The Oakland Athletics may not be able to reshape their roster due to the Major League Baseball lockout. But they can still fill a major need while a new collective bargaining agreement is negotiated.

Oakland is in need of a manager after Bob Melvin, who spend 11 years with the A's, ditched the team and joined the San Diego Padres. According to MLB Network's Jon Heyman, the Athletics have interviewed Joe Espada for the job.

Espada was drafted in the second round of the amateur draft by Oakland in 1996. The infielder never cracked the big leagues and played for a decade in the minor leagues.

Since 2018, Espada has served as the bench coach for the Houston Astros and he has experience coaching in the minor leagues as well. He has been in the mix for a manager job before, interviewing very well with the Chicago Cubs in 2019. Currently, he is a candidate for the New York Mets' managerial opening.

The Athletics, coming off of an 86-win season, seem to be on the downswing. Veteran outfielders Starling Marte and Mark Canha left in free agency and first baseman Matt Olson has been heavily involved in trade talks this offseason.

Due to his abundance of experience playing minor-league baseball, Espada would be a sensible candidate for the Athletics should they choose to embrace a long rebuild. Oakland will need to find the right manager no matter what their goals for this season are, but it would be especially helpful to have the right guy look over a rebuilding team.