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The Phillies feel like they’re stuck. They’ve got an old, expensive roster that could very well make the playoffs again in 2027, but it would be tough to consider them actual World Series contenders.

The main problem is that the team had three good hitters in the lineup all season: Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and first half Brandon Marsh/second half Alec Bohm. Even if the team wants to assume that Trea Turner can bounce back – and they really have no choice but to hope that – they’re still at least one good hitter short.

It doesn’t look like much help is coming from the minor leagues any time soon. It would be nice to think Aidan Miller can be a contributor at some point next season, but coming off what was essentially a lost season due to a back injury, anything they get from him should be considered a bonus.

Free agency doesn’t look to offer many solutions. Randy Arozarena will likely be tied to the Phillies, but he’s coming off a career best season at age 31, and there’s a decent likelihood that whoever signs him will regret it a few years into the deal. Their best hope of improving the lineup might be if they can land a Japanese player who could bolster the lineup the way Kaz Okamoto and Munetaka Murakami did for the Blue Jays and White Sox this year. But considering how badly they’ve struck out with past Japanese imports, its hard to have much optimism on that front.

Column for @NBCSPhilly: If the Phillies want a new identity, they need to finally break into a Japanese market that has long been out of reach.https://t.co/TjFdqzzm3p

— Cole Weintraub (@WeintraubCole) October 6, 2026

Desperate times call for desperate measures. So here’s an outside the box potential solution: Trade Andrew Painter (and likely others) for a good hitter.

I want to make it clear that I am not endorsing this plan of action, only pointing out creative ways for the Phillies to improve their offense. Will that stop people from becoming outraged? Of course not!

The Phillies’ rotation is clearly their biggest strength. They have three pitchers in Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez, and Jesus Luzardo who would be the ace on a lot of staffs. Aaron Nola is not going anywhere for a while, and the Phillies have to hope that he can replicate his second half performance next year. Assuming Painter can build off his rookie season, that shapes up to be one of the best rotations in baseball next year.

But with the lineup desperately needing help, it might be wise to deal from that position of strength.

After his late season improvement and strong showing in the playoffs, Painter’s value is as high as its been since he injured his elbow in spring of 2023. If a team was inclined to trade away a star hitter, it’s very likely they would want a package centered around a young, cost-controlled pitcher with front-of-the-rotation potential who could contribute immediately. Painter would certainly seem to fit that bill.

With the caveat that I don’t know what else the Phillies would have to include in a deal for any of them, here are some of the players who might be available on the trade market:

If the Phillies want to move Turner to the outfield, there are multiple good shortstops who will be the subject of trade rumors: Elly De La Cruz, Zack Neto, Jeremy Pena, and CJ Abrams (although Abrams’ future is likely also in the outfield). As for outfielders, Jarren Duran, Steven Kwan, and Denzel Clarke are possibilities. Or, if the Phillies are okay with J.T. Realmuto being an expensive backup for a couple of years, William Contreras and Hunter Goodman might be options to get some actual offensive out of the catcher position.

If Painter was to be traded, the Phillies would then need to sign a fifth starter in free agency. Fortunately, unlike the hitter market, there should be plenty of good options available. They also might find it easier to sign a sixth starter who would find the Phillies’ situation more palatable if the starting rotation didn’t appear to be set in stone.

And hey, if John Middleton really wants another trophy and isn’t worried about spending “stupid money,” they could always go after Tarik Skubal and try to recreate the Four Aces rotation!

Is any of this likely to happen? No. Teams generally don’t trade away young pitchers that they think have All-Star potential. But if the Phillies want to get out of the edge of contention box they currently find themselves in, it might be time to try some outside of the box thinking.

Morning, all!

The Rangers are facing some pretty big questions this offseason, like what are they going to do with their aging, expensive superstars? Are the young guys going to take a step forward? What about the bullpen?

And that’s about all I’m seeing this morning.

It’s that sad time of year again.

The Yankees season ended in bitter disappointment on Wednesday night with a 4-3 loss to the Rays that secured a sweep by their AL East rivals.

It will leave fans clamoring for change this offseason, but will Hal Steinbrenner pull the trigger?

