Commentary | Being his own man is key for new Rays manager Kevin Cash

Nearly 500 Joe Maddon quotes can be found during a casual Internet search.

Kevin Cash's contribution to the world of inspirational speakers is a six-minute speech he gave to the Tampa Bay Rays when the team gathered recently for their initial spring training workout.

Cash has replaced Maddon as manager of the Rays, but the 37-year-old has not tried to be like Joe.

It's impossible, and he knows it.

But being this Kevin guy isn't bad, and he is honest.

From a baseball perspective, you can argue never has more been said with such few words in so little time as the initial Cash talk.

He admitted he was nervous and in doing so exposed his frailties to a group of impressionable young men who look to him for guidance.

It takes courage to admit your fears.

It's why Cash got the support of Evan Longoria and Alex Cobb, the two most important players on the Rays roster.

This did not involve an elaborate plan. He asked the players get each other's backs for a season prognosticators say won't have a lot to cheer about.

Cash even showed a sense of humor, noting how he had been practicing his inaugural talk for awhile giving others the idea he might be talking to ghosts.

What Cash did was win the support of his players. They will play hard for him and that's the first goal of any manager.

It's spring and every baseball manager is tossing roses to anyone who will listen.

Cash will do it his way, but he is conducting spring training similar to how most managers go about such business. He does not want to use spring stats to evaluate players unless left with no choice.

"We would not want to go off some spring stuff, but sometimes your hand is forced," Cash says. "You try to take the stats out of it and watch how they are fielding their position and how they are working and are they keying in things that maybe some specific coaches talked to them about."

It's how Cash will be evaluated: Do his players have strong fundamentals and do they play hard?

Besides Maddon leaving, the Rays lost a good part of their roster. Ben Zobrist and Matt Joyce followed David Price, who followed James Shields.

It's time for a new picture.

You have to believe Cobb, Longoria and head of baseball operations Matt Silverman would like to show they can win without Maddon and former general manager Andrew Friedman.

The Rays still have one of best starting rotations in baseball, but they did last year and won only 77 games. They couldn't score runs, and it's not certain they can this year.

At his introductory press conference last December, Cash emphasized that he will have to be his own person. He could've added if he can't do that and feel comfortable he is in the wrong business.

"You take some bits and pieces from a lot of the managers I've been fortunate to come across, but ultimately it comes back down to relationships with the players," he said. "(It involves) valuing their trust, valuing their opinions and then kind of putting a plan into place once you get to know them a little bit."

This story was originally published March 3, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Commentary | Being his own man is key for new Rays manager Kevin Cash."