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Kevin Cash, who led the cash-strapped Tampa Bay Rays to a second consecutive division title this past season, captured the American League Manager of the Year award yet again Tuesday.
Cash became the second man to win the manager of the year award in back-to-back years. The other was Hall of Famer Bobby Cox, who took National League honors while presiding over the Atlanta Braves in 2004 and 2005.
“That’s wrong — I shouldn’t be,” Cash said of being mentioned in the same sentence as Cox. “But saying that, it’s incredibly humbling. When you think about grace in our game, Bobby Cox is right there, certainly as a manager, and then certainly at the top with the impact he had on people. To be able to share something really, really small with him is pretty special.”
Cash received 19 of 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Scott Servais of the Seattle Mariners (five), Charlie Montoyo of the Toronto Blue Jays (three), Dusty Baker of the Houston Astros (two) and Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox (one) also received first-place votes.
Cash, in his seventh season as manager, led the Rays to the AL East title despite losing Blake Snell and Charlie Morton over the offseason and, later, Tyler Glasnow to Tommy John surgery. The Rays opened the season with the fifth-lowest payroll in the sport, but they held off the veteran-laden Red Sox, the young and dynamic Blue Jays and the big-spending New York Yankees, winning the AL East by eight games. The four teams with a lower payroll finished a combined 128 games below .500.
The Rays finished with the third-most wins (100) and the third-highest run-differential (plus-206) in the majors. Only one of their pitchers topped 150 innings, but their staff led the AL in ERA and a major league-record 14 different…
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Source : espn