You can share your opinion on whether the Yankees should keep GM Brian Cashman, manager Aaron Boone and a host of players whose futures will be decided in the coming days, weeks and months.

Just vote “Bronx” (to stay) or “Boot” (to go) in the polls below to let Hal Steinbrenner know how you feel — and don’t hesitate to vent in the comments section.

In the Lone Star State, former MLB pitcher Roger Clemens is as close as it gets to royalty.

The former University of Texas star, who went on to win 354 games and strike out 4,672 batters in his 24 major league seasons, was featured guest Wednesday night as President Donald Trump presided over a political rally in San Antonio.

Calling Clemens "one of the greatest athletes and maybe the greatest pitcher of all time," Trump announced plans to give the seven-time Cy Young award winner the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, but this is a big step up from the Hall of Fame," Trump said. 

But Clemens' candidacy for Cooperstown is a complicated one.

Roger Clemens' MLB career

In terms of on-field accomplishments, few pitchers in baseball history have ever reached Clemens' level.

• His seven Cy Young awards, given to the best pitcher in each league, are the most ever. (Randy Johnson is second with five.)
• His strikeout total ranks third all-time behind only Johnson (4,875) and Nolan Ryan (5,714).
• His 354 wins rank ninth in baseball history, with only Greg Maddux (355) and Warren Spahn (363) ahead of him among pichers since World War II.
• His career total of 139 Wins Above Replacement puts him at No. 8 overall.
• In addition, Clemens was an 11-time All-Star, a two-time World Series champion and the 1986 AL MVP.

Why isn't Roger Clemens in the Hall of Fame?

Following his retirement after the 2007 season, Clemens was on the ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame for 10 years, from 2013 to 2022. His percentage of votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America gradually increased over that span, but he never reached the 75% needed for induction. He came closest in his last year of eligibility, gaining 65.2% support in 2022.

Clemens was also on the Veterans Committee ballot in 2023 and 2026, but failed to get the 75% support each time.

The main stumbling block for Clemens' Hall of Fame candidacy was his alleged use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). His name appeared prominently in the 2007 Mitchell Report, which contained claims from Clemens' former personal trainer that he injected the star pitcher with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens claimed he only received lidocaine and Vitamin B-12 shots.

After denying he used PEDs in a 2008 Congressional hearing, Clemens was indicted on perjury charges. However, he was acquitted of all charges in 2012.

Clemens was also accused of having an affair with country music singer Mindy McCready that allegedly began when she was 15 years old. Clemens was married at the time. Although he denied any affair and described her as a "longtime family friend," Clemens did broadly apologize for "mistakes" he made in his personal life.

Roger Clemens' relationship with President Trump

At the Oct. 7 rally, Clemens introduced Trump, then returned to the stage after the president's speech to shake hands and express his appreciation for the Medal of Freedom.

"There isn't another president I'd want to get it from, and to announce it here in my home state, from this man, you're talking about winner, that's a winner right there," Clemens told the cheering crowd.

Clemens and Trump do have a history together. The two have often played golf, with Trump calling for Clemens to be inducted into Cooperstown shortly after they played a round at Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, D.C., in August 2025.

Clemens is a registered Republican and has expressed his support for President Trump going back to his first term in office.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Roger Clemens has ties to President Trump, but it's not enough for Hall

What a wild season Noah Cameron had. He went from fifth starter to team ace to nearly demoted and back to team ace. While last year saw him be incredibly consistent, this year was a year of very high highs and very low lows. The end result was a significantly higher ERA than his rookie campaign, but significant improvements in several other major statistical categories.

One thing I think can be very interesting when discussing baseball is figuring out what an “ace” is. Is it simply the best pitcher on each team, or is there some sort of statistical cutoff? If there is a cutoff, where does it lie? The top 50 starters in baseball? The top 10? Or maybe it’s the top 30 so that, theoretically, each team could have an ace, even if some teams often have more than one of them, leaving the others out to dry. This is an important question when discussing Noah Cameron because there has been and will continue to be heavy debate about exactly what kind of pitcher he is.

I think we can easily agree that he is a major-league quality starter. I think we can also agree he’s something more than a back-of-the-rotation starter, despite the seven-game stretch from mid-June to mid-July that saw him put up a 7.94 ERA. But that still leaves us wondering: Is he a very good three starter? A regular two starter? Or is he a borderline ace?

