I'm a little distracted in my life right now, and I promise to have some analysis on the Sharks' lockout-adjusted schedule sprint that starts this Sunday in Calgary sometime beforehand. But for now, switching gears back to baseball for a quick reaction, it was great news coming out today about the A's extending the contract of Manager Bob Melvin for two more years through 2016.
General Manager Billy Beane's previous MO was having tedious and complicated relationships with past Oakland skippers like Art Howe and Ken Macha, and then probably being a little too close with the best man at the GM's first wedding, Bob Geren.
Melvin seems like a perfect complement in the middle, a veteran manager who doesn't seem to have any issues with Beane on the surface. But they aren't too "friendly" with each other to create an awkward conflict of interest. Geren never seemed comfortable as a big-league manager and just wasn't going to work, and Beane was put in the unenviable position of having to choose business over friendship and being reluctant to do so until it became impossible to ignore.
Beane deserves a ton of credit for wheeling and dealing after the 2011 season to build what proved to be a division-winning surprise club. But there's also a reason Melvin was voted American League Manager of the Year. He's good, his team responded to him in 2012 and with that same club mostly intact the A's should be a threat to get back to the playoffs in '13.
You hope for a team that's undergone too much change and too little stability, we're heading into a successful partnership with Beane and Melvin for years to come, with a World Series championship as part of the deal.
General Manager Billy Beane's previous MO was having tedious and complicated relationships with past Oakland skippers like Art Howe and Ken Macha, and then probably being a little too close with the best man at the GM's first wedding, Bob Geren.
Melvin seems like a perfect complement in the middle, a veteran manager who doesn't seem to have any issues with Beane on the surface. But they aren't too "friendly" with each other to create an awkward conflict of interest. Geren never seemed comfortable as a big-league manager and just wasn't going to work, and Beane was put in the unenviable position of having to choose business over friendship and being reluctant to do so until it became impossible to ignore.
Beane deserves a ton of credit for wheeling and dealing after the 2011 season to build what proved to be a division-winning surprise club. But there's also a reason Melvin was voted American League Manager of the Year. He's good, his team responded to him in 2012 and with that same club mostly intact the A's should be a threat to get back to the playoffs in '13.
You hope for a team that's undergone too much change and too little stability, we're heading into a successful partnership with Beane and Melvin for years to come, with a World Series championship as part of the deal.
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