One member of the Rays will have some extra accolades going into the holiday season.
Tampa Bay general manager Erik Neander Monday was named Major League Baseball's Executive of the Year in a vote of his peers at the general manager meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Neander put together a Rays team that won 96 games in 2019, second-most in franchise history, and earned the first postseason birth in six years, all with the lowest payroll in the sport.
"I am both humbled and honored to be recognized by Major League Baseball and the executives who voted on the award," Neander said. "This recognition deserves to be shared across our entire staff, as well as the players who left it all on the field. It’s our collective commitment that allows something like this to be possible. While we fell short of our ultimate on-field goal in 2019, I am proud of our progress and we’ll do all we can to build upon that in the coming years."
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman finished second, and Oakland's Billy Beane and Minnesota's Derek Falvey tied for third.