Why the Rays Kevin Cash Has Best Case for Manager of the Year

Dave and Andy have said it multiple times over the past two years, and they’re right. Kevin Cash has to do more managing from the second inning on then anyone in the game.

But that’s not the reason he should win the AL Manager of the Year Award, and it’s not to discredit fellow finalists Aaron Boone or Rocco Baldelli. It’s just that the Rays Cash had more challenges than the others.

Cash had to juggle a franchise record-setting number of players (57) and pitchers (33). A total of 24 different players spent at least one stint on the injured list.

While New York had more unique players injured (30), the Yankees still used fewer players during the year than Tampa Bay. The Yankees also had a 100-win team in 2018, and won only three more games this year than last. The Yankees also were expected to win. Before the season, find a prediction where New York was not picked to end up in the playoffs.

The Rays jumped six more wins from a season ago, all while never holding the the strongest area of the team intact after the first three weeks of the year. The Rays are built upon run prevention, yet never had most of its run prevention team together. After Tampa Bay started 14–4, the rotation was never intact. First Blake Snell was injured, then Tyler Glasnow, then Snell again, and then Yonny Chirinos. The team’s top five pitchers in terms of length (Snell, Glasnow, Chirinos, Charlie Morton and Ryan Yarbrough) worked just over 550 innings or on average only 110 apiece.

Tampa Bay made the postseason for the first time in six years, despite missing three-fifths of the rotation for the final third of 2019. That’s on top of the fact that only three players (Morton, Tommy Pham and Willy Adames were active the entire year). In addition, only three, Pham, Adames and Kiermaier played at least 100 games.

In contrast, New York had seven players play at least 100 games. Five starting pitchers made between 22 and 31 starts. Four relievers made at least sixty appearances.

The Twins made a tremendous jump, going from 78 to 101 wins in 2019. However, this was a team that made the playoffs in 2017 and the nucleus of that club was intact.

And it was a very healthy group. Of the position players, eight were in at least 100 games, and 10 saw action in at least 90. Of the five starting pitchers, they began 146 of 162 games. Beyond that, the Twins played in the weakest division in the American League, the Central, where three clubs were rebuilding.

That said, Baldelli and Boone each did a terrific job, leading their respective clubs to the postseason. But Cash overcame more to accomplish a similar feat, and deserves to be recognized for it.

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