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| Cash will don Rays colors next season. Photo Credit: David Richard/USA Today Sports |
The Tampa Bay Rays have found their new manager in Kevin Cash.
By: Michael Hanley
The Rays made the hiring official on Friday as they seek to rebound from the down season they experienced last year. This is the official press release the organization sent out to the public on hiring Cash as their new manager:
"Kevin is passionate, genuine and dedicated, and those attributes will resonate throughout our clubhouse,” said President, Baseball Operations Matt Silverman. “As a catcher, a scout and a coach, he has always been a student of the game, and his communication and tireless work will put our club in a position to win, night in and night out.”
As you can read he is a former catcher in the major leagues, a trait that is becoming more and more the norm when it comes to today's crop of managers. Cash was a catcher for eight seasons for six different teams, catching in both the National and American Leagues.
That experience with working hand and hand with starting pitchers on game plan and how to attack a certain batter while in the flow of the game will be very beneficial to the Rays starting pitching staff and the bullpen in some regard as well.
It is a fairly young pitching staff the Rays have on their hands and could use a manager of Cash's catching experience to help them continue to learn and refine their overall game and mechanics in order to reach their full potential that they came into the organization with.
His inexperience of being a manager is not nearly as big of a red flag than it use to be years and years ago. The league has evolved with giving first time managers an opportunity to get the job and grow while in it.
Managers like the Cardinal's Mike Matheny, Marlin's Mike Redmond and Tiger's manager Brad Ausmus are examples of manager show had no prior experience yet have been effective in leading their clubs to various levels of success.
Now their have been managers who have failed to deliver any success with no prior managerial experience but that can go for any manager from whichever background they come to the major leagues with.
It depends on just what the situation each new manager walks into and how much talent is on the roster to work with. As in any sport talent can always make a coach look that much more capable and competent to the fans and media.
No one knows what the future holds for Cash and this Rays team but he does have some talent to work with which always improves chances of succeeding especially in year one of his managerial career.
Follow me on Twitter: @Magic20099
