The Milwaukee Brewers have seemingly been taking their sweet old time in their search for a new general manager. Owner Mark Attanasio said this would be the case as he hopes to hire a young GM with a strong analytics background. Did he find a potential top candidate this week?
The Brewers have received permission from the Oakland Athletics to interview their assistant general manager, Dan Kantrovitz, according to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal. Sources also told Rosenthal the Brewers plan to interview Tampa Bay Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom on Thursday.
Prior to these rumors, the only other candidate said to have been granted an interview with Milwaukee was Pittsburgh Pirates director of player development Tyrone Brooks. It was also reported Brewers' VP of amateur scouting Ray Montgomery is an internal candidate the team is considering for the open GM position. They're also keeping tabs on Red Sox assistant GM Mike Hazen, as are the Los Angeles Angels.
Here's a quick rundown of the latest candidates to enter the discussion:
Dan Kantrovitz
The former St. Louis Cardinals director of amateur scouting was hired by Athletics general manager Billy Beane in November of 2014 after Oakland lost assistant GM Farhan Zaidi to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kantrovitz, 36, oversaw the Cardinals' drafts that yielded pitchers Michael Wacha and Marco Gonzales.
He began his front office career with the Cardinals in 2004, then took a position with the Athletics from 2009-2011, which encompassed "responsibilities in international operations and baseball operations analysis," according to the Oakland Athletics website.
After returning to the Cardinals for nearly three seasons, he went back to Oakland to work under Beane, where "he is 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 seems like he's right up Attanasio's alley.
Chaim Bloom
Bloom moved up in the ranks with the Rays after Andrew Friedman departed for the Los Angeles Dodgers. After that happened, Matt Silverman took over as president of baseball operations and Bloom was promoted to VP of baseball operations following three years as the team's director of baseball operations.
"He assists Silverman in all aspects of the baseball operations department, including contract negotiation, arbitration and trade analysis, as well as management of the major league rules and roster," according to the Rays website. "In addition, Chaim oversees the Rays international scouting efforts, and aids Mitch Lukevics in steering all levels of the minor league system."
Similar to the Athletics, the Rays organization is known for their analytics department because their payroll (one of the lowest in the MLB) doesn't allow them to acquire premiere talent. The development of Milwaukee's farm system in recent years has been poor to say the least, while the Rays have had one of the best systems in the MLB for years.
Stay tuned for updates regarding the Brewers' GM search.
