The Athletics announced this afternoon they’ve exercised their 2022 option on the contract of manager Bob Melvin. The 59-year-old is now set to lead the Oakland clubhouse next year in what will be his eleventh full season at the helm.
Hired on an interim basis on June 6, 2011 (and given the full-time position a few months later), Melvin is the league’s longest-tenured active manager with one team. Since the start of his first full season as skipper in 2012, the A’s have gone 761-663 (53.4% winning percentage). Oakland made the postseason each year from 2018-20, and the 41-27 A’s hold a 2.5 game advantage in the AL West to this point in the season.
Given that level of success, it’s unsurprising the A’s have decided to bring Melvin back for another year in the Bay Area. It’s always difficult to separate a manager’s impact from the talent of the team’s roster, but Melvin’s widely regarded as one of the sport’s best skippers. He’s a three-time Manager of the Year award winner (with the A’s in 2012 and 2018, and the Diamondbacks in 2007) and has a long, productive history working in tandem with Oakland’s top front office executives, Billy Beane and David Forst.
Does anyone want to “bet” that he’ll still be managing this team in Vegas?
I’ll take those odds
Complete no brainer, and EASILY the most under-rated manager in MLB. Never gets enough credit.
His 7-13 postseason record proves he’s EASILY the most OVERRATED manager in MLB.
I’m an A’s fan and I’m sick of acting like first round exits are “good enough” – fire everyone until we get the right mix to get us to the title – especially Melvin!
Really an arbitrary comment. Was Dave Roberts overrated until he won? Playoffs tend to be more random as they are short series vs accumulating wins throughout a 162 game season
I’m from Baltimore … be great full you can atleast go see a game and not ready to leave behind 6-0 after 3rd inning…. With their payroll every executive abs manager there should be praised.. they could be like the Orioles
this completely moronic lol. get an owner who will actually shell out some cash to try to compete with the top clubs then come back. until then to the children’s table with you.
You can’t blame the cook if the stew is lousy, when he didn’t get to pick the ingredients. All you can rate a manager on is: does he get the most out of what he’s given. Melvin does that, and as such is one of the FEW managers that actually makes a difference. Like Tito, Melvin always has to try to hide his team personnel’s inadequacies. Again, not every MLB manager (even the ones who win the awards) can do that.
So based on your criteria Trout is just an average player?
I question if his coaching staff will be the same next season. Montas and Luzardo have not made the transition and continue to struggle. Several of the A’s hitters went through extended 0-fors this season.
Should be followed by a nice extension. You certainly won’t find better.
You can absolutely find millions of people who can’t make it to a WS. Wrong.
always good.. during the regular season at least
Now a 3 years 24mm extension. It’s well deserved and the A’s are very talented and dangerous…
Not winning a World Series as a manager is “deserved”??? Uhh, do you even know how this game works? You are supposed to win it all and if you are lucky (white) enough to get 10 straight years on the same team, you absolutely should have at least gotten to a WS. Melvin is the most overrated manager in MLB by a country mile – his 7-13 postseason record says it all!
Has he failed managing or caused the team to loose in the playoffs? Have you thought about how moneyball doesn’t allow you to go all in every year? Meaning they won’t trade quality prospects to get a super quality big leaguer for a season or half…I understand your frustration but Bob Melvin is a great MLB manager
Yes. His use of the bullpen has cost the A’s several times in the post season. See; Lester, Jon. See; Doolittle, Sean.
What? Are you joking??? You bring race into this discussion????? Seriously???? What has this cancel culture come to?????? !!!!????
@A’s fan in straitjacket
One flew over the cuckoos nest….
Bob Melvin is a rock star as a manager, year after year.
Bob is the most dependable manager in the majors. Very happy to see this.
Dependable to not win the playoffs, yup.
Bob is not at full blame for that. It doesn’t help that pretty much every playoff roster he fields comes with slim to no postseason experience.
