Mark Kotsay

Decision cost by category

Record

34-35

wins-losses

Games

75

with decision data

Lineup

3.25 R 0.05 R/G

Bunts

1.34 R 0.02 R/G

IBBs

1.59 R 0.02 R/G

Relievers

10.23 R 0.15 R/G

Season to date · categories cover different scopes and aren't summed into a total — reliever selection is high-leverage spots only; the Relievers leaderboard shows a rolling 30-day window.

Cost by category

Oakland Athletics cost themselves 3.25 R from lineup decisions, 10.23 R from high-leverage reliever selection, 1.34 R from bunts, 1.59 R from intentional walks.

LINEUP DECISIONS · 3.25 R RELIEVER SELECTION · 10.23 R BUNTS · 1.34 R INTENTIONAL WALKS · 1.59 R

Season to date · shown per category, not summed — reliever selection is high-leverage spots only (the Relievers board uses a rolling 30-day window).

How this compares — league ranking

Lineup decisions

Mark Kotsay ranks 26th of 30 managers in MLB.

1 Dave Roberts LAD 0.87 R
2 John Schneider TOR 1.08 R
3 Pat Murphy MIL 1.26 R
…
26 Mark Kotsay ATH 3.25 R
…
28 Carlos Mendoza NYM 3.71 R
29 Joe Espada HOU 3.84 R
30 Will Venable CWS 4.08 R

Bunt decisions

Mark Kotsay ranks 18th of 30 managers in MLB.

1 Walt Weiss ATL 0.00 R
2 Aaron Boone NYY 0.09 R
3 A.J. Hinch DET 0.39 R
…
18 Mark Kotsay ATH 1.34 R
…
28 Torey Lovullo AZ 2.80 R
29 Pat Murphy MIL 2.76 R
30 Will Venable CWS 2.88 R

Intentional walks

Mark Kotsay ranks 19th of 30 managers in MLB.

1 Don Mattingly PHI 0.11 R
2 Chad Tracy BOS 0.17 R
3 Walt Weiss ATL 0.33 R
…
19 Mark Kotsay ATH 1.59 R
…
28 Terry Francona CIN 2.90 R
29 Kurt Suzuki LAA 3.42 R
30 Pat Murphy MIL 4.11 R

Game-by-game breakdown

Last 7 in tenure · Δ R/G

Jun 18 vs LAA W Ryan Johnson 5-0 +0.01 Jun 17 vs PIT L Braxton Ashcraft 4-12 +0.53 Jun 16 vs PIT L Mitch Keller 5-6 +2.45

⚐ Pulled too late cost ~2.44 R

Jun 15 vs PIT W Jared Jones 11-2 +0.14 Jun 14 vs COL L Tomoyuki Sugano 9-23 +0.73

⚐ Pulled too late cost ~0.73 R

Jun 13 vs COL W Kyle Freeland 7-5 +1.88

⚐ Pulled too late cost ~1.88 R

Jun 12 vs COL W Sean Sullivan 6-4 +0.02

Most costly decisions

Flagged · click for detail

JUN 16 · vs PIT +2.45 R/G

Pulled too late cost ~2.44 R

vs Mitch Keller · L 5-6

JUN 13 · vs COL +1.88 R/G

Pulled too late cost ~1.88 R

vs Kyle Freeland · W 7-5

JUN 14 · vs COL +0.73 R/G

Pulled too late cost ~0.73 R

vs Tomoyuki Sugano · L 9-23

Tenure summary

Mark Kotsay manages the Oakland Athletics, with their current tenure beginning March 26, 2026.

Through 75 games of decision data, their tactical decisions cost the team an estimated 6.18 R across lineup construction, bunt strategy, and intentional walks. Lineup decisions accounted for 3.25 R of that — the largest single category.

The team's 34-35 record places them 1 game under .500. Kotsay has called 12 sacrifice bunts (1.34 R in expected runs). Intentional walks have been issued 9 times for an expected cost of 1.59 R.

Deep analytical views

The overview above is the SEO surface. Each link below opens the interactive analyzer for that decision type — sortable lists, per-game breakdowns, and the underlying numbers.

Keep reading

How this is calculated

Stats reflect only Mark Kotsay's tenure as Athletics manager — events from before the start date or after the end date are excluded. Lineup cost is the difference between an optimized batting order and the one actually used, summed across regular-season games. Bunt and intentional-walk costs come from per-decision run-expectancy deltas. Pitching cost is the sum of pull-timing and reliever-selection runs lost. Costs are shown as a season total and a per-game rate (R/G); rankings compare this tenure's per-game rate against the league-wide distribution of current and recent manager tenures. RunsLeft does not assign letter grades — the costs and rankings are descriptive analytics.

Read the full methodology. Career managing history coming in v2 with Lahman integration.