ST. PETERSBURG — When the Rangers were looking to hire a manager after the 2014 season, their top executives were quick, and pretty confident, in identifying Kevin Cash as a strong candidate.

Not so much for Lincoln Daniels, the then 7-year-old son of Jon Daniels, Texas’ baseball operations chief at the time.

The Rangers knew Cash from his final season as a player, catching for their Triple-A team in 2011, and the advance scouting work he did for them going into the postseason. They had offered him a hybrid job for 2012 in coaching and player evaluation, but understood when he opted for the higher-profile advance scout gig with Toronto. They had kept tabs on him when he spent 2013-14 as Cleveland’s bullpen coach.

The more they talked to him and about him, they were sure he would make a good manager.

“We felt like Cash, long term, was going to be a dude,” recalled Daniels, using baseball jargon for a star. “We were pretty confident in that. … He made a tremendous impression in the interview process. It really came down to him and Jeff Banister as our decision.

“We were going to go out to dinner as part of the interview, and I was late to pick my son up from Little League practice. So Cash came with me to my house, came with me to Little League practice. And my son called him the wrong name — Steve. So to this day, Cash is like, ‘Make sure he knows my name.’ ”

That, obviously, isn’t an issue for anyone else.

The Rangers decided — “right or wrong,” Daniels acknowledged — they felt more comfortable with Banister, whose extensive experience as a big-league coach was a better fit for a team that expected to contend. They won divisions titles in 2015 and 2016, but are now on their fourth manager since in hiring Bruce Bochy (and dismissed Daniels, who recently joined the Rays as an advisor).

Cash interviewed with the Rays — in part because of Daniels’ recommendation — was hired somewhat surprisingly to replace Joe Maddon and has turned out to be very much a dude.

The right hire

In eight seasons on the job, Cash, 45, has led the Rays to a 640-554 record, a .536 winning percentage that is the best of the five Tampa Bay managers and — after starting with three losing seasons — four consecutive playoff berths, including a run to the 2020 World Series.

He is the second-longest tenured manager with his current team in the majors, behind good friend Terry Francona, who between age (64 in April) and health issues seems likely to soon retire in Cleveland.

More topically, when Cash completes this season, he will have been on the job as long as Maddon, whose tenure at one time seemed unlikely to be matched. Cash has the better record; both made four trips to the postseason and won two Manager of the Year awards.

“That’s pretty cool company," Cash said.

Despite being only 36 and never managing a game at any level when he got hired, Cash said he was confident in his own ability.

He recognized the promise of the situation he was walking into, taking over a team that had made the playoffs four times in six years before a 2014 dropoff. He had a commitment from ownership and management to get back to competing with the chance to grow along with the team. And he got a five-year contract to do so.

He appreciated the benefit of having veteran coaches, mentioning Tom Foley and Jim Hickey, and players with a winning pedigree, such as Evan Longoria and Alex Cobb, to provide guidance and framework along the way.

“The commitment that the organization made, it was a pretty unique contract. Not many first-time managers get offered five-year deals,” Cash said. “So I think that was telling like, ‘Hey, I could really be coming into a good spot.’ "

Did he think he would be on the job for nine years?

“I didn’t think that far ahead," Cash said. “I was just hoping to do it for nine days."

Growth never stops

Cash’s Rays bosses, naturally, are pleased not only with what he has done, but how he has done it. (Cash’s contract after the 2018 season was extended through 2024, with a 2025 option, so another extension after this season would seem logical.)

“That rare blend of strength and humility is something that was very present — from the interview process, certainly, but also all the background work that we did,” baseball operations president Erik Neander said.

“I think there were ingredients there that he carried at that time that gave you a lot of confidence that he was going to grow on the job quickly and greatly."

Cash, a Tampa native who played briefly for the Devil Rays, is pleased with the team’s success but strives for the ultimate reward of a World Series championship.

Acknowledging he has grown in certain aspects of managing — such as handling the dugout/clubhouse reaction of a player he pinch-hits for at a key moment in “a cutthroat decision,” and maximizing the available information to inform the tougher decisions.

“I’ve gotten more comfortable over the last couple of years," he said. “But there have been plenty of times in the early going that I was scratching my own head."

Cash also said that there is still much he can improve on.

One focal point this spring has been communicating more directly with players, which has been obvious around the practice fields, as he has gone beyond the usual joking and teasing that all seem to enjoy.

“I can do a better job of being more supportive of the guys,” he said. “I try to appreciate how tough the game is. I love the connection that the staff and I have with the players, to be able to give it back and forth.

“But there’s a line there. These guys are out there grinding every day. I want to maybe show just a little bit more sympathy for what they’re going through when it does get challenging. …

“So more arms around guys, more hugs. I hate to say that’s by design, but I feel like with this group, it’s warranted.”

‘A good fit’

Andrew Kittredge, now the most veteran Ray since his 2017 debut, said Cash has increasingly become a more effective leader in the clubhouse. Hitting coach Chad Mottola lauds Cash for his communication skills at getting players to buy into some of the unconventional strategies and job shares they use, noting, “it’s not always as easy as he makes it seem.”

Pitching coach Kyle Snyder, who played with Cash in Boston in 2007-08 and joined the staff for the 2018 season, said Cash’s growth has been evident in many ways.

“Just the constant curiosity of ways to get better," he said. “I’ve watched him just become a lot more skilled at his craft."

That “elite” level of curiosity is what makes Cash special, according to Toronto general manager Ross Atkins, who worked with Cash in Cleveland. “He’s not ever afraid to ask a question in any aspect of the game,” Atkins said. “I think it’s one of his greatest strengths.”

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Cash is a challenge to manage against — and a fitting successor to Maddon.

“He’s as bold today as he was nine years ago, if not even more now because of his experience,” Hinch said. “He’s difficult to deal with. He’s as aggressive as anybody. And, ironically, he replaced as forward thinking of a manager at the time as anyone and continued that as part of the Tampa Bay history.”

Maybe the best measure of Cash’s success is how much some of his friends, such as former coaches/current managers Rocco Baldelli (Twins) and Derek Shelton (Pirates), tease him about it.

“It’s tiring," Baldelli joked. “It’s tiring when I see him. It’s tiring hearing about. Sure, he does a good job. But how much can we actually talk about this?"

Baldelli would much rather discuss Cash’s vanity.

“He takes a lot of pride in his appearance," Baldelli said. “He’s always pushing the limits. He’s outside shirtless, running around the stadiums. He’s got the good hair, and the good facial hair that he mixes in. I feel like he might have had some work done."

Shelton likes to pile on.

“He’s definitely had work done," Shelton said. “You don’t manage for nine years and have no wrinkles."

But joking aside, Daniels said none of Cash’s achievements or long tenure in Tampa Bay is a surprise.

“It’s such a good fit on so many levels," he said. “And they’ve all grown together."

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