Stan Conte resigns as Dodgers head trainer & VP of medical services

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers first major change of the offseason came on the training staff, as Stan Conte resigned as vice president of medical services and head athletic trainer, the team announced on Saturday.

Conte spent nine years with the Dodgers, hired by then-general-manager Ned Colletti in October 2006 after the two worked together with the Giants.

"I want to thank the Dodger organization and specifically each and every one of the dedicated medical staff for their support these last nine seasons in Los Angeles," Conte said in a press release. "My resignation will allow me to focus on my research in baseball injury analytics as I remain committed to determining the causes and effects of various baseball injuries."

Conte's research was profiled by Michael S. Schmidt in the New York Times in 2009, with Conte approaching injuries like an insurance actuary.

The ability to predict how players’ bodies will fare is a holy grail. With an actuarial approach, Conte seems to have a head start in the pursuit. He is trying to build a formula that will give teams a competitive advantage and help them avoid players who spend their days in the training room and not on the field.

"The insurance industry has made millions of dollars off figuring out how, when, where and why people are going to die, and we are trying to figure those things out about injuries," Conte said.

The Dodgers had 17 different players make 19 total trips to the disabled list in 2015, with their 1,196 games missed the fifth-most in baseball, per Man Games Lost.

"I want to thank Stan for his contributions to the Dodgers over the past nine years as well as all he has done for the entire community of sports medicine," said president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman in a press release. "He was an integral member of the organization and we wish him well in his future endeavors."