Sam Fuld

When you make a hire like Taylor Smith, I am focused on what are, what is the owner saying about this hire? And in this case, they are opening a franchise in a new city.

They went after Sam Fuld to be their president of baseball operations, and they were pretty public about it.

And Sam Fuld, who just got a degree award, and Sam Fuld, who was taking over as head of business operations in Philadelphia, Sam Fuld turned down the job.

Taylor Smith was not the first choice to be president of baseball operations.

It is not uncommon that you don't get your first choice.

We are back for another deep dive into the Bay Area baseball scene, but today we are looking at the entire American League landscape.

[upbeat music] Today, we're talking about three things: first, how the Astros managed to clinch despite having the worst record for a division winner ever; second, the bizarre legal drama surrounding Zach Gelof suing the Tigers over a metal fence; and third, what Sam Fuld declining the presidency means for the A's front office moving forward.

[upbeat music] That is exactly where we are heading.

Let's get into the chaos of the AL West standings and why nobody saw this coming until the final out was recorded on Sunday.

For the A's, it meant watching the Astros slip by while we were fighting through our own internal battles.

And now we have to deal with the aftermath.

Not just the losses, but the off-field stories, like the news that Sam Fuld declined the offer to become the Athletics president of baseball operations.

[static] Wow.

It's a wild end to the 2026 season for Oakland.

We're talking about Zack Gelof suing over that metal fence incident, Sam Fuld declining the presidency, and the absurdity of an 81-win team winning a division where the winner had fewer wins than the sixth-place team in some other leagues.

It's a lot to unpack.

[static]

First, we break down the Astros' bizarre 81 to 81 title win and what it means for playoff integrity.

Second, we dive into the legal fallout of the Gelof lawsuit and what it signals for stadium safety.

And third, we look at the A's front office search after Sam Fuld said no. [notification pings]

Right? And we can't ignore the elephant in the room, injuries.

...

Don and then you go to the other interesting part of this, right? Sam Fuld who's in the or- in the front office who's the under Dombrowski and Mattingly.

Yeah give a lot of background here 'cause I think that, you know, the even like fans like me who follow the day to day to of the team closely, I don't know the palace intrigue stuff and the in- so, so yeah I w- I want you to explain this but you know kinda o- over explain it to people who don't even know who that is.

Yeah so he's a, a guy that has long been seen as quote like a future GM.

You left the biggest one out.

Sam Fuld, my bad.

Sam Fuld.

Yeah.

He's, he's like the guy.

He's the smartest guy in sports right now.

I'm, I'm being dead serious.

I mean, you know I'm not out on Sam Fuld.

All right.

Sam Fuld, it seemed like, was going to take the A's President of Baseball Ops job.

I saw that.

And all of a sudden, 'cause I had the sense he was gonna take that job, he said no, and he's staying here.