First, that is ridiculous on its face as the A’s have players who have had playoff experience. What does experience have to do with anything?
First: Whats the point of saying first if you dont have a second point? Second: Experience plays a huge factor in how a player performs on the postseason. When the most series a player has played in the playoffs amounts to 4, maybe 5 series, thats not really much experience to go off of.
That’s asinine. Playoff experience has no bearing on outcomes. You don’t get an extra run to work with and the strike zone doesn’t change due to experience. If it were even remotely true the same team would win the World Series every year. Because experience.
What’s his post-season record, just curious?
7-13 career record in the playoffs as A’s manager is not good enough for me, but appears plenty enough for others, interesting. Guess Oakland will go another couple years of not making the World Series. It’s rather odd that he gets SUCH an outstanding reputation when he literally never has managed a successful playoff team. Anyone want to try and figure that out? I mean sure, he’s a great guy and the players love him. He still makes bonehead in-game moves pretty often with regards to playing bad players too long and for bullpen use (which currently means pitching Petit every damn game? Anyone can do that!)
I might be the only A’s fan who hates Bob Melvin, Ray Fosse and Billy Beane equally though, which is fine, I can own it because I have a point – these clowns (BoMel and Beane) cant create and manage a World Series team if their lives depended on it – prove me wrong!
As a fan you should realize that the roster is not only amongst the youngest, but also cheapest. Hard to compete against the mega payroll teams, especially in the playoffs.
Maybe if they didn’t play a team where 2 of their players make more money than your whole payroll it would be fifferent
lol stick to soccer or football or cricket or whatever it is you may actually have some knowledge in.
Given the payroll limits on Beane and Melvin, the churn of star players leaving once they get too expensive, etc, I’d say they are doing just fine.
UK, can you imagine what they could accomplish if they had anywhere near the payroll of a team like the Dodgers? instead of blaming the manager or even the GM, blame the owner for not spending $$
It’s really somewhere in between. Melvin has largely done a great job regular season after regular season, with less resources than most other managers get at their disposal – and that’s no small feat.
Though I do agree with UK on the bullpen mismanagement. I do realize that with JBW being out, Romo being ineffective, and Luzardo being hit or miss, and Puk still not being available, we do need more dependable arms there, but the overuse and quick call to the same few guys is not strategy, it’s lazy and it’s going to burn them out for when we actually need them.
That said, I don’t have a major problem with Bomel.. my major problem is with John Fisher – either invest in a winner or sell the team, you wealthy cuck.
This one always gets me because a team shouldn’t be measured by payroll or attendance. Success on the field is where it’s at. Would I love a WS? Yes, but the fact of the matter is OAK puts out a winning team more often than not. Yes, we have a lot of 1st round exists, but since 2012 only ONE team has more post season appearances-LA Dodgers. Thats a great return on his “investment”. They put a competitive team out there on a consistent basis. We have been spoiled to get to watch competitive baseball and be in the hunt. Would you rather be SEA? Spend money on Cano, Spend money on King Felix, Spend money on Suzuki, Spend Spend and Spend to have ZERO playoff appearances in 20 years. TWENTY YEARS! Give me the A’s any day, with minimal payroll, BOMEL, BEANE and I’ll throw in RAY too.
Ray Fosse has NOTHING to do with the A’s winning or losing. What are you going to say? He’s a homer? Thats his job!
Speaking of clowns…
still mad the mariners fired him in 04.
is this the guy that did the german salute last season?
That was bench coach Ryan Christenson.
Which he didn’t. He misread how to elbow bump based on the pandemic restrictions (didn’t bend the elbow – thought it was to be a brush by with arms out). He also apologized numerous times.
Good for Bob. At least now the lame-duck status is gone.
What took so long?
You can go the same route and hire another M’s skipper…..a straight up swap Scott Service and 5 years of the soda machine being filled in the A’s locker room for Scott Service. Please take it
When did Scott Service replace Scott Servais?
Another talent Seattle let slip away.