Athletics name Dan Kantrovitz assistant general manager, replacing departed Farhan Zaidi

The Athletics have named St. Louis Cardinals scouting director Dan Kantrovitz as a new assistant general manager, replacing Farhan Zaidi, who took the Los Angeles Dodgers general manager position. In a press release, the Athletics said, "Kantrovitz will be involved in all aspects of the A's baseball operations department with a primary focus on overseeing statistical analysis for evaluating and targeting players in the amateur draft, free agent and trade markets." Kantrovitz previously served as international scouting director for the Athletics from 2009-11 before joining the Cardinals.

The Brown- and Harvard-educated former shortstop was responsible for signing third base prospect Renato Nunez, who was recently added to the Oakland 40-man roster. With the Cardinals, Kantrovitz drafted rapid-risers Michael Wacha and Marco Gonzales. Prior to joining the A's in 2009, Kantrovitz was with the Cardinals organization.

A's and Cardinals playing Adam Rosales games with Dan Kantrovitz.

— Jason Wojciechowski (@jlwoj) November 24, 2014

Speaking to Tyler Bleszinski at the end of 2012 spring training, A's general manager Billy Beane said of the then-recently departed Kantrovitz:

He did a great job of really building an infrastructure here for us in looking at the international market. Sam Geaney who was our assistant scouting director, is going to take over as the coordinator of international scouting. He's taken right where Dan left off. But Dan did a fantastic job and worked really hard the last three years of putting the pillars in place. We're way farther ahead than we were years ago in knowing what is going on from an international standpoint.

The San Diego Padres hired Geaney as director of player development last month. Kantrovitz joins David Forst as Athletics front office personnel with the assistant general manager title.