Rays lose two familiar faces from the clubhouse

ST. PETERSBURG — The longtime Rays staffers who managed the home and visiting clubhouses have taken bigger jobs with other teams.

Guy Gallagher, who started with the Rays in 1996 and has run the visiting clubhouse since the 1998 inaugural season, is headed west to run the Angels’ home clubhouse operation.

Ryan “Beans” Denlinger, a Rays staffer since 2006, has left the home clubhouse to become manager of team travel for the Pirates.

Neither was looking to leave; both were approached with offers for promotions.

Gallagher, 54, joined the Rays from Florida State as the minor-league equipment and clubhouse manager in 1996 as the team drafted its first class of players, who worked out at the Huggins-Stengel complex near downtown St. Petersburg.

He was named visiting clubhouse manager when the Rays began big-league play in 1998 and had been there ever since. He was chosen to work eight All-Star Games and a Japan tour, and honored in 2017 by his peers with the Pete Sheehy award as the best in his field.

“I’m proud to have been there from the beginning and have tremendous memories of the people I worked with and for and the experiences I had,” Gallagher said. “I’m looking forward to the next chapter.”

Gallagher has had a long-standing relationship with new Angels general manager Perry Minasian and will be reunited with manager Joe Maddon, who led the Rays from 2006-14.

Denlinger, 39, is a USF graduate who started with the Rays at minor-league Princeton (W. Va.) in 2006, then joined the big-league staff in 2007. He worked his way up from home clubhouse attendant to assistant manager to manager in 2018.

Denlinger said the opportunity to move out of the clubhouse and into the travel and logistics role was something he aspired to, and the chance to return to Pennsylvania, where he and wife Anita are from, was appealing. He also will reunite with a familiar face — former Rays hitting coach Derek Shelton is now Pirates manager.

But, Denlinger said, it was still a difficult decision to leave Rays manager Kevin Cash, the staff and players.

“The last three seasons it’s like I haven’t ‘gone to work,’ I haven’t ‘worked’ a day.’ It’s pretty impressive to go in and enjoy the people that much," Denlinger said. “That’s the hard part. We’ve had a pretty good staff, and we have a good time. Obviously, the winning helps, too. …

“The position that I had was great. But this was just too good of an opportunity. Getting out of the clubhouse and doing a different role after 15 years in the clubhouse, it’s a challenge I wanted to take on."

Equipment manager Tyler Wall, 36, is expected to take over the Rays’ home clubhouse; a decision on the visiting clubhouse role is pending.

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Also:

• After rejoining the Rays as a Triple-A coach in 2019, Quinton McCracken has left to join the Brewers front office as a special advisor in baseball operations. McCracken, 50, was the starting centerfielder on the 1998 inaugural Devil Rays team while playing parts of 12 seasons in the majors. He previously had front-office jobs with the Diamondbacks, Astros and Marlins.

• The Rays were among about 25 teams scouting Wednesday’s workout by free-agent pitchers Corey Kluber, Steve Cishek and Anthony Swarzak in Palm Beach Gardens.