If we go by that 30 best starting pitchers cutoff point, then he might be an ace. He finished the season tied for the 28th-best fWAR in MLB (2.8) and had the 30th-best K-BB% (13.4%) among qualified starters. He does come in at 80th by bWAR (2.0), but I’ve never liked the way it measures pitchers in particular, which is why I only bring it out for special occasions. He was certainly the “ace” of the Royals staff, leading the team quite comfortably in the first two categories, though bWAR has Michael Wacha ahead of him, all the way in 15th place (4.3).

So, yeah, I think you could argue that he’s actually been a borderline ace this season. But, because I know this is what we all want to do, what if we just looked at his numbers since that game in Detroit when he started calling his own pitches? Then he’s tied for 19th in fWAR, he falls to 34th in K-BB%, and he’s up to 11th in ERA (I can’t get bWAR over spans in the same way, unfortunately). So the quick takeaway from all that is, if you think that stretch was good, his overall season was in a similar place.

It’s easy to remember the awful stretch he was having before he started calling his own pitches, but if you followed all the landmarks I laid above, there was a stretch before that that was pretty darn good, too. In fact, it was even better than the stretch that won him Pitcher of the Month for August, but somehow it flew under the radar. From May 10 through June 7, he had 6 starts with a 2.38 ERA, a 22.1 K-BB%, and a total of 35 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. That ERA ranks 13th, and the K-BB% ranks 16th over that span. He was a bit overshadowed at the time because Jacob Misiorowski and Cristopher Sánchez appeared to be redefining what being a starting pitcher could look like at the same time; they both had sub-0.50 ERAs over that span.

I love the pitching infographics we can get from TJ Stats, so let’s put up Cameron’s for the full season here, just so we can visualize some things:

There is a scary amount of blue on this page, so I can understand if you’re still a bit leery of what Cameron could be next year. I do feel it necessary to highlight that the blue xwOBACons are all at the bottom with pitches he threw less often, so at least he generally knew which pitches he should be throwing more. Let’s take a look at the graphic from the change:

That’s a lot more orange. Smartly, he drastically decreased the four-seam usage, a change I was calling for even as he was struggling. The cutter became his primary fastball without gaining much usage, which is good, because even now while it does get soft contact, he can’t get guys to swing and miss at it. Fascinatingly, the slider usage got increased almost to the same degree the fastball usage dropped, and it started really performing for him instead of being one of his worst pitches. You can see he started throwing it perhaps a bit differently, getting more horizontal break and less vertical break. That makes it act a bit more like a sweeper than it had before.

His changeup still came in at third in usage, but he modified it to make it go more straight down, and that led to significantly more chase and whiffs. The curveball looks impressive when he throws it, but it’s clearly his steal-a-strike pitch, so keeping its usage low makes a lot of sense.

So what are the takeaways here? For the second year in a row, Noah pitched better than his stuff. But this time he did it with improved three-true-outcomes results over last year in the form of a better K-BB% and fewer home runs allowed. And that’s if we just take in the full season numbers!

He also showed us over two different stretches that he can be a truly dominant pitcher. At the end of last year, we could tell he was definitely a back-of-the-rotation guy, maybe more. At the end of this year, we can tell he’s definitely a mid-rotation guy, maybe more. Hopefully by this time next year, we’ll know he’s a bona fide workhorse ace – did I forget to mention he’s the only Royals starting pitcher to miss no more than a single game with an injury over the past two seasons?

He is never going to be a Justin Verlander or a Max Scherzer. But could I interest you in a left-handed Sandy Alcantara? I know you could interest me in that. Noah Cameron gets an A from me. What say you?

Good morning friends! Three of the four Championship Series spots are filled following yesterday’s action. Let’s get you caught up on all of that and more on this Thursday.

