Roy Clark leaves Nationals for Dodgers

A day after losing their third base coach, the Nationals have lost a key member of their front office. Roy Clark, who has served as assistant general manager and vice president of player personnel for the last four years, has left the organization to take a position with the Dodgers, according to ESPN.com's Keith Law. Update: A source with knowledge of the situation has confirmed that Clark is leaving the Nationals and that he is indeed joining the Dodgers. In Los Angeles, Clark will reunite with former Nats president Stan Kasten, now the president and a part-owner of the Dodgers. This will be the third time the two men have joined forces with a different organization; Clark and Kasten were also together in Atlanta when Clark was the Braves' scouting director and Kasten was the team president. Clark has been a crucial cog in the Nationals' scouting and development team since coming to D.C. in October 2009, helping to overhaul the Nats' farm system. Once considered an organization severely lacking impact players at the minor league level, Clark helped deepen the talent pool to the point that the Nats were recognized by Baseball America as having the best minor league system in baseball in the publication's 2012 Prospect Handbook. Under Clark's watch, the Nationals have drafted outfielder Bryce Harper, infielder Anthony Rendon and right-hander Lucas Giolito, among others. Giolito currently ranks as the top prospect in the Nats' system, according to Baseball America. Already needing to look for a new third base coach after Trent Jewett left to become the Mariners' new bench coach, the Nats will now need to make a change in the structure of their front office. The offseason to-do list gets a bit longer.