8:30am: The Rays have formally announced the pair of contract extensions.
“I believe there are none better in baseball,” owner Stuart Sternberg said of his president and manager. “What we’ve all accomplished together has been remarkable, and the best is yet to come.”
8:00am: The Rays have signed president of baseball operations Erik Neander and manager Kevin Cash to long-term contract extensions, according to a report from Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, with an announcement of the deals expected later today. The specifics of the deals are not yet known, though Topkin says they’ll run beyond the 2028 season, when the club is slated to move into a new stadium in St. Petersburg.
The pair’s tenure at the top of the Rays organization has been a resounding success. While Cash has been managing the club since 2015, Neander became the club’s top baseball operations executive during the 2017-18 offseason. He’d previously served as the senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager under then-president Matthew Silverman, but Silverman moved to the business side of the operation and ceded baseball autonomy to Neander.
From 2018 onward, the Rays have posted a winning record in each season with five postseason appearances, including a trip to the World Series in 2020. Overall, the club has enjoyed a 511-359 record under the duo’s guidance, good for a .587 winning percentage.
All that winning has come in spite of resources that pale in comparison to the arsenals available to other perennial contenders. The club’s payroll reached an all-time high of just under $84MM (per Cot’s Baseball Contracts) back in 2022, at which point the team ranked 25th in the majors in terms of player payroll. The club’s payroll ranked 26th in the majors in 2021, and has sat in the bottom three among all major league clubs every other season since Neander took over baseball operations. That’s left the club to occasionally part ways with top talents such as Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow in spite of the team’s consistent success, though those losses have been offset by the club’s ability to identify talent (both in trade partners and in the draft), a subsequent perennially strong farm system and success in developing talent at the major league level.
There’s been a fair bit of turnover in the Tampa Bay front office over the years, as rival teams frequently target Rays executives when seeking to reshape their own baseball operations outfits — hopeful of emulating the team’s constant success (both in terms of on-field play and player development). Neander was once a top lieutenant for president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman in Tampa Bay, before he was hired away by the Dodgers. Neander and Chaim Bloom were key figures in running baseball ops thereafter, concurrently holding senior vice president titles, but Bloom was hired away by the Red Sox (and has since joined the Cardinals as an advisor after being dismissed in Boston). Brewers GM Matt Arnold was also hired out of the Rays ranks, and more recently now-former Rays GM Peter Bendix, who’d been No. 2 on Tampa Bay’s hierarchy behind Neander, was hired as the Marlins’ president of baseball operations.
It’s a similar story among Cash’s top coaches. A look back at the Rays’ coaching staffs over the past few seasons will reveal a smattering of names who’ve gone on to become big league managers. Pirates skipper Derek Shelton, Royals manager Matt Quatraro and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli were all on Cash’s staff at one point, as was Charlie Montoyo, who was hired away from the Rays to manage the Blue Jays but is now the White Sox’ bench coach.
That’s only a short list of the number of executives, analysts and coaches who’ve been poached by other clubs over the years. Throughout all those personnel changes, however, Neander and Cash have been constants as the Rays have continually defied expectations set by their minimal payroll and roster that often resembles an island of misfit toys. Today’s extensions ensure that this same duo will remain in place for another half decade of baseball in St. Petersburg and that Neander and Cash will help to usher in a new era of Rays baseball when they move into their new stadium in 2028.
How about the Franco’s contract?
As of right now they have to pay the full sum of the guaranteed contract. However, if he’s banned from MLB for life, which would be unprecedented in contemporary MLB, they would be able to void his contract.
It is absurd because he would be unable to play as a result of a crime (or crimes), so his contract should be voided as soon as the conviction/sentencing is complete.
From a ST Pete Times Article from last month-
The government can deny admission to a foreign citizen if it determines there are reasonable grounds. State Department decisions generally cannot be appealed in the judicial system, Khazaeli said.
Such a decision could cause a chain reaction that leads to Franco losing millions of dollars.
He likely would be unable to report for spring training or even the Rays’ March 28 season opener. With Franco unable to perform, the team would have to place him on the restricted list and he would no longer be paid.
They can’t void the contract but they can put him on the restricted list without pay if he is prevented from physically taking the field. Being in jail or prison or having your visa revoked due to criminal activity would not fall under excused absences. So he probably just sits on the restricted list until his contract expires like Felipe Vazquez did.
He’s suspended indefinitely and they will not pay another dime of that contract. Can’t blame them for locking up their young superstar at a time when they had no idea what he was doing behind the scenes.
As I understand it he is not “suspended,” but on “indefinite administrative leave” as of right now.
Under the Joint Domestic Violence Policy in MLB players “will continue to receive their full salary while on administrative leave” because it is not punitive.
Perhaps they did suspend him but I don’t recall that occurring yet.
The Rays can just withhold his pay and if he tries to file a grievance over it say he failed to show up for work without an excused absence.
He was on paid administrative leave at the end of last season, so the Rays continued to pay him. He’ll likely return to the same administrative leave list once the season starts. Extra bonus: He received an additional $700K from the MLB player pool in December. The Rays won’t receive any salary relief until he’s convicted and MLB issues its suspension. Longer term, their best chance of not paying him future money is if he’s never granted a work visa to return to the U.S. if he’s convicted. That’s quite possible.
He doesn’t have to be convicted, MLB can and has suspended players without a court conviction.
At some point it’s an inevitability that the Rays will be no longer on the hook for Franco’s contract, at least for the time of a suspension. But I’d say it’s very likely they’ll be off the hook completely, as MLB will rule in some manner that will suspend Franco and nullify (perhaps not the correct word, but…) his entire contract.
