Press release Major League Baseball
CARLSBAD, CA – Oakland Athletics Executive Vice President, Baseball Operations Billy Beane has been named the recipient of Major League Baseball’s Executive of the Year Award for the 2018 season, MLB announced tonight from its annual General Managers Meetings. The inaugural official Award bestowed by MLB was the result of voting among the 30 Clubs, each of which had one vote. The runners-up for the honor were Erik Neander, Tampa Bay Rays Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations & General Manager, and David Stearns, General Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. Neander and Stearns tied for second in the voting.
The A’s finished the 2018 regular season with a 97-65 (.599) record, the fourth best in all of MLB, to earn the second American League Wild Card slot. Oakland’s turnaround campaign, which followed three straight seasons of at least 87 losses, marked a 22-win improvement from 2017. It was the Club’s ninth best record in its Oakland history and its best regular season since 2002, when the A’s went 103-59.
In 2018, homegrown third baseman Matt Chapman and first baseman Matt Olson excelled alongside past trade acquisitions like first-time All-Stars Blake Treinen and Jed Lowrie, this season’s leading home run hitter Khris Davis, shortstop Marcus Semien and left-hander Sean Manaea. Before this season, the A’s traded for outfielders Stephen Piscotty and Ramón Laureano and signed pitcher Yusmeiro Petit. During the season, Beane’s front office fortified the pitching staff by acquiring such starting pitchers as Trevor Cahill, Edwin Jackson, Mike Fiers and Brett Anderson. In a span of less than three weeks between July and August, the A’s added relievers Fernando Rodney, Jeurys Familia and Shawn Kelley.
The 56-year-old Beane played in the Majors from 1984-1989 as an outfielder with the New York Mets, the Minnesota Twins, the Detroit Tigers and the A’s. He became Oakland’s head of Baseball Operations following the 1997 season, spent 18 years as the Club’s General Manager and ascended to his current position following the 2015 season. Beane previously was recognized as Executive of the Year by The Sporting News in 1999 and 2012 and by Baseball America in 2002 and 2013.