OAKLAND -- Bob Melvin’s surprising departure to manage the Padres leaves the A’s set to conduct their first true managerial search since 2006.

The process should last at least a few weeks as the A’s decide which direction they want to go. Given Melvin’s vast experience, it might make sense for the club to find another manager with a similar pedigree to fill the void. However, it’s also important to note that during the 2021 postseason, seven of the 10 teams that qualified had managers who, when hired by that club, were first-time skippers at the Major League level.

Moving on from Melvin, who left his imprint as the winningest manager in Oakland history, it will be important for the next hire to find a way to maintain the current clubhouse culture. Here’s a look at some in-house managerial candidates the A’s will consider:

Mark Kotsay
After playing 17 big league seasons, including four with the A’s from 2004-07, Kotsay has worked his way up the coaching ladder to position himself as an ideal managerial candidate. It began in '14 with the Padres as a special assistant to the front office. A move to San Diego’s coaching side came in ‘15 when he served as the club’s hitting coach.

Kotsay returned to the A’s as a bench coach in 2016 and immediately worked as Melvin’s right-hand man. From 2017-20, Kotsay worked as a quality control coach before shifting to third-base coach for the '21 season.

Having interviewed with the Tigers, Astros and Giants for their managerial openings over the last few offseasons, Kotsay, 45, is highly thought of around the league. Given his age and built-in relationships with A’s players and front-office members, there may not be a better place for him to get his managerial career started than Oakland.

Ryan Christenson
No candidate has more history with the A’s and a better understanding of how the club operates than Christenson. He was drafted by Oakland in the 10th round of the 1995 MLB Draft, spent seven years in the organization as a player and returned shortly after retiring from playing in 2013 to get into coaching in the A’s Minor League system.

Christenson built up quite the resume in the Minors, one that includes back-to-back league championships from 2015-16 as manager of the Double-A Midland Rockhounds. Having managed at every level from Class A to Triple-A, Christenson played a key role in the development of current A’s stars like Matt Chapman, Matt Olson and Chad Pinder.

Serving as bench coach to Melvin since 2018, an elevation to manager could be a seamless transition for Christenson.

Fran Riordan
Talk about taking the hard road. Riordan spent 18 years in the Independent Leagues -- the first seven years came as a player from 1997-2003, with the final four seasons spent as a player-manager before moving into strictly a managerial role in '04. It wasn’t until '15 that Riordan finally was hired by a Major League organization, with the A’s assigning him to manage the Class A Beloit Snappers of the Midwest League that year. Moving up the ranks, Riordan has spent the past four years managing at Triple-A, earning Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year honors for his work with the Las Vegas Aviators in '19.

In recent seasons, Riordan has spent time with the A’s big league roster both during Spring Training and in short September stints near the end of the regular season. The 46-year-old Minor League manager has become well-known for his creative ways of delivering news to Minor Leaguers of their big league callup. Were Riordan to receive his own big league call, it would certainly make for a great underdog story.

Bobby Crosby
Crosby, who won the American League Rookie of the Year Award as a shortstop with the A’s in 2004, has spent the past three years in the organization as a Minor League coach. His managerial debut came in 2021 with Midland. Since joining Oakland as a coach, though, Crosby has stood out for his work with the organization’s top infield prospects throughout the system.

Of the in-house options, Crosby, 41, has the least coaching experience, which might leave him still a couple of years away from truly emerging as a big league managerial option.