Athletics Interview Mike Groopman, Taylor Smith For GM Vacancy

The Athletics’ search for a new front office leader included a pitstop in Boston, as Over-Slot Baseball’s Joe Doyle reports that the A’s had interviews with Red Sox assistant GMs Mike Groopman and Taylor Smith. MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam reports that the A’s speaking with candidates via video call during this first stage of the interview process, and candidates will advance to in-person interviews as the team starts to narrow down its list. The Red Sox AGMs join former Nationals president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and Athletics assistant GM Billy Owens as the only candidates known to have interviewed thus far, though former Astros GM James Click is thought to be “a serious candidate” and has presumably spoken with the A’s by this point. Dan Feinstein (formerly the Athletics’ assistant GM) has been the club’s interim general manager since David Forst was let go in early August. As Doyle puts it, “the Athletics are casting a wide net” in their search, given that the known field includes two World Series-winning GMs and three executives who would have yet to run a big league front office. Groopman and Smith are two of four assistant GMs under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, though Raquel Ferreira and Eddie Romero hold the added title of executive VP while Groopman and Smith are senior VPs. These titles could reflect the fact that Ferreira and Romero have been in Boston’s front office for decades, while Groopman and Smith are relatively more recent hires. Groopman is in his fifth season with the Red Sox, and he received an interview for the CBO position in 2023 before Breslow was hired. Before joining the Sox, Groopman spent four years in the Brewers’ front office as the director of international scouting, and he spent the previous decade with the Royals in a variety of roles (and is credited with spearheading Kansas City’s analytics department). Groopman might be best known for his role in Boston’s trade for Garrett Crochet, as Groopman’s friendship with White Sox GM Chris Getz was reportedly a key factor in helping the two sides reach an agreement. As Groopman moved away from a more analytics-focused role with the Red Sox, it opened the door for Smith’s hiring in November 2024. Smith came to Boston after spending parts of seven seasons with the Rays, with Smith joining Tampa’s research and development team right out of college. By 2024, Smith was working as the Rays’ director of predictive modeling. The A’s will always be linked to the analytics movement thanks to their “Moneyball” era teams, but it could be that the club would like its next GM/PBO to refresh the development department with some newer ideas. The coming seasons present a unique challenge for the next hire, as the A’s will play in Sacramento for one final season before their new ballpark in Las Vegas is ready for Opening Day 2028. Getting some pitching in place for 2027 would be ideal, but the Athletics’ next front office boss will then have to adjust and adapt the roster (perhaps on the fly) depending on how the new Vegas park plays for both pitchers and hitters. View Comments (0)