It’s not Tarik Skubal and Adrian Morejon, but when you make two huge moves and both meet the approval of even Trainman, you’ve done something right.
You would have to be quite the fanatical follower, or at least a fan of the Red Sox or Brewers, to even have been familiar with two names that will lead the A’s gently into that good desert. Taylor Smith is such a household name, if you search “Taylor Smith” Google’s first result is a question: “Did you mean Taylor Swift?” At this point you just say “yes,” click on the first few links and forget that you were thinking about baseball.
Cam Castro may be famous to his family and friends but few outside of Wisconsin could have told you much about his work. Out of all the Castros throughout history his fame ranking is relatively low, as there are no known political regimes nor neighborhood districts in his name.
Yet Smith and Castro come with just the credentials the A’s need right now as they try to rebuild their analytic, development, and trading/acquisition models to work more like, say, the Brewers and Rays. Those 2 teams have a couple things in common: they just met in the World Series and Castro/Smith previously spent the most seasons with their organization.
As GM, Castro will have a big hand in who the A’s acquire, who they keep and who they let go, but perhaps his most essential expertise comes in his record of helping to bring out the best in pitchers yet to tap into their potential. The hope would be that instead of spinning valuable players like Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom into worthy pitching talent, perhaps those gems can be culled from Luis Morales and Jack Perkins, who certainly have the physical tools.
Meanwhile, as PBO Smith comes with experience watching both sides of the payroll scale, starting with the frugal-but-shrewd Rays and continuing with the big market Red Sox. He will draw more from his understanding of how the Rays operate, but if his first big move (sorry Nate Eaton) was to select Castro to put a spotlight on the pitching side, Smith appears to be “1 for 1” and demonstrating a clear understanding not just of the need for the A’s to emphasize pitching but also to develop it beyond just bringing”adding good pitchers to the roster”.
If you’re not familiar with Castro’s resume (and I wasn’t until this week), he began his career in 2019 as a minor league pitching coach and his work since is littered with “pitching development”:
- Senior Vice President of Player Development and Performance (2025–2026): Oversaw player development and performance systems fresh off helping guide the Brewers to a World Series title.
- Vice President of Player Development (2022–2024): Led player development strategies and acted as a key liaison between the front office and coaching staff.
- Director of Pitching Development (2022): Promoted to direct organization-wide pitching development frameworks.
- Minor League Pitching Coordinator (2020–2021): Managed pitching philosophies and development across the minor league system.
This for the organization that, during this time, helped Jared Koenig go from an 89 MPH junk-baller with the A’s to a 96 MPH throwing plus reliever with the Brewers. The organization that brought Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson from draft to rotation, and most recently turned a disappointing Freddy Peralta into a key arm seemingly overnight. The Brewers know how to develop and harness pitching and Castro was an integral piece of that program.
The intriguing question is how this exciting tandem will go about improving the A’s roster for 2027 and for beyond 2027, to try to realize the stated goal of building a team that can compete in the post-season year in and year out. That may be a high bar, but it’s also one that some teams do achieve for the most part — and those teams include Tampa Bay, Boston, and Milwaukee.
Easier said than done, of course. Every PBO and GM will say this as rarely do you pick up the morning paper to read that a GM’s goal is to “wobble around .500 most seasons and hope the division is as weak as the 2026 AL West”. Actually that does sound a bit like Arte Moreno but he’s on his way out the door.
Look for few “quick fixes” and many “long view” moves in which hopefully “long” comes to fruition in a year rather than 4. Look for significant “behind the scenes” improvements in the way development and analytics are emphasized and approached even if it doesn’t bring a specific player onto the big league roster.
But you can also look for a “get better now” splash as opportunity presents itself as the tandem tries to make the team competitive in time for a new stadium to be greeted with the excitement of success. That could look like giving Clay Holmes a longer deal than anyone else will, gambling on his sustained ability to limit hard contact into his late 30s and minimizing the impact of playing 2027 in West Sacramento. But while this is a pet idea oft floated on AN perhaps Smith and Castro have a whole different scheme up their sleeve to boost the team’s fortunes sooner rather than later.
With a lockout looming in 24 days, likely we will know soon, at least in some sense, what direction Smith and Castro and looking to go with regard to 2027. But the eye is going to be more on the next 5 years than on the next 5 months and all we know is this: the A’s appear to have made 2 very smart hires to lead this quest.
