1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season

The 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season was the first season in franchise history. This season, they finished last in the AL East division and finished the season with a record of 63-99, 51 games behind the World Champion New York Yankees. Their manager was Larry Rothschild.

1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record63–99 (.389)
Divisional place5th
Other information
Owner(s)Vince Naimoli
General manager(s)Chuck LaMar
Manager(s)Larry Rothschild
Local televisionSportschannel Florida
WWWB
WTSP
(Joe Magrane, Dewayne Staats)
Local radioWFLA
(Paul Olden, Charlie Slowes)
     Next season >

Miguel Cairo was the last active player remaining from the Opening Day roster, until retiring after the 2012 season.

Offseason

  • March 11, 1997: Luis Polonia was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[1]
  • May 10, 1997: Pete Laforest was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[2]
  • June 3, 1997: Jason Standridge was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1st round (31st pick) of the 1997 amateur draft. Player signed June 6, 1997.[3]
  • June 3, 1997: Kenny Kelly was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 2nd round of the 1997 amateur draft. Player signed June 12, 1997.[4]
  • November 11, 1997: Mike Kelly was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for a player to be named later. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays sent Dmitri Young (November 18, 1997) to the Cincinnati Reds to complete the trade.[5]
  • December 9, 1997: Wade Boggs signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[6]
  • December 16, 1997: Scott McClain was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[7]
  • December 18, 1997: Josías Manzanillo was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[8]
  • January 27, 1998: Dave Silvestri was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[9]
  • January 27, 1998: Jerome Walton was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[10]

Round 1

PickPlayerPositionFromTo
1Tony SaundersLHPFLATB
4Quinton McCrackenOFCOLTB
6Bobby AbreuOFHOUTB
8Miguel Cairo2BCHCTB
10Rich ButlerOFTORTB
12Bob Smith3BATLTB
14Jason JohnsonRHPPITTB
16Dmitri Young1BCINTB
18Esteban YanRHPBALTB
20Mike DiFeliceCSTLTB
22Bubba TrammellOFDETTB
24Andy SheetsIFSEATB
26Dennis SpringerRHPANATB
28Dan CarlsonRHPSFTB

Round 2

PickPlayerPositionFromTo
30Brian BoehringerRHPNYYTB
32Mike DuvallLHPFLATB
34John LeRoyRHPATLTB
36Jim MecirRHPBOSTB
38Bryan RekarRHPCOLTB
40Rick GoreckiRHPLADTB
42Ramón TatísLHPCHCTB
44Kerry RobinsonOFSTLTB
46Steve Cox1BOAKTB
48Albie LopezRHPCLETB
50José PaniaguaRHPMONTB
52Carlos MendozaOFNYMTB
54Ryan KarpLHPPHITB
56Santos HernándezRHPSFTB

Round 3

PickPlayerPositionFromTo
58Randy WinnOFFLATB
60Terrell WadeLHPATLTB
62Aaron LedesmaIFBALTB
64Brooks KieschnickOFCHCTB
66Luke WilcoxOFNYYTB
68Herbert PerryIFCLETB
70Vaughn EshelmanLHPOAKTB

1996–97 MLB June drafts and minor league affiliates

The two expansion teams set to debut in 1998, the Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks, had two full seasons to establish scouting and player development systems and were permitted to participate fully in the 1996 and 1997 Major League Baseball drafts. The Devil Rays drafted 29th in 1996 (when they selected 97 players overall) and 31st in 1997 (when they selected 92). The team began developing those players in a farm system with three minor-league affiliates in 1996 and five in 1997.

Among the players selected and signed by Tampa Bay from those drafts were pitcher Dan Wheeler (34th round, 1996), catcher Toby Hall (ninth, 1997), infielder Jared Sandberg (16th, 1996) and outfielder Alex Sánchez (fifth, 1996).

1996 farm system

Level Team League Manager
A-Short Season Hudson Valley Renegades New York–Penn League Bump Wills
Rookie Butte Copper Kings Pioneer League Tom Foley
Rookie GCL Devil Rays Gulf Coast League Bill Evers

Hudson Valley affiliation shared with Texas Rangers[11]

1997 farm system

Level Team League Manager
A St. Petersburg Devil Rays Florida State League Bill Evers
A Charleston RiverDogs South Atlantic League Scott Fletcher
A-Short Season Hudson Valley Renegades New York–Penn League Julio García
Rookie Princeton Devil Rays Appalachian League Charlie Montoyo
Rookie GCL Devil Rays Gulf Coast League Bobby Ramos

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: St. Petersburg

Regular season

  • March 31, 1998 – The Devil Rays played their inaugural game, as well as their first home game, against the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers won 11-6 for an audience of 45,369 fans.[12]
  • April 1, 1998 – The Devil Rays enjoyed the first win in their franchise's history, an 11-8 comeback against the Tigers. Rolando Arrojo was the winning pitcher.[13]
  • June 22, 1998 – The first interleague game between the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays took place at Tropicana Field. The rivalry would be known as the Citrus Series. The Marlins won the game in twelve innings by a score of 3-2.[14]

Opening Day starters

3Quinton McCrackenCF
13Miguel Cairo2B
12Wade Boggs3B
29Fred McGriff1B
24Mike KellyLF
44Paul SorrentoDH
6John FlahertyC
14Dave MartinezRF
19Kevin StockerSS
40Wilson ÁlvarezP

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 11448 0.704 62–19 52–29
Boston Red Sox 9270 0.568 22 51–30 41–40
Toronto Blue Jays 8874 0.543 26 51–30 37–44
Baltimore Orioles 7983 0.488 35 42–39 37–44
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6399 0.389 51 33–48 30–51

