Talk about an early birthday present for Kevin Cash.
After two years as the Indians bullpen coach Cash, who turns 37 on Saturday, was named the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. He replaces Joe Maddon, who resigned after nine seasons before being hired by the Cubs.
Cash was one of three finalists for the job and interviewed on Wednesday for 12-plus hours. He beat out Royals bench coach Don Wakamatsu, who had managerial experience. Raul Ibanez dropped out on Thursday.
It is a move back home for Cash, who is a Tampa native and went to Florida State. He was in the Rays’ organization for two seasons (2005-06). He played in 13 games in ’05, going 5 for 31 and spent the entire ’06 season with Triple-A Durham.
Before coming to the Indians, Cash was an advance scout for the Blue Jays in 2012.
“I was pretty much speechless. Just wow. There's been a lot of tears from my family,” said Cash during a conference call. “It's a surreal moment but extremely exciting.”
Cash interviewed in late October for Texas’ manager’s job that later went to Jeff Banister. Cash said he was shocked to be asked to interview but after going through the process the idea of managing got more comfortable. Even though they went another direction, Rangers’ officials were impressed with Cash’s interview.
Cash also gave a lot of credit to Terry Francona for his help the past couple years and said that a lot of Francona’s philosophy will be used well in his new job.
"The biggest thing that I watched was the way that he communicates with player and how he treats his coaching staff. That's something I pay attention to on a daily basis," Cash said.
This past season Cash was credited by Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway for Carlos Carrasco’s return to the rotation and turnaround over the past two months.
After moving back into the starting rotation on Aug. 10, the right-hander went 5-3, had the top ERA in the Majors at 1.30 and was third in strikeouts with 78.
The Indians are not expected to immediately name Cash’s replacement and it might not until after next week’s Winter Meetings. Among some of rumored contenders from inside the organization are Jason Bere, Charles Nagy, Columbus manager Chris Tremie and Akron manager Dave Wallace.
If the Indians continue to have success under Francona, this might not be the last offseason where they are looking to fill an opening on the coaching staff. First-base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. interviewed with Arizona and Minnesota while third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh has experience in the minors.
MOSS UPDATE: The Indians continue to talk to the Athletics about Brandon Moss but nothing has been finalized. Talk has centered around Oakland wanting a middle infield prospect with shortstop Erik Gonzalez and second baseman Joey Wendle being the most mentioned.
Gonzalez is ranked by many as one of the Indians Top 10 prospects going into next season while Wendle’s season in Double-A Akron ended prematurely last year due to a broken right hamate bone. Wendle was batting .253 with eight homers and 50 RBI at the time of his injury. In 2013, Wendle received the Lou Boudreau Award as the top offensive player in the Indians’ minor-league system.
