Nationals assistant general manager of baseball research and development Sam Mondry-Cohen has informed the club he will not return once his contract expires at the end of the season, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. While Mondry-Cohen does not currently have a new job lined up, he’s planning to pursue opportunities with other clubs this offseason, Dougherty relays.
Mondry-Cohen has been in the organization since 2009, earning a bump to AGM by 2019. Over the past few seasons, he’s been considered the leader of the Nats’ analytics department. (MLBTR’s TC Zencka covered Mondry-Cohen’s role in the organization shortly before the team captured their first World Series title two years ago).
Dougherty notes that the Nationals are expected to look to bolster their analytics group in the wake of departures by Mondry-Cohen and Scott Van Lenten, a former Washington staffer hired as Rockies’ research and development leader earlier this month. Kris Kline, Ted Towne, Mike DeBartolo, Johnny DiPuglia and Mark Scialabba — most of whom work in scouting and player development — remain as assistant general managers under baseball operations head Mike Rizzo.
Next GM of the Cubs?
Or Mets
There’s gonna be several front offices doing overhauls this offseason. Cubs, Padres, Mets, Orioles, Philles, Twins, Dbacks maybe the Yankees, plus anyone that loses someone to any of those teams. Good time to be a FA analytics expert that helped build a recent WS winner.
Don’t think Orioles are… says who?
They won’t, he doesn’t know anything.
Orioles?? Twins?
Don’t think so Gov…..
I could see the Twins revamping the analytics department , but the top FO jobs aren’t changing.
Is it just me or is that a lot of assistant general managers for one team?
Maybe anyone directly below the GM is called an Assistant GM? Sure sounds remarkable that someone has that many assistants.
Probably all department heads are called Assistant GMs.
Mike Rizzo is also the President of Baseball Operations for the Nats along with being the GM.
Well, they’re in DC, so they need a Progressive, a Moderate, a Conservative, at least as a minimum.
Indeed..
Title inflation throughout the game. With the creation of the President of Baseball Operations title, GM’s are now what an AGM used to be, an AGM’s are now former mailroom employees. (Perhaps a slight exaggeration on the last part).
Mets need to build up their analytics group. Add another Cohen.
How Cohen-cidental.
Nifty.
Until it comes from Metsfan22, I don’t believe they need to.
Metsfan22 is still guaranteeing the Mets sign Mookie Betts as a free agent.
It wasn’t that long ago that General Managers were responsible for all facets of the operations; they made trades, they bought the hot dogs and bathroom cleaners. Then the millions started pouring into owners’ coffers, and specialization became the ‘thing”. Hey, if you’ve got a few extra hundred thousand hanging around, do you (a) send it in for taxes or (b) give a job (make him Vice President of Rosin Bags) to your wife’s oddball nephew.
“Build up” the analytics department? How many people do you need to analyze a VERY minute set of data? So, like in all bureaucracies, it becomes a self-contained universe, and half of what the same analysts are “discovering” is either incorrect or downright silly.
The metrics we have now are better than what we used to have; no one doubts it. But, really, not significantly so. The last great analytical revolution was judging hitters on the basis of OBP instead of Batting Average….that was Branch Rickey in 1940.
You actually argued against the point you’re trying to make. General managers are no longer responsible for all aspects of a team’s operation for an obvious reason: teams have found better ways to build a winner. The teams lagging behind regarding analytics are the ones that are struggling the most. Surely you must realize that analytics is far more than OBP. They guide everything the better teams do, including drafting and player development. And regarding OBP, analytics plays a major role in either enhancing or controlling that number. There is nothing wrong with having more information at your disposal and knowing how to use it. The shift doesn’t always work out, though mostly it does. And we all should know by now that sacrifice bunting is almost always a bad strategy.
The notion that the old ways are better has proven to be false. As in any business, baseball teams have started to realize it takes many components and departments to build a consistent winner. The old days when GMs made trades based on counting stats and managers made in-game moves based on gut instinct are thankfully gone. Frequently, I read fan comments about modern field managers being “puppets” to the front office. Nothing could be further from the truth. Since these people share a common goal, they naturally should work closely together. That goes not only for sports but in any successful organization.
What about Total Average where you divide total bases by total outs?
What would be good for the Nationals is for Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg to sail off into the sunset. I think they are both done as quality starting pitchers. This would give the team enough money to sign a couple of starting pitchers who actually have a few years left in them. Hopefully, also a big bat with Trea Turner no longer around. They will probably have to overpay for all three players like they had to do with Jayson Werth. Do I think this will happen? Probably not. The Nationals won two years ago but they should have appeared in more than one World Series. I blame Mike Rizzo for insisting on hiring crappy managers like Davey Johnson and Johnnie Baker. Davey ruined Dwight Gooden’s career by making him pitch so many innings. He was lucky Bill Buckner was hurt when he bobbled Mookie’s grounder. That was his only title. Dopey Davey brought his closer in a game they were losing by eight runs to get some work in. I guess he didn’t know that there were games the next two days. Either that or he thought Drew Storen could pitch three days in a row. He couldn’t. He couldn’t get the third out against the Cardinals. Then there was the fiasco with hiring Bud Black only to offer only one year. He turned the job down and Johnnie took over with a lousy record in October. His lousy record in October continued with the Nationals.
It’s not the manager’s fault. Truthfully, of the 30 current MLB managers, I don’t see compelling evidence for firing any of them. The closest would be Bell, who the Reds just extended through 2023. Fans need to stop making the manager the scapegoat when the team they follow isn’t that good. They also need to stop pretending they know more about utilizing players than the person who manages the team. I’m positive Dusty Baker, Davy Johnson and Bud Black know more about such things than you or I. Baker and Black have both done an outstanding job in 2021. It’s not just about won/loss record in the season, let alone October.
By the way, teams can be successful without winning a championship. World Series titles aren’t the only measures of success. As in life, sports have more to do with the chase than the title. Most of us in life never win what amounts to a championship. Does that mean we’ve all led unsuccessful lives? If you need multiple championships by a sports team to feel good about yourself, then you’re doing the life thing wrong.
I don’t know of any manager of any team who would bring his closer in a game they were losing by eight runs knowing that he would probably need him the next two days. That is utter incompetence. That right there showed me he didn’t know what the hell he was doing but he managed the next year. People don’t know that he ruined Dwight Gooden’s career. People say it was the coke. Actually, the coke prolonged his career. When he went to Smithers, he got some time off from pitching. Btw, Bill Buckner made the last out of the previous half inning of that game where he booted Mookie’s ball.. His manager kept him in the game because he wanted him to be on the field when the Red Sox won. He did this even though he had to know Bill Buckner was playing on an injured leg. Davey’s one Series won was due to the opposing manager’s incompetence. Someone was actually more incompetent than him that night.