From One Bob To The Next

Geren is the first manager to be fired
in '11.

The Oakland Athletics had dropped nine in a row and found themselves in the the American League West cellar before deciding to make a change and it comes at the expense of their manager Bob Geren. Geren was fired Thursday after almost four and a half years as the Oakland skipper.

    Geren became yet another former big league catcher to manage in the big leagues when he was hired by longtime friend and A's general manager Bill Beane prior to the 2007 season. He had spent the previous three years as their bullpen coach before being promoted in '06 to bench coach under then-manager Ken Macha.

    He was no stranger to a position of power after managing a ton in the minor leagues before landing his gig in the show. There Geren was able to rack up 452 victories along with 390 defeats.

    During his tenure in Oakland the A's never made the postseason along with recording their first losing season since 1998 his first year on the job. In the 710 games Geren managed, Oakland posted at .470 winning percentage with a record of 334-376.

    Despite his orthodox managerial style, Geren had the Athletics finish second the the AL West a year ago at 81-81, trailing only the eventually American League Champion Texas Rangers. With their young pitching staff leading the majors in earned run average in 2010, many believed they could catch lighting in a bottle and be the San Francisco Giants of 2011. That has not been the case as injuries and a dismal offense has derailed their train.

    All-Star closer and '09 Rookie of the Year Andrew Bailey had been out since the end of spring training with a strained forearm before returning before the start of June. A pair of talented left-handed starters in Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson are both currently on the disabled with their own arm troubles. Braden is lost for the season after having shoulder surgery at the beginning of May. As for Anderson, he is suffering from an injury he dealt with last season, an inflamed elbow. Oakland fears the worst and he could be next to fall victim to Tommy John Surgery.

    Even with all the injuries to their pitching staff they have managed to rank in the top five in both ERA and quality starts the first half of the season, but firing Geren will not fix their offensive woes.

    They currently rank 26th or worse in five major offensive categories marking their offense as maybe the worst in Major League Baseball. The A's currently have six players batting under .250 with a minimum of 100 at-bats and two others under .260.

    Geren is the first manager to be fired this season with plenty of others on the hot seat. Former Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin has been named his replacement for the reminder of the season. Melvin brings along a respected resume after leading the D-backs to a 90 win season in '07, winning the NL Manager of the Year in honor of his success. They went on to make their first NLCS appearance since 2001 where they eventually lost to the Colorado Rockies.

Melvin might be able to light a fire
under this underachieving A's team.

Although his first game at the helm did not go as planned, losing their tenth straight game Thursday, Friday night was a different story. rallying for four runs in the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox and giving Melvin his first victory as the A's skipper.

If in fact Oakland has plans to make the postseason they will need to get their offense rolling and overcome an eight game deficit in both the division and wild card standing to make that happen.