A's Hire Taylor Smith as President of Baseball Operations: What It Means

For the last few weeks, A's fans have been anticipating the arrival of their new President of Baseball Operations, and finally, on Monday, the club announced Taylor Smith to serve in the role.

Since the team mutually parted ways with longtime GM David Forst, several names have been thrown out to replace him, including former A's outfielder Sam Fuld. Fuld was offered the job last week, but turned it down to remain the President of Business Operations for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Other former GMs, like former Astros Head of Baseball Operations James Click, was also a candidate for the position.

Now, before the Rays and Brewers battle it out in the World Series, Taylor Smith can settle in and be ready to make some big decisions for the A's this offseason.

A's Hire Taylor Smith

The A's bringing in Taylor Smith as their new PBO is a great move for a bunch of different reasons. He was a big piece of the Red Sox front office in their unexpected postseason run this season. Smith is a big analytics guy, and that is perfect for the A's as they look to build a contending team next year.

Smith is also just 31, which means he's very young, and if he becomes successful this young, he could be with the club for a very long time, way into their years in Las Vegas.

Like the Red Sox, the A's don't have crazy amounts of money to spend on their payroll, so they will have to get analytical with their moves. Smith has plenty of experience doing just that, and will now go from being an assistant GM to the Head of Baseball Operations for the A's.

The move is a great one and should excite A's fans heading into the offseason. However, to make his mark on his new team, he'll have a few big decisions to make.

Taylor Smith Has Some Big Decisions To Make

Upon joining the organization, Smith already has some big decisions to make for the future of the Green and Gold.

First off, Smith will have to decide whether the team should keep Mark Kotsay as its manager. Although he has a losing record as a manager, he was the team's skipper through their rebuilding seasons and was dealt a bad hand in all of them.

Jeffrey Springs and Jeff McNeil have club options before free agency starts. McNeil was a big part of the team in 2026, but his $15.75 million option could make him a free agent.

Since Smith has to decide on his manager and some players as well, we will get to see how he goes about things pretty early on. Many higher-ups seem excited about the move, including Billy Beane. Now, A's fans will just get to sit back and see how the club handles the big offseason coming up.