Rays tales
The ranking of each Rays team in the past ten seasons.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published April 8, 2007
Rays officials say this could be the most successful team in franchise history. That will be determined over the next six months. Based solely on the snapshot of the opening-day lineups, we'd consider it the second-most talented among their 10 teams. The way we rank them:
No. 1
2000
Gerald Williams cf
Dave Martinez rf
Jose Canseco dh
Fred McGriff 1b
Greg Vaughn lf
Herbert Perry 3b
John Flaherty c
Kevin Stocker ss
Miguel Cairo 2b
Steve Trachsel p
Manager: Larry Rothschild
Final record: 69-92
No. 2
2007
Carl Crawford lf
Ben Zobrist ss
Rocco Baldelli dh
Ty Wigginton 1b
Delmon Young rf
Akinori Iwamura 3b
Dioner Navarro c
Elijah Dukes cf
B.J. Upton 2b
Scott Kazmir p
Manager: Joe Maddon
Final record: ??-??
No. 3
1999
Randy Winn cf
Dave Martinez rf
Jose Canseco dh
Fred McGriff 1b
John Flaherty c
Wade Boggs 3b
Paul Sorrento lf
Miguel Cairo 2b
Kevin Stocker ss
Wilson Alvarez p
Manager: Larry Rothschild
Final record: 69-93
No. 4
2006
Julio Lugo ss
Carl Crawford lf
Jorge Cantu 2b
Aubrey Huff 3b
Jonny Gomes dh
Travis Lee 1b
Toby Hall c
Damon Hollins rf
Joey Gathright cf
Scott Kazmir p
Manager: Joe Maddon
Final record: 61-101
No. 5
1998
Quinton McCracken cf
Miguel Cairo 2b
Wade Boggs 3b
Fred McGriff 1b
Mike Kelly lf
Paul Sorrento dh
John Flaherty c
Dave Martinez rf
Kevin Stocker ss
Wilson Alvarez p
Manager Larry Rothschild
Final record: 63-99
No. 6
2004
Carl Crawford lf
Damian Rolls 3b
Rocco Baldelli cf
Aubrey Huff dh
Jose Cruz rf
Tino Martinez 1b
Julio Lugo ss
Toby Hall c
Rey Sanchez 2b
Victor Zambrano p
Manager: Lou Piniella
Final record: 70-91
No. 7
2001
Gerald Williams cf
Steve Cox dh
Greg Vaughn lf
Fred McGriff 1b
Ben Grieve rf
Vinny Castilla 3b
Bobby Smith 2b
John Flaherty c
Felix Martinez ss
Albie Lopez p
Manager: Larry Rothschild
Final record: 62-100
No. 8
2003
Carl Crawford lf
Rocco Baldelli cf
Aubrey Huff 3b
Travis Lee 1b
Al Martin dh
Ben Grieve rf
Toby Hall c
Brent Abernathy 2b
Rey Ordonez ss
Joe Kennedy p
Manager: Lou Piniella
Final record: 63-99
No. 9
2005
Carl Crawford lf
Julio Lugo ss
Aubrey Huff rf
Travis Lee 1b
Josh Phelps dh
Jorge Cantu 2b
Chris Singleton cf
Toby Hall c
Alex Gonzalez 3b
Dewon Brazelton p
Manager: Lou Piniella
Final record: 67-95
No. 10
2002
Jason Tyner lf
Randy Winn cf
Steve Cox 1b
Greg Vaughn dh
Toby Hall c
Ben Grieve rf
Bobby Smith 3b
Brent Abernathy 2b
Chris Gomez ss
Tanyon Sturtze p
Manager: Hal McRae
Final record: 55-106
Coming attractions
Rays officials are working hard to further upgrade Tropicana Field, planning to add more activities on Rightfield Street. We'd be remiss if we didn't offer some suggestions based on a few of the more interesting comments of the spring:
1. The Chuck LaMar "10-Year Detour" Course: Navigate the world of the baseball general manager from the perspective of a scout who has "always been a scout" and "always will be a scout" and told the Washington Post his time with the Rays was "a 10-year detour." Hire a first-time manager, sign declining veterans to bad contracts, earn a reputation for being hard to deal with, get forced into bad moves by your boss, change philosophies often, make more poor decisions on your own, average 97 losses over eight major-league seasons, and, to the amazement of those watching, keep earning extra time with contract extensions.
2. Seth McClung's "Intelligent Approach" Role Play: Come to the biggest spring training of your career overweight, pitch poorly (11.57 ERA, 25 baserunners in 91/3 innings), fail to know your own contract status and assume incorrectly that you can't be optioned to the minors, insist as a result that your spring stats don't matter and you see it as an "intelligent approach," ignore warning signs when a reporter asks you about being sent down, claim to be shocked when it happens, blame your high-powered agent for not making you aware of your situation, then admit you would have done things differently (i.e., better) if you had known. Comes with a circus soundtrack.
3. What's My Line - Uniform Number Edition:
Match these quotes with the player and his situation:
1) "I'm just employee No. 3."
2) "I'm just employee No. 5."
3) "I'm just employee No. 30."
a) Dioner Navarro, on returning to the field after injury
b) Jorge Cantu, on having to prove himself again
c) Rocco Baldelli, on being left out of a recent lineup
Smashing debut
Rays rookie Elijah Dukes was just the 14th major-leaguer to homer in the first two games of his career. The list:
Player Year, team
Player Year, team
Earl Averill 1929, Indians
Paul Gillespie 1942, Cubs
Joe Cunningham 1954, Cards
Dick Stuart 1958, Pirates
Roberto Pena 1965, Cubs
Joe Lefebvre 1980, Yankees
Tim Laudner 1981, Twins
Alvin Davis 1984, Mariners
Sam Horn 1987, Red Sox
Todd Helton 1997, Rockies
Josh Bard 2002, Indians
Kenji Johjima 2006, Mariners
Kevin Kouzmanoff 2006, Indians
Elijah Dukes 2007, Rays
Source: Rays
Internet item of the week
For $60 on eBay, you can buy Rob Bell's 2003 size 37 road pants. Supposedly worn.
1) b; 2) c; 3) a