Charlie Montoyo was officially named as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays during a press conference held on Monday afternoon.

Montoyo finally got his first major league managerial gig, just over 20 years after managing his first affiliated team when he was hired in 1997 to manage the Princeton Devil Rays. Over the past two decades, Montoyo would steadily rise up the ladder, managing Short-Season, Low-A, High-A, and Double-A. In 2007, he took the helm of the Triple-A Durham Bulls, with whom he enjoyed immense success, becoming the team’s all-time winningest manager.

For the 2015 season, Montoyo was promoted to the major league staff to take over as the third base coach. He served in the position through the 2017 season, until he then received another promotion, this time being named as the Tampa Bay Rays new bench coach.

Following the completion of the Rays astonishing 2018 campaign, Montoyo interviewed for several open managerial positions that had become vacant following the completion of the regular season. The Toronto Blue Jays would be the first ones to hire Charlie Montoyo, connecting the former Expo and friend of the Guerro family with Canada’s remaining franchise.

Rays Links

• Rays President, Brian Auld, sees no cause for concern as the deadline fastly approaches for the Rays stadium bid
• With Charlie Montoyo moving on to the Toronto Blue Jays, Matt Quatraro has been promoted to be the Rays bench coach
• Rays Colored Glasses looks to see what happened to Jake Faria during his subpar 2018 campaign
• Sports Illustrated ranked the top 50 free agents and their destinations, linking Nelson Cruz and Garrett Richards to the Tampa Bay Rays
• MLB.com looked at the biggest free agent signings that team’s most regret, Pat Burrell is the Rays selection
• Bill Chastian looked at the retired numbers in franchise history
• Mike Petriello wrote about potential fits for slugger Nelson Cruz, listing the Tampa Bay Rays first
• Shane Baz putting in work at the Trop...side note, one pant leg being tucked by his kleat while the other isn’t, is really bothering me

Around the League

• MLB announced their squad that will be heading to Japan to play in several exhibitions games. There are five former Rays that are making the trip
• MLB.com’s Jim Duquette ranked the top 25 free agents this offseason
• The Miami Marlins cannot avoid making players unhappy it seems at JT Realmuto’s agent flatout said he expected the All-Star catcher to be with another team come spring training
• This is amazing and will make your morning better for having seen it

Rays Trivia

Which Rays player had the most hits during the 2008 World Series?