The first addition to the Tampa Bay Rays this offseason comes in the front office, as the team announced Friday that they have hired former Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels as a senior advisor in the baseball operations department.
In a statement announcing his his hiring, the team said Daniels’ focus will be in supporting senior leadership while helping “further inform decision-making.”
Daniels spent 17 seasons as general manager of the Rangers after being appointed to the post in October of 2005. The Rangers made the World Series twice in Daniels’ tenure in Arlington, in 2010 and 2011 — each time defeating the Rays in the American League Division Series en route to the pennant.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
