Recap: How the front office rating works
This is one in a series of assessments of the performances of front offices for the 2024 season. Each front office is given a score based on the total Wins Above Average of the players they either traded for, signed via free agency or extension, or promoted from their farm system, since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason.
A front office’s score also includes the total Wins Above Average of players traded away or lost to free agency since the end of the 2023 postseason. The front offices are being presented in order of their total value from No. 30 (worst) all the way to No. 1 (best).
These ratings do not necessarily reflect the final standings. Front offices are measured based only on the talent they acquired or lost during the past 12 months. Players on multi-year contracts, or already under team control, don’t count toward this rating.
No. 17 Tampa Bay Rays, Erik Neander, president of baseball operations, +0.1
The offseason began awkwardly for the Rays’ front office. Neander lost his top aide, GM Peter Bendix, to Miami when Bendix was appointed president of baseball operations there. Neander then assumed sole responsibility of the team throughout the entire 2024 season.
In his effort to keep the small-market Rays competitive in the high-finance AL East, Neander took a fairly aggressive approach. His front office moved 63 major leaguers on or off the existing roster, putting him in the upper-third for pure freneticism.
The obvious irony is that all that activity moved the team’s actual performance needle almost not at all. Of those 63 moves, 29 produced positive results but 33 worked out in the negative, with one neutral. The sum total, as noted above: a negligible +0.1 WAA. It probably didn't help that at season's end, the Rays also lost their ballpark, Tropicana Field, to hurricane damage.
Five most impactful Neander moves
Transaction | Net Impact (Wins Above Average) |
|---|---|
Traded Manuel Margot to the Dodgers | +2.0 |
Traded Luke Raley to Seattle | -1.7 |
Acquired Christopher Morel from the Cubs | -1.5 |
Lost Anthony Molina to Colorado in the Rule 5 Draft | +1.4 |
Promoted Shane Baz | +1.4 |
Neander was a major player in the trade market, both before the season and during it. He got major November headlines for the deal that sent Tyler Glasnow and Manuel Margot to the Dodgers in exchange for Jonny DeLuca and Ryan Pepiot.
Glasnow was supposed to be the headline figure, and his 9-6 record and 3.49 ERA in 22 starts was certainly useful to the world champs. From a statistical standpoint, both Margot (who was shipped along to Minnesota) and Pepiot (who replaced Glasnow in the Rays’ rotation) had modestly greater impacts on their new teams than did Glasnow.
During the season, he swapped infielder Isaac Paredes with the Cubs for Christopher Morel. Neither did much, but Morel’s -1.5 WAA turned out to be the single most destructive move to Tampa Bay’s short-term improvement.
He had better luck at the lower end of the financial scale. Shane Baz, a 24-year-old rookie, succeeded in his third shot at sticking with the Rays. Baz made 14 starts with a 3.06 ERA that ensures him a future in the rotation.
Neander also plucked a winner when he signed free agent pitcher Edwin Uceta, a four-team reject. Uceta made 30 appearances with a1.51 ERA out of the bullpen.
Pepiot, a prospect netted in the Glasnow trade, had an 8-8 record in 26 starts. For 2025, Pepiot slots in right behind Baz on the Rays depth chart.
Together, those three kids helped the Rays by +3.7 games.
Previous Rankings:
19. Boston Red Sox, Craig Breslow, chief baseball officer, -0.2
17. Tampa Bay Rays, Eric Neander, president of baseball operations, +0.1
Next: 16. New York Mets, David Stearns, president of baseball operations, +1.2