PHOENIX

When the A's rolled out Bob Geren as their new manager last fall, there was much discussion about communication, open doors and an old friendship.

Although it's true that Geren is perceived to be more player-friendly than his predecessor, and it's true that he was the best man at Billy Beane's wedding, that is only part of the story.

The A's general manager insists that he hired Geren not as a favor to his friend, but because of his well-developed baseball acumen.

"I always thought Bob would be a very good major-league manager," Beane said. "He has a love for the game, a passion for the game. He has a passion about learning. He has a strong desire to constantly improve himself."

Bob Schaefer saw as much 13 years ago. Schaefer, now the A's bench coach, was the Red Sox director of player development in 1994, when he sidled up to a young catching instructor and asked him if he wanted to manage.

"I thought his talents were wasted (as a catching instructor)," Schaefer said this week. "We used to talk baseball all the time. He asked me all kinds of questions. I just felt he'd be a helluva manager. He was enthusiastic, players liked him, and he knew the game. He studied the game. I said, 'I've got to make this guy a manager.'"

When Schaefer asked Geren if he'd be interested in managing, Geren needed only "10 seconds" to tell Schaefer that he was ready.

Although he'd spent just one season as a roving catching instructor in the Red Sox system, Geren had been preparing to manage throughout a rather unspectacular 15-season playing career.

Geren, 45, spent most of his time in the minor leagues, bouncing from one organization to the next. He hit .233 in parts of five big-league seasons spent mostly as a backup.

"There were only two kinds of pitchers, I couldn't hit, starters and relievers," Geren joked.

He was a backup with the Padres in 1993. Days before the trading deadline, the Padres acquired Brad Ausmus, so they asked Geren to go to Triple A. Geren, who was 32 at the time, asked if he'd be back up when rosters expanded in September. Probably not, he was told. Would he start at Triple A? Probably not.

Geren instead asked if he could work as an advance scout. A couple of days later, the Padres made him a part-time advance scout, part-time minor-league catching instructor, and a new career was born.

Once he became a manager in 1995, he saw that all those years behind the plate had helped prepare him for the decisions he faced.

"If you come back to the dugout and they say, 'Why did you call a curveball there?' you don't just say 'I think he was looking for a fastball,'" Geren said. "You have to have a reason why. I think that's why a lot of catchers tend to be managers."

Geren moved up the managerial ladder in the Boston system until Beane hired him to manage at Class-A Modesto in 1999. Beane and Geren had been acquaintances since they were teenagers in San Diego, but they didn't become friends until both were in pro ball in the early '80s.

Geren advanced in the A's system and was finally promoted to the big-league staff in 2003 as the bullpen coach. Because of his relationship to Beane, it was widely assumed that Beane had always planned for Geren to one day manage the A's. Beane insists that's not the case.

Geren also said that he doesn't expect to be a puppet for Beane.

"Anytime you get two baseball people on a subject, they can disagree, friendship or not," he said. "I have a lot of respect for him as a GM, and he has a lot of respect for me as a manager, since he hired me. He's going to trust my judgment, obviously, and go from there."

Beane told Geren that the lineup decisions and in-game decisions would be his to make.

"Do what you think is right," Beane told him. "You are the manager, and it's your team."

Like Beane, Geren does believe in following the numbers, but he said he's not dogmatic about it.

"I don't live or die by one certain thing," he said. "I use a combination of things."

Most of the A's know Geren just as a bullpen coach or bench coach, the jobs he held for the past four years. To them, his communication skills and easy-going attitude will be a welcome change from former manager Ken Macha. Players have also said they expect to see Geren get out of the dugout to defend them to umpires more than Macha did.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeff Fletcher at 521-5489 or jeff.fletcher@pressdemocrat.com.