

With the Athletics currently open to trading many of their veterans, it's fair to state that Kotsay is coming in at a very intriguing time. If the A's end up selling, he will be taking over a team that will be classified as rebuilders. It will be interesting to see how the team performs in his first season.