After the New York Mets, another major league team found a new manager, the Oakland Athletics. It is reported that they chose the most economical way - internal digging, and last season's third base coach Mark Cotsay is the new coach of the team.
Cortsay, 46, has not only coached third baseman, but also as an athletic bench coach under Bob Melvin. Melvin was poached by the San Diego priests last month, after athletes hadn't heard much about the famous coach.
Kotsay played in major leagues for 17 years and played for seven teams, including the Athletics. His career hits were .276/.332/.404, knocking out 127 hits and 720 RBIs, 98 steals, but also 64 failures. In 2004, as an Athleticist, he paid .314/.370/.459 in 148 games, knocked out 15 shots and 8 thieves, and received 8 MVP votes, ranking 14th in the American League, behind Derek Geete.
Although the athletics have always been poor, they have also been a Strong Team in the United States, and last season, they were also in the ranks of the wild card for a long time, but they lost the last moment, giving up their wild card to the Yankees Red Sox, and also lagging behind the Blue Jays and Sailors, and finally got 86 wins and 76 losses, six games away from the wild card.
It is reported that when the lockdown is lifted, the athletes may sell the team to adjust the salary structure, and once this happens, it will be extremely unfavorable for Kotsai, who has just taken office.
Matt Chapman and Matt Olsen, the two athletics' nook-and-blazers, have two years of control left, and they are both likely to leave the team. The three front-end rotations – Sean Manaya, Chris Bashit and Frankie Montas – are also gluttons, and even Sean Murphy, a catcher with four years of control, doesn't rule out being put on the shelves.
Although Kotsay is still a rookie manager, he has almost taken over a team several times before. In 2015, after Bud Black was fired, there was talk of him temporarily taking over the priesthood, but it turned out not. At the end of the 2019 season, there were several teams with managerial vacancies, and the Giants, Pirates, Astros and Red Sox did not choose him. Last season, the Tigers also put him on the shortlist, but they chose AJ Singh in the end.
Regardless of how the Athletics team operates in the offseason, for Kotsay, it is better to take over an MLB team than a daughter-in-law for many years.
(Text/Geng Haoyang)