The presence of Erik Neander and Kevin Cash is the one constant that is responsible for a successful Tampa Bay Rays ball club in an ultra-competitive American League East.
Neander and Cash have a track record of maximizing talent and seeing the level of skills in a ball player—whether tagged a prospect, a veteran looking to make one more run on the MLB level, or someone released that hasn’t had their untapped talent yet discovered.
The Rays can’t operate as clubs do in major sports markets. The World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets have payrolls projected to be north of $300 million for the 2025 season. Nine other clubs are at more than $200 million. Of the 30 clubs, Tampa Bay comes in at 26, with a $90 million-plus payroll.
Doing more with less is the Rays’ way. Surprisingly, their formulas are working.
Neander is a baseball builder. He is “Mr. Tampa Bay Rays.” Working his way up from an internship with the club in 2007, the Oneonta, New York, native’s high baseball IQ gradually earned his proverbial stripes, and he was named the club’s senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager in 2017. Four seasons later, Neander earned the highest post with the Rays, when being promoted to president of baseball operations in September 2021.
From working in baseball research and development in the Rays’ system, Neander, 41, learned early in his career how to do more with less. The 2025 Rays’ 40-man roster has 27 players earning under $1 million. The MLB’s minimum player salary is $760,000.
“I ask myself, is there a better way to do this?” Neander told The Epoch Times. “It’s important to evaluate players properly. It’s my job, and our staff’s responsibility, to figure out how to help our players grow.”
Could the Rays benefit this season from six starting pitchers, as opposed to a more traditional five-man rotation? This is one of the ideas that Neander and his staff are considering, and they excel at making baseball decisions outside of the box.
Neander, who graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in food, nutrition, and exercise, developed his career by adapting to Tampa Bay’s team and instilling the confidence in each player that they have the same potential as those playing in New York, Chicago, or Boston.
When speaking—easily, and quickly—he has the ability to captivate your full attention. Great thought goes into answering every question.
For all the winning possibilities coming from the Rays’ front office, down on the field and in the clubhouse, it’s Cash’s crafty delivery of the data that comes into play.
Cash, 47, like Neander, wasn’t the likely choice to land with Tampa Bay. Overcoming adversity is what brought Cash to his hometown team. As a player, over an eight-season span, Cash suited up in as few as seven games in the 2002 season and as high as 61 games in 2008. He was a player plugged into a lineup to give the starters a rest. As a journeyman catcher, undrafted after three years at NCAA’s Florida State University, Cash had to earn his keep with MLB clubs.
“We work well together,” Cash told The Epoch Times in Bradenton, Florida, of his relationship with Neander. “The energy our team has for this season is as high as ever.”
Now in their 11th season together, Neander is quick to rattle off his partner’s skills and attributes.
“Kevin’s longevity [with the Rays] translates into authenticity, confidence, humility, and demonstrating a consistency of energy for the love of baseball. This plays out in our clubhouse,” said Neander.
Along with crunching salary numbers, and deciding who will make the 26-man Opening Day roster, Neander and Cash have another issue to consider for the upcoming season.
The Rays will be separated from their home park, Tropicana Field. During this past October’s Category 3 Hurricane Milton that ravished Florida’s Gulf Coast, high winds blew the domed stadium’s fiberglass-coated roof to shreds. With estimated repair costs at $55 million, Tropicana Field isn’t expected to be ready for baseball until the 2026 season.
Neander, Cash, and everything having to do with Rays baseball is shifting 20 miles northwest from their home in Pinellas County to the City of Tampa in Hillsborough County. Home games will be played in the New York Yankees’ spring training minor league facility at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Not ideal for an MLB club, particularly in a region where temperatures can average 90 degrees, and the fan base is accustomed to sitting in an air-conditioned dome.
Somehow, some way, the Rays, with Neander and Cash leading, will find a way to do what they do better than any other MLB club on a consistent basis—and win with less. Even without a roof over their head in 2025, Tampa Bay baseball remains the coolest game in the Sunshine State.
