ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays have hired longtime Rangers executive Jon Daniels as a senior advisor in baseball operations.
Daniels, 45, will focus on supporting senior leadership and helping inform decision-making, providing guidance on bigger-picture subjects and strategic planning more than dealing with specific issues.
He spent 21 years with the Rangers, including the last 17 as their top executive, before being fired in August. He took over as general manager in October 2005 (at 28 years, 41 days, he was the youngest in league history), then was promoted to baseball operations president in March 2013.
“ ‘JD’ is someone with extensive industry experience and leadership that’s well-regarded and well-respected,” Rays baseball operations president Erik Neander said. “The chance to have him come in and be a resource for a very talented but less experienced group of staff, myself included, is something that we think is going to be greatly beneficial to our collective development.”
The Rays also announced several other promotions and title changes in the baseball operations department.
Among the more interesting, Kevin Ibach went from senior director, pro personnel & pro scouting to vice president, player personnel, which seems to reflect an increase in his area of responsibility.
Also:
— The three vice presidents — Will Cousins, Chanda Lawdermilk and Carlos Rodriguez — added the titles of assistant general manager.
— Brian Plexico went from senior director to vice president, baseball systems.
— Samantha Bireley went from manager to assistant director, baseball operations.
— Jeremy Sowers, a former big league pitcher, went from manager to assistant director, major league operations.
