A’s bring back longtime manager Bob Melvin in new role. What will he do?
The Athletics are bringing back former manager Bob Melvin to a front office role.
The team announced Thursday that Melvin will be a special assistant to baseball operations, where he’ll rejoin the A’s after serving as manager for 11 seasons from 2011 to 2021, and then managed the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants for two seasons each.
Melvin has managed four teams over 22 seasons in total, with the last two coming in San Francisco where he was let go in September after finishing 81-81. The Giants moved on from Melvin despite picking up the option in his contract for 2026, hiring University of Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello as their manager this season.
In won’t be Melvin’s first front office role. The former major league catcher of 10 seasons began his post-playing career in 1996 with the Milwaukee Brewers as a scout before becoming a roving instructor in 1997 and then assistant to the general manager in 1998.
He took his first managerial job with the Seattle Mariners in 2003, where he coached two seasons, before managing four-plus seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks beginning in 2005. Melvin for his career has a .514 winning percentage as a manager.
The A’s are looking to make the playoffs for the first time since Melvin’s penultimate season as manager in the COVID pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign when they went 36-24. It was their third straight trip to the postseason after flaming out in the wild card game the previous two seasons.
With rumors of a potential work stoppage coming in 2027 as the current collective bargaining agreement ends after 2026, the A’s are set to play their second season in West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park this year while construction continues on their $2 billion domed stadium on the Las Vegas strip, planned to open in 2028.
