This year, the Oakland Athletics did something unexpected – they fired Mike Gallego mid-season and hired Ron Washington as their full time third base and infield coach. When the A’s brought on Washington as an additional infield coach in May to specifically help with Marcus Semien’s fielding, many had thought that he might earn a full time position with the Athletics at some point. The surprising part about this change was that it happened during the season.

Now, since the Athletics felt comfortable enough firing their third base coach in August, one would expect that Washington would at least stay on for one more season. He has coached in Oakland before and is well liked in the clubhouse and front office. Additionally, he has a knack for working well with young rookies – something the Athletics will have a lot of over the next few years.

However, Washington does have quite a bit managerial experience, which makes him a desirable candidate for teams who are looking to fill that position. Washington left the Athletics organization in 2006 to become the manager of the Texas Rangers. He was the manager of the Rangers from 2007 – 2014. After the 2014 season, Washington resigned for personal reasons. Washington’s managerial record with Texas included two pennants and four consecutive 90-win seasons (2010–13).

It already seems as though there are a handful of teams looking for new managers for the 2016 season. And, because of his success with the Rangers, Washington has already been linked to several teams who are looking for a skipper including the San Diego Padres and the Washington Nationals. These two teams would benefit from a manager who already is experienced and Washington fits that bill.

Even though the A’s have not been asked by either team if they could interview Washington for the open manager spot, what would happen if they do? This would certainly mean that the Athletics would need to look for a new third base/infield coach. But, more damaging is the fact that they could possibly lose someone who has a great track record when it comes to working with young players.

Semien has made great strides this season since Washington joined the team. Additionally, the A’s want Max Muncy to start fielding at second base and Jake Smolinski to be able to play at first. Billy Burns could even benefit from some additional base running coaching since he did make a few mistakes this season. These rookies are more likely to improve their overall game if Washington stays with Oakland. If Washington does leave, all of the hard work the Athletics put into the infield defense would likely go down the drain.

It would be interesting to see if Washington even wants to jump back into a managerial role. He left his job in Texas in order to focus more on his family. It has only been about a year since he left the Rangers and it may be too soon for him step back into a manager position. If he did decide that he wanted to be a manager and the A’s gave other organizations permission to interview Washington, his absence would surely hurt this young team.