When the Rays’ new ownership group took over, Patrick Zalupski made the boundaries clear from the jump.
“None of us, and none of the partners, are allowed to talk to, or have any influence on, baseball operations,” Zalupski said last October, smiling.
Bill Cosgrove kept it even shorter: “Zero.” And CEO Ken Babby boiled the whole approach down to one line: “In Erik and Kevin we trust.”
That faith has paid off in a big way. Erik Neander, the Rays’ president of baseball operations, just added another major line to his résumé on Wednesday night, winning the Executive of the Year Award presented by Sage at the MLB Awards presented by MGM Rewards at the Chelsea Theater at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. It’s the second time he’s taken home the honor, after also winning it in 2019.
The award carries real weight because it comes from a vote of executives across all 30 teams. Since MLB introduced it in 2018, only Neander and Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold have won it twice.
Neander’s latest recognition comes after a season in which the Rays outperformed outside expectations and finished with an unexpected division title, the best record in the American League and the franchise’s third pennant. Kevin Cash, the club’s longest-tenured manager, helped drive that run with the kind of steady presence and tactical feel that showed up in the voting for AL Manager of the Year, where he finished second on Tuesday night.
What makes Neander’s run with Tampa Bay stand out is how long he’s stayed put while so many others have moved on. Andrew Friedman, Chaim Bloom, Peter Bendix and Arnold all left the Rays’ front office for other jobs, but Neander remained in place and kept the operation humming. That stability has helped the Rays spread their approach throughout the sport, with Neander fostering the culture, promoting from within and giving his staff room to work.
His path to the top started with a four-month baseball operations internship in January 2007. He never left. Now he leads a massive department that keeps the Rays in the contender mix year after year, even in a daunting division and with one of the game’s lowest payrolls.
“There's no organization that I'd rather work for than this one, and it has so much to do with the people that are here, their love of this game, their love of this organization and the belief that we can win here,” Neander told MLB.com just before the World Series began. “Each win here, whenever they take place - a regular-season win to a run like this - the satisfaction that comes with it is just far greater than I think it would be anywhere else.”
This season gave him plenty to smile about. The Rays were widely projected to finish last in the AL East, and Neander pushed back on that outlook in a rare preseason clubhouse speech in St.
Louis. Instead of sinking, Tampa Bay spent much of the year near the top of the American League standings.
The roster construction was classic Rays: smart, aggressive and constantly turning over. One of the most impactful moves came when Neander signed veteran starter and clubhouse leader Nick Martinez to a one-year deal in mid February. On the trade front, the Rays brought in a long list of key pieces, including Junior Caminero, Yandy Díaz, Drew Rasmussen, Bryan Baker and Griffin Jax.
They also kept finding value in the margins. Cam Booser arrived on a Minor League deal.
Ryan Vilade came over for cash at the start of the offseason. Victor Mesa Jr. joined in another under-the-radar trade just before Spring Training.
Ben Williamson, who delivered the walk-off single in Game 4 of the Fall Classic, was part of one of Neander’s many three-team deals.
And while the big-league club thrived, the organization’s Minor League system remained one of the best in baseball and almost certainly the deepest, helped along by several tough trades Neander made during consecutive middling seasons in 2024-25.
Even with all that success, Neander still showed the Rays could swing big when the right target appeared. At the Trade Deadline, Tampa Bay paid a hefty prospect price to land starter Freddy Peralta, along with cleanup-hitting catcher Liam Hicks and setup man Tyler Wells. The move underscored the same message that has defined his tenure: the Rays will build carefully, but they won’t sit still when a chance to get better is there.
In Other News...
Rays Just Earned The Kind Of Recognition Fans Will Love
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Junior Camineros rise was rewarded with a spot on the All-MLB First Team at third base, while Drew Rasmussen landed on the All-MLB Second Team rotation after also finishing fourth in AL Cy Young voting. Bakers season had already put him in the mix among the leagues best relievers, and Rasmussens recognition only adds to the sense that the Rays have more than one arm and one bat shaping the conversation heading into what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
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For the Rays, the more intriguing talk may be in the outfield, where a thin free-agent class could push them toward the trade market instead of a straightforward signing. Jonny DeLuca is part of that conversation, and any move involving him would ripple through the rest of the roster construction as Tampa Bay weighs how best to fit its pieces together for next season. [Read more 🡒]
Rays May Be Ready To Answer A Huge Spending Question
The Rays may be staring at a familiar kind of decision, only this one carries more weight than most. According to The Athletic, the club is interested in locking up its pitcher beyond the 2027 season, a sign that Tampa Bay could be willing to think bigger than its usual short-term roster planning. The pitcher is already under contract for one year at $20 million, so any extension would represent a meaningful commitment for a franchise that has long balanced competitiveness with caution.
What makes the idea notable is the price tag attached to it. The proposed deal would likely cost more than his current annual salary, and possibly well beyond it, which would put the Rays in a very different spending conversation than the one they usually occupy. The club has not confirmed any such plans, so for now it remains a speculative but revealing glimpse at how seriously Tampa Bay may be weighing the value of keeping him in place for the long haul. [Read more 🡒]