Bob Alejo back as A's Strength Coach

OAKLAND -- Bob Alejo, best known for his ties to former A's slugger and current free-agent first baseman Jason Giambi, was hired Tuesday for a second tour of duty as Oakland's strength and conditioning coach.

The A's last month announced that they would not be renewing the contract of Clarence Cockrell, who had been the club's strength coach for seven seasons. Cockrell had replaced Alejo, who held the same post with Oakland from 1993-2001.

In a statement released by the team's public relations staff, the A's said Alejo will be responsible for all aspects of the organization's year-round conditioning program at both the Major and Minor League levels.

Alejo spent the past four years as the director of strength and conditioning at UC Santa Barbara, and he was a member of the United States Olympic Team in 2008 as the strength and conditioning coach for the men's beach volleyball team of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, which won gold in Beijing.

Before joining the A's in 1993, Alejo was strength and conditioning coach for Chico State's football team and later moved to UCLA as an assistant conditioning coach for all sports except football.

When Giambi signed with the Yankees after the '01 season, he hired Alejo away from Oakland to serve as his personal trainer. Giambi admitted to investigators in the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs that he used steroids, but Alejo was never implicated in the case, and he's never been mentioned in connection with steroids.

The addition of Alejo surely will lead to speculation that the A's are interested in bringing back Giambi. Oakland's brass has a policy against publicly discussing free-agent pursuits. The Yankees announced Tuesday that they will not pick up Giambi's option for 2009.

Mychael Urban is a national writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.