Athletics Interview Mike Rizzo, Billy Owens For GM Vacancy

Former Nationals president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and longtime Athletics assistant GM Billy Owens have both interviewed by the A’s for their full-time general manager position, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports. Rizzo and Owens join James Click as the only candidates linked to the job thus far, though it isn’t clear if Click has actually interviewed. Nightengale writes that the A’s “would like to make their hire before the season’s conclusion,” so it would seem like an announcement could be coming fairly soon. Since former GM David Forst was let go a little over a month ago, the A’s have had plenty of time to speak to multiple candidates beyond just the publicly-known names. The 65-year-old Rizzo spent over a decade as a scout and scouting director with the White Sox, Red Sox, and Diamondbacks before joining the Nationals as an assistant GM midway through the 2006 season. After Nats GM Jim Bowden resigned just prior to the start of the 2009 campaign, Rizzo was elevated to interim GM, and then was given the full-time job before the end of the year. Rizzo’s 17-year run in charge of Washington’s front office was highlighted by the club’s World Series triumph in 2019, as the Nats finally won it all after several playoff disappointments. The Nationals won four NL East titles while posting winning records every year from 2012-19, with such homegrown stars as Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, and Anthony Rendon (all drafted on Rizzo’s watch) playing critical roles in that success. Rizzo also added Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, and more via high-profile signings and trades, plus Juan Soto was the crown jewel of Washington’s international scouting department. 2019 remains the Nationals’ last winning season, however, as Rizzo had a lot more difficulty launching the team’s next era of success. Though such rebuilding efforts as the blockbuster Soto trade in 2022 brought a lot of new talent into Washington’s organization, but a lack of draft success left the Nats still stuck in the blocks. An 11-game losing streak in June 2025 was probably the last straw for ownership, and Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez were both fired a week into July 2025. While Rizzo and Click are both World Series-winning general managers, Owens would be a first-time GM who has been with the A’s for most of the last three decades. Owens joined the organization as a minor league hitting instructor in 1999, and he has worked his way up the ladder in such roles as a scout, scouting coordinator, director of player personnel, and (since 2015) the assistant general manager position. The Angels and Mets both interviewed Owens as part of GM searches during the 2020-21 offseason, and the Giants also had some interest in speaking with Owens when San Francisco was looking for a GM to work under president of baseball operations Buster Posey following the 2024 season (the Giants went with Zack Minasian as an internal promotion). The resumes of the three known candidates indicate that the A’s are taking a broad approach to their interview process. Hiring Owens would maintain the continuity that has lasted within the Athletics’ front office for decades, as Forst was an assistant GM under Billy Beane, who was an AGM under Sandy Alderson. However, the A’s might prefer an entirely new direction as the team prepares to move to Las Vegas for the 2028 season. A managerial change may not necessarily follow a GM hiring, as Nightengale writes that skipper Mark Kotsay “is considered safe.” Kotsay is just wrapping up the first season of a three-year contract extension that runs through 2028, and he has only a 315-482 record over his four-plus seasons running the team’s dugout. Kotsay can only be assigned so much blame for that record, as his tenure has included a rebuild, the team’s move to Sacramento, and the difficulties involved in playing home games in an extremely hitter-friendly minor league ballpark. On the other hand, expectations were certainly somewhat higher given how the A’s have invested more money in extending several core players over the last two seasons. It is possible Owens might prefer to stick with a familiar face as manager, but one would imagine a GM new to the organization would want to make their own hire. Speculatively speaking, Kotsay could be retained through 2027 just to steward the Athletics through their final year in Sacramento, but (if the A’s don’t start winning) a new manager could then be hired for 2028 and the fresh start associated with the club’s first year in Vegas.