MLB Postseason scores…

• The Dodgers triumphed in a 4-1 victory over the Braves, punching their third straight ticket to the NLCS.
• Another year and another early playoff exit for the Yankees, who might have had a shot in yesterday’s 4-3 loss to the Rays if not for a critical fan interference call.
• Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell earned his status as a playoff hero when he robbed Manny Machado of a game-tying homer, securing the 3-1 Milwaukee win to push them to the NLCS.
• With their backs against the wall, the Guardians found their offensive rhythm to win 9-3 in Game 3 against the White Sox. Chicago still leads the series 2-1 as they head into a pivotal Game 4 tonight.

In Mariners news…

• Jon Morosi pointed out that the Mariners may be especially hampered by the lockout since team officials won’t be able to communicate with their rehabbing veterans.
• Becca Weinberg caught up with Rainers broadcaster Rylee Pay after her second season on the mic.

Around the league…

• Many Yankees fans and media members are already calling for Aaron Boone’s firing, but Aaron Judge still believes he’s the right guy to lead the club.
• Major League Baseball sent a memo to owners instructing them how to act in the event of a lockout, reports Evan Drellich at The Athletic.
• Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine and Cardinals assistant GM Rob Cerfolio are early candidates in the A’s new search for a general manager.
• Former Mariner Jake Bauers strongly considered retiring before his breakout 2026 season. Curt Hogg at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the story on why he stayed and how he found the next gear.

I don’t have a pithy Yankee-related preamble and you can’t make me have one. I hate baseball. But anyway, on to the rest of Wednesday’s playoff slate.

Thanos. Tom Brady’s Patriots (unless they were playing our savior Eli Manning). The Los Angeles Dodgers. Inevitable, all of them. Wednesday, the Dodgers took another step toward becoming the first MLB team to win three consecutive World Series since the Yankees did it from 1998-2000. The Braves won Game 1 in Los Angeles, stealing home field advantage. It availed them naught, as the Dodgers stormed back to win three in a row even with Shohei Ohtani hitting like an actual pitcher. Infuriating.

Elsewhere, Cleveland avoided elimination and prevented the White Sox from clinching a playoff series at home for the first time in well over a century. The Pope is probably not overly happy right now. And in San Diego, the Brewers vanquished the Padres to set up a heavyweight matchup between the NL’s preeminent titans. It feels like we’re all Brewers fans now.

Cleveland Guardians 9, Chicago White Sox 3 (Chicago leads the ALDS 2-1)

Cleveland acquired Jo Adell from the Angels on August 3rd for catching prospect Jacob Cozart. Down the stretch, Adell gave the Guards some thump at the dish, with a 108 OPS+ after the trade. Wednesday, he saved their season. Adell stepped to the plate in the top of the third in a 1-1 game with the bases loaded. His second triple in as many games cleared the bases and gave the Guardians a 4-1 lead.

Chicago had their chances to come back and clinch the series. In the home fifth, the Pale Hose put runners on second and third with one out, brining the tying run to the plate in what was a 5-2 game. Kyle Teel turned on a middle-middle fastball and hammered it back up the middle at 98-mph… right into the glove of Cleveland second baseman Travis Bazzana.

Chicago did manage to get within two, closing the gap to 5-3. But from there, Cleveland did what you are supposed to do with a lead late in the game — tack on. The Guards put up twin runs in the eighth and ninth innings, turning what was a close game into a comfortable win that pushes this series to a Game 4. The Guards have to feel pretty good about that considering they’re sending Parker Messick to the mound, with Gavin Williams looming for a potential Game 5.

Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Atlanta Braves 1 (Los Angeles wins the NLDS 3-1)

Tyler Mahle deserved better. Acquired from the Giants on August 2nd, Mahle was nails for Atlanta down the stretch. In nine starts, Mahle gave the Braves a 1.99 ERA while averaging six innings per outing and allowing less than a baserunner per inning (0.957 WHIP). Wednesday was more of the same. An unearned run marred his ledger in the second, but from there he valiantly stymied the Dodgers. Until the seventh inning.

It seems like it’s always bloody someone new with the Dodgers. This time, Andy Pages was the hero (culprit, bane of our existence, whatever you want to call him). With the bases loaded and two out, facing a full count, Pages drove a single back up the middle. Two runs scored. Suddenly, the Dodgers were counting outs.

