There hasn’t been much buzz about the Athletics’ GM search since the team parted ways with David Forst earlier this month, but a former rival executive from the AL West appears to be on the radar. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes that James Click “has emerged as a serious candidate” to become the Athletics’ new front office boss.
Click was the Astros’ general manager from January 2020 to November 2022, and his three seasons in charge saw Houston reach the ALCS in 2020, win the AL pennant in 2021, and win the World Series in 2022. Despite this success, Click was still let go after his initial three-year contract expired, as he turned down a one-year extension from Astros owner Jim Crane that was widely seen as a token offer. Reports of friction between Crane and Click emerged during the 2022 season, and the unusual outcome was a championship team making a GM change within a week of winning the Fall Classic.
It didn’t take long for Click to find a new job, as he has been working in the Blue Jays’ front office since February 2023 under a title of “vice president of baseball strategy.” The Red Sox had interest in Click when they were looking for a new front office boss after the 2023 season but he pulled himself from consideration, and Click was also interviewed for the Rockies’ head of baseball operations job last winter before Colorado hired Paul DePodesta.
The 48-year-old Click got started in baseball as an intern with the Rays in 2005, which began a 15-year stretch in Tampa Bay that saw Click promoted to the role of VP of baseball operations in 2017. Click’s tenure in Houston both began and ended under strange circumstances, as Click was hired in the wake of the sign-stealing scandal that saw former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow fired.
Being hired by the A’s would also represent something of a unique challenge for Click or any executive, as the team is just a year away from completing its move to Las Vegas. The A’s have one more season to go at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento before their new ballpark in Vegas is completed, and the expectation (though Oakland fans are justified in rolling their eyes) is that owner John Fisher will boost the team’s payroll once the A’s are in their new city. The Athletics have indeed already started spending more in the last couple of years — Luis Severino was signed to a $67MM free agent deal, and such in-house players as Brent Rooker, Lawrence Butler, Tyler Soderstrom, and Jacob Wilson were all signed to contract extensions.
Unfortunately, the extra spending hasn’t translated to the franchise’s first winning season since 2021. The A’s had brutal starts in both 2024 and 2025 before playing respectable baseball after the All-Star break, leading to some thought that this year’s team could be a darkhorse wild card contender. The Athletics were hanging in there with a 38-38 record on June 19 before the bottom fell out, as several lineup injuries and a continued lack of pitching has left the club with a miserable 53-83 mark entering today’s action.
Click’s time in Tampa Bay has given him plenty of experience working within limited payrolls, if Fisher’s spending increase still leaves the A’s as a mid-tier payroll team at best. He also naturally brings some championship pedigree to the table, and the fact that Dana Brown (Click’s successor as Astros GM) has already been let go adds credence to the idea that Crane’s heavy hand in baseball operations decisions was the larger factor in Click’s dismissal than anything Click did or didn’t do.
Click is the first name linked to the A’s vacancy, and it is widely expected that Fisher will go outside the organization for the hire. Before Forst became the Athletics’ official lead of baseball ops in November 2022, he was the longtime chief lieutenant of former GM Billy Beane, who became general manager in 1997 after becoming an assistant GM since 1993. The continuity of the Beane/Forst era led to lots of on-field success for the Athletics, but a new voice is now expected to take charge as the club prepares for its new era in Las Vegas.
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