Athletics Hire Taylor Smith As President Of Baseball Ops

The Athletics have a new lead executive. Taylor Smith is taking over as president of baseball operations, per a team announcement. Smith most recently served as an assistant general manager with the Red Sox. After a wide-ranging search, the A’s have found a replacement for longtime general manager David Forst. The club moved on from Forst in August. Phillies exec Sam Fuld and Cubs assistant GM Jared Banner were in the running for the role. Fuld ended up staying in Philly, while Banner just took the Orioles’ general manager job. The A’s were also connected to former Astros GM James Click and former Nationals POBO Mike Rizzo. Smith’s colleague, fellow Boston AGM Mike Groopman, also received an interview. Smith emerged as the favorite for the gig late last week. Cardinals assistant GM Rob Cerfolio was also one of the finalists. A’s assistant GM Dan Feinstein finished out the season in place of Forst, but was not among the candidates for the full-time position. Boston hired Smith at the end of the 2024 season. He served in an analytics-focused position alongside three other AGMs. Smith began his career with the Rays. He spent seven years in the organization. He first joined the research and development team, then worked his way up to director of predictive modeling by the end of his tenure. More to come… View Comments (9)