Both the Athletics and Baltimore Orioles made big moves in their front offices on Monday morning, with the A's hiring Taylor Smith away from the Boston Red Sox to be their new president of baseball operations, and the O's landing on Jared Banner from the Chicago Cubs to be their new GM. 

MLB Network was discussing both hires on MLB Now, and former Colorado Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd had some words of caution for the A's new hire.

"There's a reality to this," O'Dowd said of Smith being just 31, making him the youngest head of baseball operations in MLB. "I'm sure he's exceptionally smart. I'm sure he's a really good person, but I know at 31, I didn't know what I didn't know."

He went on to say that for Smith to have success in this role with the A's, it will be crucial that both he and ownership recognize that the key will be who he surrounds himself with to fill in the gaps of knowledge and experience that he doesn't have yet. 

One of the ways that the A's and Smith can cross that bridge would be something that Athletics Roundtable mentioned last week, and that's to promote Billy Owens to GM. He would be an internal promotion, having previously served as an assistant GM under David Forst, but he would also help the transition go smoothly, since he already knows how things work within the organization.

For a team that needs to be competitive by 2028 as they launch their tenure in Las Vegas, clearing out as many obstacles as possible would be prudent. Keeping guys around who know what they're doing like Owens would be a good first step. 

At this point, there has been no indication from the A's as to whether they're planning to have both a president of operations and a GM, but given where the club is and what they need to accomplish in the next 15-17 months before Opening Day in 2028, having as many qualified people in place as possible is the right step forward for this franchise. 

Mark Feinsand was also on the panel of MLB Now, and he said he spoke earlier in the day to someone who knows Smith and was told that he has very strong leadership skills and has the ability to relate to technical people and non-technical people. 

When Scott Emerson was fired at the All-Star break, one of the things the coaching staff was trying to get better at was communicating ideas to the players, and for some of them, it paid off. 

Manager Question

As we've noted, Mark Kotsay was given no assurances that he will remain in his role as the club's manager in 2027, though the players have expressed support for keeping him around. 

This goes back to what O'Dowd mentioned about surrounding yourself with the right people. Kotsay has expressed a desire to build a relationship with whoever is put in charge of baseball operations, so he will be a willing partner. The players love him, and he also has experience with the club in Sacramento, where a new hire may have to learn by experience.

In terms of Smith's own job, keeping Kotsay around would also serve as a buffer for Smith. If he were to come into this role and make wholesale changes, only for those changes to not pay off as the team is in Las Vegas, ownership wouldn't exactly be thrilled. 

Keeping Kotsay as the manager in 2027 would give Smith a year to get a feel for the controls in the pilot's chair before ultimately deciding whether or not to install his own manager moving forward.