The 2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season was their fifth since the franchise was created. This season, they finished last in the American League East, and managed to finish the season with a record of 55–106. Their manager was Hal McRae who entered his first full season and last season with the Devil Rays.
Offseason November 8, 2001: Ryan Freel was signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Regular season
Season standings
American League Wild Card
Record vs. opponents
Opening Day starters Brent Abernathy Steve Cox Chris Gomez Ben Grieve Toby Hall Bob Smith Tanyon Sturtze Jason Tyner Greg Vaughn Randy Winn
Notable transactions June 4, 2002: B. J. Upton drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed September 16, 2002.B.J. Upton Statistics Baseball-Reference.com June 4, 2002: Elijah Dukes drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 3rd round of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed August 21, 2002.Elijah Dukes Statistics Baseball-Reference.com September 22, 2002: Released Toe Nash, the day after he was released from jail.
Roster 2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders Manager
Coaches (pitching) (bullpen) (third base) (bench) (first base) (hitting)
Citrus series The annual interleague games between the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were played in June and July. They are known as the Citrus Series. The Devil Rays won the series 4–2. Date Winning Team Losing Team Score VenueJune 14 Devil Rays Marlins 4-3 (14 innings) Pro Player StadiumJune 15 Marlins Devil Rays 3-0 Pro Player StadiumJune 16 Devil Rays Marlins 4-1 Pro Player StadiumJune 28 Devil Rays Marlins 4-0 Tropicana FieldJune 29 Marlins Devil Rays 3-2 Tropicana FieldJune 30 Devil Rays Marlins 6-5 (12 innings) Tropicana Field
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Toby Hall 85 330 85 .258 6 42 1B Steve Cox 148 560 142 .254 16 72 2B Brent Abernathy 117 463 112 .242 2 40 SS Chris Gomez 130 461 122 .265 10 46 3B Jared Sandberg 102 358 82 .229 18 54 LF Carl Crawford 63 259 67 .259 2 30 CF Randy Winn 152 607 181 .298 14 75 RF Ben Grieve 136 482 121 .251 19 64 DH Aubrey Huff 113 454 142 .313 23 59
Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI John Flaherty 76 281 73 .260 4 33 Greg Vaughn 69 251 41 .163 8 29 Jason Conti 78 222 57 .257 3 21 Jason Tyner 44 168 36 .214 0 9 Félix Escalona 59 157 34 .217 0 9 Andy Sheets 41 149 37 .248 4 22 Russ Johnson 45 111 24 .216 1 12 Damian Rolls 21 89 26 .292 0 6 Jason Smith 26 65 13 .200 1 6 Bob Smith 18 63 11 .175 1 6 Dave McCarty 12 34 6 .176 1 2 Paul Hoover 5 17 3 .176 0 2
Pitching
Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Tanyon Sturtze 33 224.0 4 18 5.18 137 Joe Kennedy 30 196.2 8 11 4.53 109 Paul Wilson 30 193.2 6 12 4.83 111 Ryan Rupe 15 90.0 5 10 5.60 67 Luis de los Santos 3 14.0 0 3 11.57 7 Dewon Brazelton 2 13.0 0 1 4.85 5
Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Victor Zambrano 42 114.0 8 8 5.53 73 Jorge Sosa 31 99.1 2 7 5.53 48 Travis Harper 37 85.2 5 9 5.46 60 Wilson Álvarez 23 75.0 2 3 5.28 56 Delvin James 8 34.1 0 3 6.55 17
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO Esteban Yan 55 7 8 19 4.30 53 Steve Kent 34 0 2 1 5.65 41 Jesús Colomé 32 2 7 0 8.27 33 Doug Creek 29 2 1 0 6.27 37 Travis Phelps 26 1 2 0 4.78 36 Lee Gardner 12 1 1 0 4.05 8 Brandon Backe 9 0 0 0 6.92 6 Lance Carter 8 2 0 2 1.33 14 Jason Jiménez 5 0 0 0 5.40 5 Tom Martin 2 0 0 0 16.20 1 Jason Standridge 1 0 0 0 9.00 1
ESPN25 Worst Team of All-Time In 2004, ESPN was celebrating 25 years of the network since its founding in 1979. The network decided to honor the first 25 years from the best to the worst and everything else in between. The Rays were ranked 16th in the actual ESPN Worst Team Result of the first 25 years conducted by ESPN and its users. The users put them higher at 13th than the original airing as the worst team by only 3 spots.
Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: DurhamJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
References
2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Baseball Reference.com 2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays team page at www.baseball-almanac.com