OAKLAND -- Ken Macha, entering the third year of his three-year contract as the A's manager, could have an extension in place by the start of Spring Training.

A's general manager Billy Beane told MLB.com on Thursday that he's had preliminary talks with Macha's agent, Alan Nero, and said he hopes to get something formalized within the next several weeks.

"The talks we've had haven't been real substantive so far, but it's something we'd like to get done," Beane said. "Whether it gets done before Spring Training or not, we'll just have to see how things go. But we're obviously pleased with what Kenny's done here, and he deserves to be rewarded."

Macha, who was Art Howe's bench coach in Oakland for four years before replacing Howe at the helm before the 2003 season, is 187-137 with the A's. His 2003 club went 96-66 while winning the American League West, and last season the A's fell a game short of making the playoff for a fifth consecutive season, going 91-71 to finish second behind the Anaheim Angels.

"It's been a great two years," Macha said of his job as a big league skipper. "Hopefully we can work it out so I'll be there a long time."

Macha, 54, said he wasn't particularly concerned with a timetable for getting the extension done. He pointed out that prior to signing the three-year deal with the A's, he'd been working under a series of one-year deals throughout his coaching career, which includes 13 seasons on a Major League staff and four as a minor league manager.

"The security I've had here has been nice, but I've worked without it before," he said. "And I've got my contract here for this season, so there's not a lot of urgency to get it done as far as I'm concerned. It'd be nice to get it done sooner rather than later, but there's still some things to talk about, and I'm sure we'll get something worked out that everyone's happy with."

Macha, whose current deal calls for annual salaries in the neighborhood of $600,000, said he hadn't put much thought into how many years or dollars he's like on an extension.

"There's never a whole lot of security in this business, so you'd always like to get as much as you can," he offered. "But that's all going to get worked out in time. It's just nice to know what they want me around a while longer."

Beane didn't discuss specifics, either.

"I think it's a little too early for that," he said. "Let's just say that we want Kenny to be part of the future here and leave it there for now. The details will come as we have more conversations."

Meanwhile, Macha will be at home in Pennsylvania, keeping busy playing basketball and keeping his karate skills sharp while toying with lineup and starting rotation possibilities for the revamped 2005 A's.

"It's been a good offseason," he said, "but it's almost time to crank things up again here. The club's made a lot of changes, so I'm looking forward to getting out [to Arizona] and meeting some of these new guys we've brought in.

"It's going to be an interesting spring and an interesting year."