The A's are currently nine games under .500 and seemingly in freefall. You might think the front office deserves a failing grade in 2016 for that alone, but evaluating management is a difficult endeavor. Moves like trading for Chris Coghlan or not trading Sonny Gray seem to be disastrous now, but there's a line in the sand where evaluation ends and plain luck begins. We just can't expect the guys in charge to perfectly predict the future, especially in a small sample in an unpredictable sport.
We can, however, judge aspects of the process. Here are my thoughts on the A's decision making in 2016 thus far.