Edwin Díaz, who was slightly more successful than I would be getting out major league hitters during the regular season, came in for the ninth after the Dodgers bullpen had delivered 3.1 scoreless innings in relief of Tyler Glasnow. Díaz effortlessly retired the Braves in order, notching his third scoreless outing of the series. If he’s on, it makes the Dodgers even more formidable. Not that they needed it.

Milwaukee Brewers 3, San Diego Padres 1 (Milwaukee wins the NLDS 3-1)

After the two clubs traded runs in the third inning, with the Brew Crew needing one win to advance to the NLCS, Milwaukee did work in the middle innings. First, Jackson Chourio added to his posteason legend in the fifth with a tie-breaking single to put the Brewers up 2-1. In the sixth, Sal Frelick tacked on a sacrifice fly to double the Brewers’ lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, San Diego (and everyone else) thought they’d tied the game. Future Hall of Famer Manny Machado came to the plate as the tying run, facing Abner Uribe. Machado turned around Uribe’s sinker, driving it to center field at 106.7-mph. But he didn’t quite drive it high enough. Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell elevated, and robbed Machado of a game-tying two-run home run. Playoff baseball, folks. There’s nothing like it.

Milwaukee wasn’t [redacted] around when crunch time hit, either. With Trevor Megill on the mound looking to close out the series, presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski warmed up in the bullpen just in case. The Miz was never needed, however. Megill shut the Dads down in order to lock down an NLCS rematch with the Dodgers. This series also gave us a bit of baseball history.

This Brewers/Padres NLDS is the second series of at least 3 games in postseason history where neither team led by more than 2 runs at any point, joining:

The 1915 World Series

h/t @EliasSportshttps://t.co/q2jZrgWlA2

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 8, 2026

Anyway. Go Brewers, Go. My Kingdom to stop the Dodgers.

The Cubs’ Opening Day starter this year was Matthew Boyd.

The rotation at that time consisted of Boyd, Cade Horton, Shōta Imanaga, Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon.

Those five pitchers combined for 86 starts. Only Boyd and Imanaga finished the season in the Cubs rotation and only Imanaga was not injured at some point during the season, making 32 starts and throwing 174.1 innings.

In those 86 starts, those five pitchers combined for a 4.46 ERA and 1.223 WHIP in 460.1 innings and allowed 91 home runs. Those numbers are bad, no question about it.

Oh, but wait, it gets worse. The other 74 starts for the Cubs this year were made by Colin Rea (19), David Peterson (15), Javier Assad (11), Kevin Gausman (9), Clay Holmes (9), Ben Brown (8), Ryan Rolison (2), Jordan Wicks (2) and Riley Martin (1). (The starts by Wicks were intended to be actual starts; the three by Rolison and Martin were as openers.)

In those 74 starts, those nine starters combined for a 4.06 ERA and 1.037 WHIP, with 51 home runs in 388.1 innings. That’s slightly better, but it’s still not good. Ben Brown’s eight very good starts are responsible for a lot of that.

And I haven’t even gotten to the relief pitchers yet, and they were almost as bad. Daniel Palencia, anointed closer in Spring Training, was injured and missed most of the year and posted only three saves. Jacob Webb, forced into a role he wasn’t used to, did well at it … until he didn’t and blew multiple saves by allowing walk-off home runs. He had only nine saves. That makes 2026 the first year since 1971 that the Cubs did not have a single pitcher with double digits in saves since the save rule became official in 1969. Phil Regan led the Cubs with six saves that year and the team had just 13, fewest in the major leagues.

All told, the Cubs pitching staff ranked 14th in team ERA, 18th in starter ERA, 23rd in saves (and had 28 blown saves), and second in home runs allowed with 231. Only the A’s, playing in a minor league park, allowed more (247). By comparison, the NL Central champion Brewers allowed 171 homers, 10th-fewest in MLB.

But this article isn’t about pitching.

It’s about Cubs manager Craig Counsell, as the headline states.

Counsell somehow managed that pitching staff into 89 wins and a wild card spot.

Yes, a large part of that was due to the Cubs offense, which produced one of the best hitting seasons in franchise history with 850 runs scored, a team-record 674 walks, 220 home runs (third-most in MLB) and scoring in double digits 21 times.

