Matt Silverman

Matthew Silverman

• School Harvard University
• High School St. Mark's School of Texas

• Born circa 1976 in Dallas, TX USA

Biographical Information

Matt Silverman was named General Manager of the Tampa Bay Rays on October 14, 2014, with the title of "President of Baseball Operations", when he replaced Andrew Friedman, who was hired by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had been the Rays' team president.

He is a graduate of Harvard University. He began his career in the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs, where he worked with Stuart Sternberg, helping him put together his successful bid to purchase the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2007. Silverman became the team President after the purchase and supervised the re-branding that saw the team adopt a new name, uniforms and logo before the 2008 season, which coincided with the franchise becoming competitive overnight and playing in the World Series that fall. While he was very active in efforts to find an alternative to Tropicana Field, the team's sub-par ballpark, he was not successful in having a project approved. Brian Auld replaced him as team President when he took over Friedman's old responsibilities.

Silverman immediately faced a crisis after being named GM, as long-time manager Joe Maddon decided to exercise an opt-out clause in his contract in order to become the new manager of the Chicago Cubs. After interviewing a number of candidates, Silverman settled on former catcher Kevin Cash as his new skipper, giving him his first managerial job at any level while indicating that, like had been the case for Madden a decade earlier, the decision to chose him was made with a long-term view. He also remade the team with a number of transactions, trading former Rookie of the Year Wil Myers among others.

After two seasons on the job, he erturned to his responsibilities as team resident following the 2016 season as Erik Neander was promoted to General Manager.

He is not to be confused with another Matt Silverman, who is the author of a number of books about baseball and in particular about the New York Mets.

Preceded by Andrew Friedman

Devil Rays General Manager 2014-2016

Succeeded by Erik Neander

Related Sites

• Profile on the Rays' website
• Article on his appointment as GM from Fox Sports