ST. PETERSBURG — When Andrew Friedman made the decision to leave the Rays after the 2014 season to run the Dodgers, he didn’t know how things would work out for him given the new challenges of a larger payroll, bigger market and grander expectations.
What he said he was sure of was that the Rays — under Stuart Sternberg’s ownership and the front-office leadership of Matt Silverman, Brian Auld and Erik Neander — would be just fine without him leading their baseball operations department.
“The one thing I was confident in is that the Rays were going to continue to have a lot of success,” Friedman said before Friday’s game at Tropicana Field. “And I meant it. The amount of talent in this organization, working so closely with Matt and Brian and Erik, isn’t surprising to me at all. … It’s fun to watch and see the success that they’re having.”
Especially the way the Rays have sustained it, given the financial and other challenges.
Starting with the breakthrough run to the World Series in 2008, the teams Friedman assembled and Joe Maddon managed made the playoffs four times in six seasons, twice winning the American League East.
After Friedman left with the farm system somewhat depleted and Maddon also departed, there were a couple of dry years during the transition to Neander assuming control of baseball operations and Kevin Cash replacing Maddon.
But starting in 2019, they’ve been on another run, making the playoffs four straight years, winning the AL East twice and making it to one World Series — losing to Friedman’s Dodgers in 2020 (his only title so far in LA).
While plenty of credit is due, Friedman said it all starts with Sternberg.
“Just knowing firsthand how he led in terms of encouraging us to make mistakes and be bold, and knowing that in this division you have no other way to succeed,” Friedman said. “Just the environment and the working culture that creates, and then having a group of people that are so synced up.
“Winning the East here, taking on the Yankees and Red Sox, was incredibly special. In that, in a logical, rational world, that should never happen. And the success that they’ve been able to maintain and sustain for this period of time, I think, speaks volumes to what Erik, (general manager Peter Bendix), Kevin Cash, those guys have done.”
Friedman noted specifically “how synced up they are for why they’re acquiring a player and then putting them in positions to succeed. Similar to what we did, but from afar it feels like an even enhanced version.”
This weekend’s series marks Friedman’s third time back to the Trop with the Dodgers, and he said the memories are still vivid, recalling the 2008 pennant-clinching and wild 2011 Game 162 walkoff win that earned the Rays a wild-card spot. Many familiar faces remain on the staff, and he has created lifelong bonds with his former front-office colleagues. “There’s so many special moments in this building,” he said.
Bendix called Friedman the “architect” of the Rays’ success, and Neander credits him “for demonstrating not only that it’s possible to but to sustain winning and build a winning culture.” (Neander said he eventually got over Friedman not talking to him for his first three months after he started as in intern in 2007.)
The Rays would have a better chance at maintaining that success, Friedman said, with increased revenues from a new stadium.
“Everything (when Sternberg took over) was about if we create a winning product, everything will fix itself. And I think that clearly has been demonstrated that that’s not the case,” he said. “I feel like it’s one of the best-run teams in professional sports, and it’s a shame that more people don’t get that opportunity to fully enjoy it.
“Whether it’s where the stadium is located or the quality of the stadium, I don’t know what the exact issue is. But I know that what Stu said in November of 2005, he has delivered on and more. ... For this team to be run the way it is and have even more in the way of resources, I think it’s a dangerous thing for the rest of the American League East.”
• • •
Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.
Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on Twitter and Facebook.