But it’s not all that. The Washington Nationals scored 821 runs, finishing third in MLB. Their pitching staff was a lot worse, allowing 815 runs, compared to the Cubs’ 703. In fact, the Cubs’ record based on runs scored and allowed was 95-67, six games better than they actually finished.

I give a great deal of credit here to Counsell, who was given the following relievers at various points of the season: Corbin Martin, Drew Pomeranz, Bryse Wilson, Vince Velasquez, Jayden Murray, Jake Woodford, Ty Blach, Charlie Barnes, Andrew Wantz, Yacksel Rios, Antoine Kelly and Luke Little.

Yikes. If anything screams out “waiver wire acquisitions,” that list does. We know that Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer took responsibility for that in his season-ending presser:

About the Cubs bullpen, Hoyer said: “I did a poor job on the bullpen this year, full stop.”

Counsell, meanwhile, I believe did a masterful job of mixing and matching while those sorts of people inhabited the Cubs bullpen. Without his leadership, maybe this team winds up near .500 and misses the postseason.

So that’s my position. I think Counsell has done an outstanding job managing the Cubs over the past three seasons and the failures this year aren’t his fault. If Hoyer does his job this offseason, I believe Counsell is the right manager to guide the Cubs for the next two seasons — the years left on his contract — and perhaps beyond.

Tomorrow, I’ll have some thoughts about Hoyer.

Good morning everyone!

The A’s are still on the search for their new GM 10 days into the offseason. We’ve heard of several candidates, mostly outside options but one internal candidate. Based off that alone one would assume that the next voice of the Athletics’ front office will be someone coming from a different organization, new name for fans to get to know.

Well we can add four new names to the list, including a former player that previous suited up in the Green & Gold. Sam Fuld, who played for the A’s from mid-2014 through 2015 to wrap up his playing career, is under consideration and a strong candidate to get the job. He’s been in the Phillies’ front office for most of the past decade. During that time he was the Philadelphia General Manager, although really second-in-command under President Dave Dombrowski. Getting the A’s job would be a lateral move in terms of title, but he’d be in full control of the team instead of reporting to someone higher up on the totem pole than him. Fuld has received interviews for other GM openings around the league before but this could finally be the time he’s offered the chance to lead a team.

Fuld wasn’t the only name reported today. In that same report linking Fuld to the A’s, Cubs assistant GM Jared Banner was also named as a strong contender for the job. Banner has been with Chicago for the past six years after starting his career with the Red Sox with a stop in the Mets’ organization along the way. Banner has experience in the player development department, which is where he spent the early parts of his career. He’s supposedly one of the biggest reasons the Cubs targeted star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong in trade talks with the Mets when they traded Javier Baez to New York. That’d indicate he knows a good ball player when he sees one.

Along with Fuld and Banner, there were two more names linked to the Athletics’ GM opening today. St. Louis assistant GM Rob Cerfolio has reportedly already interviewed for the job. Cerfolio spent the better part of a decade working in the Cleveland front office before joining the Cardinals as AGM in 2024, so he’s been with them during the entirety of their current rebuild. While he’d be an interesting candidate, he’s also a candidate to remain in place and get the GM gig for St. Louis, reporting only to President Chaim Bloom. That’s the expectation.

The fourth name added to the list of potential GM’s for the A’s was Brewers AGM Matt Klein. He’s been with the Brewers for his entire career, starting in 2007. He steadily rose the ranks from the scouting department to the AGM position in 2023, being Brewers President Matt Arnold’s #2 guy. Klein is a popular name for GM openings and he’s also reportedly under consideration for the Astros’ GM opening.

Fuld, Banner, Cerfolio and Klein join a list that already includes Billy Owens, Mike Rizzo, James Click, Mike Groopman and Taylor Smith. There’s likely at least one name, likely more, that hasn’t been reported yet but if one had to guess it’s likely going to be one of these guys to be the next leader of the Athletics as they head into their new home in Las Vegas.

It seems that the search is drawing to a close. Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic report that the team is close to picking their guy, with the decision apparently coming before the end of the week. That’d give the new guy a chance to settle in and get to fill out the rest of his staff before the end of the playoffs and start of the offseason. There’ll be some major decisions the new GM will have to make, including whether or not he wants to retain manager Mark Kotsay. For what it’s worth Kotsay is signed through 2028 so financial obligations shouldn’t have a huge impact on that choice.