They can suspend players without a conviction but once the suspension is completed the league considers the matter closed and the team is on the hook for any remaining money owed to the player. See Trevor Bauer.
Stands to reason Franco might be looking at a longer suspension than Bauer got, or a disciplinary decision that will negate his contract. His work visa might come into play in that regard.
MLB contracts can’t be negated but he will most likely run into a word visa related issue.
From what I have read on various sites, foreign athletes get issued 5 year work visas. However, the visa can be revoked at any time for national security reasons. Franco has to be with the team by Opening Day or start losing pay, I think. It is unknown if his visa has been revoked or what the consequences will be if he tries to use it.
I love this for the Rays!
Hopefully Cash learned his lesson after Game 6 of the 2020 World Series.
Nobody takes anything that happened in the 2020 season seriously except Dodgers fans.
THANK YOU
-Michael Scott
secret, it’s an L.A. thing. Pathetically grasping for anything they can claim. Like the NBA In-Season Tournament “Championship”.
Still the same front office dictating those type of moves.
It’s been gone over as infinitum, the mistake was going to Anderson. I firmly believe the Dodgers were going to get to Snell that third time through.
But who knows, maybe they get to Castillo or any other bullpen option? It was 1-0, one swing from a tie game. Despite being shut down, I felt extremely confident that the Dodgers (“my” team, full disclosure) was going to win that game and the Series. Because they got out of the first inning with only the Arozarena HR as damage, I felt that they actually were in a better position than the Rays, who had a chance to break it open early and failed, and were being shut down by a Dodger staff in a bullpen game.
I felt the Dodgers were loose and confident, and were in their dugout “knowing” their moment was imminent, that they would get some runs and win, that it was simply a matter of time with that offense.
Thank you! I’m a Rays fan and I’ve been saying the same damn thing for years. The Rays lost that game in the 2nd inning when they let Gonsolin off the hook for guys in scoring position for a 2nd straight inning. The offense was stone cold and basically had been just Randy for most of the postseason, so not adding on early against a struggling starter was absolutely killer with the Dodgers offense being so hot that series. With Snell being one of the most mercurial starters in the game from inning to inning (as we’d already seen in the series in Game 2), I don’t fault Cash for holding Snell to a very short leash. And even with the bullpen not holding the lead, that was still the best outing the Rays staff had the whole series with only 3 runs given up, and I’ll even argue Anderson didn’t have THAT bad of an inning either, might have gotten out with just a tie game had Betts’s hit got knocked down and not rolled as far as it did thus letting the runners move up an extra base. Wish people would stop harping on about the pitching change already.
Good to see these two getting extended. Definitely worth their weight in gold.
Agreed. Good move by the Rays.
Happy for both guys, they both more than deserve it. Funny to think that when Maddon left there was real concern about Cash being his replacement. Almost a decade later and he’s done as good a job as Joe.
Ditto Meander vs. Friedman. I’m a Cardinals fan, but love seeing well run small budget teams succeed.
If not better than Joe…
You can’t get more “Rays” than an article reporting that they signed two extensions….and those were in management and not players. Rays really are a team to be admired for using their resources as skillfully as possible. Several other teams have the tendency to take the money and tank.
They’re right to reward Neander and Cash with long-term extensions. They’ve pretty much mastered the art of squeezing blood from a stone.
It would be interesting to know Neander’s and Cash’s reasons for remaining in Tampa when so many other executives and coaches have left. They clearly could have opportunities with other clubs that do not have the Rays’ financial constraints.
Are they being compensated for the additional challenges of operating with such a small budget? Do they enjoy the challenge?
In any event, it is interesting the Rays are not sending off these two like they woukd if they were players approaching Free Agency.
Because it becomes an addiction to try to do more with less. Going to leave for bigger clubs and failing isn’t fun ( which every single one has expect friedman). If you have it good with players and bosses and the chemistry then what else do you need?
Makes a lot of sense. Like Billy Beane’s long tenure with the A’s.
Cash is from the Tampa area. Local boy isnt leaving. Some people like the comfortability and stability of staying in one place than job hopping for “greener pastures”.
Did not know. That makes sense too.
It’s not as simple for a small market GM/Manager to win right away even when you inject another $100M into their transactions budget. Look at Chaim Bloom’s run with the Red Sox. He inherited a team that had just won the world series after working in Tampa’s front office for a few years, and had some superstar players on the roster, but since he took over as Boston’s GM they’d been all over the place with no real plan to move forward.
How do you know that they execute the plan? I believe the plan was to lower payroll and build the farm. Mission accomplished.
Doesn’t help also that a lot of the guys plucked from the Rays FO have gone from being part of a operating group to being the guy in charge of making the decisions. It’s one thing to be just one voice in the room and a whole nother to be the deciding voice.
A lot of it with Neander is probably that Sternberg is a very easy owner to work with. He might not allow a ton of spending, but by all accounts he stays out of the FO’s way and just gives them the budget and lets them spend how they see fit. Compare that to somewhere like LA where you’ve got Arte Moreno meddling in FA signings and it makes sense that Neander might prefer where he’s at in Tampa Bay.
Great news! Raysup
Just like the McDowell family in Coming to America. They can run a successful Franchise on meager wages. Right Akeem?
They both keep winning with small budgets, I wish the White Sox had even a fraction of the Rays success in the past decade or so. Rays owner is being smart in keeping the winning formula the same.