Cardinals scouting director Dan Kantrovitz leaves for Oakland Athletics

St. Louis Cardinals scouting director Dan Kantrovitz has been hired by the Oakland Athletics to serve as their assistant general manager.

Kantrovitz took over the position of scouting director when the Houston Astros hired Jeff Luhnow as their general manager. He served in this role during the 2012-14 seasons after coming over from the Oakland Athletics, where he held responsibilities during the 2009-11 seasons in both international operations and baseball operations analysis.

Before his first go-around with the A’s, Kantrovitz had worked in the the Cardinals baseball operations department since 2004.

This is a big move for Kantrovitz’ career in baseball and it shows that the Cardinals scouting director can be a stepping stone to other front office positions in baseball.

Luhnow was the Cardinals scouting director from 2005-2011. Before him, the position belonged to that of John Mozeliak, who became the team’s twelfth general manager after the 2007 season. Mozeliak served as scouting director of the Cardinals during the 1999-00 seasons before being promoted to Director of Baseball Operations and in 2003, Assistant General Manager.

While Kantrovitz is on to bigger and better things, the Cardinals scouting department will survive. I expect that the Cardinals will fill the position with an internal candidate rather than going outside the organization.