Oakland Athletics to keep manager Bob Melvin for future

After the Oakland Athletics quietly ended their 2018 season Wednesday with a wild-card loss to the New York Yankees, they are hoping to make some noise in 2019.

It will start at the top, at least as far as securing manager Bob Melvin for the future.

"Bob is one of the best in the game and he's perfect for us," A's vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane told reporters Friday alongside Melvin and general manager David Forst. "The idea is he's here for a long time and for the rest of his career. Our feeling is that Bob's the right guy for this club and should be going forward. [That's] another question that we hope to have answered in the offseason."

Oakland finished 97-65 in the regular season, its best record during Melvin's seven-plus seasons as manager of the A's, who have gone to the playoffs four times in that span. He took over for Bob Geren about one-third of the way into the 2011 season.

The 97 wins, good enough for second place in the American League West behind the defending world champion Houston Astros, were the most by the franchise since the A's managed 103 victories in 2002.

"Despite the disappointment of the other day (the 7-2 loss to the Yankees), it was a very satisfying season," Beane said. "We finished strong last year. I think we had expectations we would get better, but these guys exceeded how much better with their performance."

The A's are also looking to keep star players such as second baseman Jed Lowrie and outfielder Khris Davis, the team's leader in home runs (48) who isn't scheduled to become a free agent until after the 2019 season.

"As impressive as some of these younger players were, we feel like they can even get better, so I'm excited about where we're going from here," Melvin said. "I expect us to have results again next year. Obviously, we're going to have to add some pieces and make some decisions on some free agents but I'm really excited about where this team's going."

(With inputs from agencies.)