BOSTON — The Athletics announced Friday afternoon that the club was parting ways with general manager David Forst, effective immediately. The mid-season shakeup at the top of the front office came as the A's entered Friday’s road series against the Red Sox with a 45-70 record.
Assistant general manager Dan Feinstein has been named interim general manager for the remainder of the 2026 season.
"David has been an integral part of the A’s and our success for nearly three decades," A’s owner and managing partner John Fisher said in a press release. "His leadership, dedication, and commitment to this team have helped shape our baseball operations department and position us for the future. We are grateful for everything David has done for our organization.”
The news was first reported by Ken Rosenthal, Charlotte Varnes and Melissa Lockard of The Athletic, who described the move as more of a firing rather than what the team described to be a mutual decision to break up.
“It was truly an honor to spend the last 27 years with the A’s, especially the last 11 as the GM,” Forst said in the release. “This organization is full of incredibly talented, devoted, and good people, and I am lucky to have worked alongside them for so long.”
Manager Mark Kotsay called a team meeting in the visitor’s clubhouse at Fenway Park to inform his players. Right-fielder Lawrence Butler told Greg Levinsky of MLB.com that the news came as a “shock” to him and his teammates.
Forst, 50, began his front-office career as a scout with the A’s in 2000. He was named assistant general manager to Billy Beane in 2004 and was promoted to general manager ahead of the 2016 campaign.
Under Forst's leadership, Oakland made the postseason for three straight years from 2018-20. The lone division title for the A’s came in the 2020 season. A year later, the organization’s rebuild began as stars Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Sean Murphy were traded away.
Much of the Athletics’ current major league core have been drafted by Forst and his front office. In 2020, Forst selected Tyler Soderstrom with the 26th overall pick out of Turlock High School. Other draft picks include Butler, Jacob Wilson, Nick Kurtz and Henry Bolte.
Forst also made key trades that brought sluggers Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers into the organization. At the 2024 trade deadline, Forst acquired Pitman High School graduate Kade Morris from the New York Mets in exchange for former All-Star Paul Blackburn.
In the recent years leading up to the club’s expected relocation to Las Vegas ahead of the 2028 season, Forst displayed a change in approach to retaining young, homegrown talent.
In Jan. 2025, Rooker and the Athletics agreed to a five-year, $60 million contract extension. Two months later, the club agreed to a seven-year, $65.5 million contract extension with Butler.
Soderstrom was next to secure a long-term deal with the A’s, inking a seven-year, $86 million extension in December. It remains the largest guaranteed contract in club history.
Wilson also cashed in with a seven-year, $70 million extension in January.
The end of Forst’s tenure came just four days removed from a relatively quiet trade deadline this year. The club walked away with its lone transaction Monday being a minor league deal that sent the organization’s former No. 3 prospect, outfielder Colby Thomas, to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for reliever Seth Johnson.
The A’s have used the injured list 26 times this year. That total doesn’t count the organization’s five pitchers currently on the IL down in Triple-A Las Vegas. Between the two levels, 14 different pitchers have been placed on the IL this season. On July 13, in the midst of a nine-game losing streak and an American League-worst 5.21 team ERA, longtime pitching coach Scott Emerson was dismissed.
