Under Bob Melvin the Oakland Athletics won 94 games in 2012 , a 20 game improvement over the previous season. Melvin was named the 2012 American League Manager of the Year. Melvin was the second manager in Oakland history to earn BBWAA’s Manager of the Year award. Tony LaRussa won in 1988 and 1992. Today the Oakland Athletics announced Monday the club has agreed to terms with Manager Bob Melvin on a two-year contract extension through the 2016 season. Melvin was was originally named Oakland’s interim manager June 9, 2011 and subsequently signed a three-year contract through the 2014 season on Sept. 21, 2011. Melvin has posted a 141-120 record (.574) since managing the A’s.
Oakland trailed the Texas Rangers by five games with nine games to play last season and became the first team in Major League history to rally from a deficit of five or more games with fewer than 10 games remaining to win a division or pennant. Oakland was not expected to compete in the American League West. In his nine seasons of managing Seattle (2003-04), Arizona (2005-09) and Oakland (2011-12), he has registered a Major League career record of 634-628 (.502).
Repeating the feat in 2012 will not be easy. The A’s have a limited payroll, but they are rich with starting pitching, with Brett Anderson and 2012 rookies A.J. Griffin, Tommy Milone, Dan Straily and Jarrod Parker. And while Josh Reddick and Yoenis Cespedes emerged as productive hitters in 2012 the team, Oakland will need more of the same in 2013 and then some. Oakland reached into the international market to find a starting shortstop, signing Hiroyuki Nakajima to a two-year $6.5 million deal in mid-December