So who do you guys want the A’s to pick? Do you want the new GM to keep Kotsay? Discuss below!

Have a great Thursday A’s fans.

A’s Coverage:

• Phillies, Cubs executives reportedly among top Athletics GM candidates
• Matt Kleine, Rob Cerfolio Candidates In Athletics’ GM Search
• ’Be a sponge’: No. 19 prospect leads A’s Fall League group with do-it-all mentality
• Zack Of All Trades Tries To Get One More Win: In Court
• A’s mulling a few names to fill David Forst’s vacancy as GM
• Important Dates For The Athletics This Offseason
• 12 A’s Players Out of Options Heading Into 2027
• A’s part ways with assistant hitting, quality control coaches
• After an outfield collision left him paralyzed, every gain in rehab is a big win for A’s Ryan Lasko
• Athletics’ Zack Gelof sues Tigers after hitting metal fence
• Why 2027 Athletics Will Be Completely Different Team
• A’s Las Vegas ballpark cost rises to $2.1B, public funding delayed
• 2026: Year Of The “Didn’t See That Coming!”
• A’s Hoping Luis Severino Chooses to Stay
• Where the A’s Plan to Use Zack Gelof in 2027
• Devin Taylor: Athletics 2026 Minor League Player Of The Year
• Henry Bolte Is the A’s Next Budding Star
• Determining Athletics’ Offensive MVP for the 2026 Season
• Notes From Star-Studded Rockies-A’s Instructional League
• 2027 Infield Landscape Ever Changing
• “Fast Movers” Might Be Key To Contention
• Billy Beane comments on the job Mark Kotsay has done this season.
• Should Mark Kotsay return in 2027? A’s Players Weigh In
• What the A’s Hiring Mike Rizzo would Signal and the Questions it Would Raise
• Athletics Considering James Click For GM Vacancy
• Get the best of Athletics Nation on the new SB Nation app

MLB News & Interest:

• Dodgers return to NLCS as Pages delivers clutch October moment
• Here we go again: Brewers advance to NLCS rematch with Dodgers
• Rays sweep their way past Yankees to reach 3rd ALCS in franchise history
• J-Ram shows off all his tools as Guardians refuse to go quietly
• Report: Alex Cora again declines chance to manage Phillies
• Phillies Considering Keeping Don Mattingly As Manager
• MLB Sends Memo To Teams Outlining Lockout Procedures
• Report: 2026-27 Qualifying Offer To Be $23.15MM
• Here are each organization’s Prospects of the Year
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Who do you guys want?

According to Ken Rosenthal, the #Athletics are expected to hire their new GM this week.

— Dylan Quinn (@dylanq_2) October 7, 2026

Interesting comparison:

Sam Fuld reminds me a lot of Craig Breslow. Some might hate that comp, some might like it. I’m somewhere in the middle. As long as it’s not an internal hire or Mike Rizzo I’ll be at least somewhat optimistic https://t.co/HFm5Ck0eeJ

— Straight A’s (@StraightAs123) October 7, 2026

Matt Olson this postseason: 4-for-27. Against the Dodgers just 2-for-16 with 6 K’s.

148 position players have appeared in an MLB playoff game this year.

Ronald Acuña Jr ranks 148th in win probability added. But you probably figured that.

Ya know who ranks 147th?

Matt Olson.

If those guys don’t snap out of it, the Braves’ season will end tonight.

— William Qualkinbush (@QualkTalk) October 7, 2026

Unlikely, but how big of an upgrade would that be?

Bro is waiting for that “Manager Mark Kotsay has been dismissed” tweet like all of us https://t.co/KyJbRy4d9U

— jj (@athleticsfan_4) October 7, 2026

The A’s would go on to finish the sweep in that series:

Milton Bradley launches a deep shot to center field for a 2 run home run to give the A’s a 4-0 lead in the 3rd inning as they look to sweep the Twins today! pic.twitter.com/bPO6AbffBA

— 20 Years Ago Sports (@20YearsAgoSport) October 6, 2026