Record vs. opponents

1998 American League Records

Sources:
Team ANA BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL 
Anaheim 5–66–55–64–78–36–56–56–55–79–36–55–74–710–6
Baltimore 6–56–62–95–610–15–67–33–98–36–55–76–55–75–11
Boston 5–66–65–68–35–58–35–65–79–27–49–36–55–79–7
Chicago 6–59–26–56–66–68–46–64–74–74–75–65–64–6–17–9
Cleveland 7–46–53–86–69–38–46–64–73–89–27–34–77–410–6
Detroit 3–81–105–56–63–96–68–43–87–43–85–63–85–67–9
Kansas City 5–66–53–84–84–86–67–50–107–44–68–33–86–59–7
Minnesota 5–63–76–56–66–64–85–74–74–72–97–47–44–77–9
New York 5–69–37–57–47–48–310–07–48–38–311–18–36–613–3
Oakland 7–53–82–97–48–34–74–77–43–85–75–66–65–68–8
Seattle 3–95–64–77–42–98–36–49–23–87–56–55–74–77–9
Tampa Bay 5–67–53–96–53–76–53–84–71–116–55–64–75–75–11
Texas 7–55–65–66–57–48–38–34–73–86–67–57–47–48–8
Toronto 7–47–57–56–4–14–76–55–67–46–66–57–47–54–79–7

Notable transactions

  • May 26, 1998: Jerome Walton was released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[10]
  • June 2, 1998: Aubrey Huff was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 5th round of the 1998 amateur draft. Player signed June 17, 1998.[15]
  • July 1, 1998: Josías Manzanillo was released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[8]

Citrus Series

The season series each year between the Devil Rays and the Florida Marlins has come to be known as the Citrus Series. In 1998, the Marlins won the series 3 games to 1.[16]

  • June 22 - Devil Rays vs Marlins: 2 – 3
  • June 23 - Devil Rays vs Marlins: 6 – 4
  • June 24 - Devil Rays @ Marlins: 4 – 8
  • June 25 - Devil Rays @ Marlins: 1 – 5

Roster

1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos Player G AB H HR RBI Avg. SB
CJohn Flaherty9130463324.2070
1BFred McGriff1515641601981.2847
2BMiguel Cairo150515138546.26819
3BBob Smith1173701021155.2765
SSKevin Stocker11233670625.2085
LFQuinton McCracken155614179759.29219
CFRandy Winn10933894117.27826
RFDave Martinez9030979320.2568
DHPaul Sorrento137435981757.2252

[17]

Other batters

Player G AB H HR RBI Avg. SB
Wade Boggs123435122752.2803
Rich Butler7221749720.2264
Mike Difelice8424857323.2300
Mike Kelly106279671033.24013
Tim Laker35100.2000
Aaron Ledesma9529997029.3249
Scott McClain920200.1000
Kerry Robinson23000.0000
Dave Silvestri814100.0710
Bubba Trammell59199571235.2860
Jerome Walton12341103.3240

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Rolando Arrojo32202.014123.56152
Tony Saunders31192.16154.12172
Wilson Alvarez25142.26144.73107
Julio Santana32140.1564.2360
Dennis Springer29115.23115.4546
Bryan Rekar1686.2284.9855

Relief pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO Sv
Scott Aldred4831.1003.73210
Dan Carlson1017.2007.64160
Mike Duvall34.0006.7510
Eddie Gaillard67.2005.8750
Roberto Hernandez6771.1264.045526
Albie Lopez5479.2742.60621
Jim Mecir6884.0723.11770
Brad Pennington10.000inf00
Matt Ruebel78.2026.2360
Ramon Tatis2211.20013.8950
Rick White3868.2263.80390

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO Sv
Dave Eiland12.20120.2510
Rick Gorecki316.2124.8680
Jason Johnson1360.0255.70360
Terrell Wade210.2115.0680

Game log

Game Log

Awards and honors

1998 MLB All-Star Game selection:

  • Rolando Arrojo, Pitcher

Team leaders

  • Home runs – Fred McGriff (19)
  • Runs batted in – Fred McGriff (81)
  • Batting average – Aaron Ledesma (.324)
  • Hits – Quinton McCracken (179)
  • Stolen bases – Randy Winn (26)
  • Walks – Fred McGriff (79)
  • Wins – Rolando Arrojo (14)
  • Strikeouts – Tony Saunders (172)
  • Earned run average – Albie Lopez (2.60)
  • Saves – Roberto Hernández (26)

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Durham Bulls International League Bill Evers
A St. Petersburg Devil Rays Florida State League Roy Silver
A Charleston RiverDogs South Atlantic League Greg Mahlberg
A-Short Season Hudson Valley Renegades New York–Penn League Charlie Montoyo
Rookie Princeton Devil Rays Appalachian League Dave Howard
Rookie GCL Devil Rays Gulf Coast League Bobby Ramos

[11][18]

References

  1. Luis Polonia Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 31, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Jason Standridge Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. Kenny Kelly Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  5. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kellymi02.shtml
  6. Wade Boggs Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  7. https://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mcclasc01.shtml
  8. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/manzajo01.shtml
  9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/silveda01.shtml
  10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/w/waltoje01.shtml
  11. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  12. "Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Devil Rays Box Score, March 31, 1998". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  13. "Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Devil Rays Box Score, April 1, 1998". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  14. http://baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=199806220TBA
  15. Aubrey Huff Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  16. "1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  17. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TBD/1998.shtml
  18. https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/affiliate.cgi?id=TBD&year=1998
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.