1999 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season

The 1999 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season was their second since the franchise was created. They finished last in the AL East division with a record of 69 wins and 93 losses. Their manager was Larry Rothschild, who entered his 2nd year with the club.

A ticket for a 1999 game between the Devil Rays and the Anaheim Angels.

1999 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record69–93 (.426)
Divisional place5th
Other information
Owner(s)Vince Naimoli
General manager(s)Chuck LaMar
Manager(s)Larry Rothschild
Local televisionSportschannel Florida
WWWB/WMOR
WTSP
(Joe Magrane, Dewayne Staats)
Local radioWFLA
(Paul Olden, Charlie Slowes)
WBDN
(Eulides Nunez, Enrique Oliu)
< Previous season     Next season >

Offseason

  • November 25, 1998: Dave Silvestri was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[1]
  • December 11, 1998: José Canseco signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
  • February 3, 1999: Joe Oliver was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[2]
  • February 19, 1999: Julio Franco was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[3]
  • March 31, 1999: Mike Kelly was released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[4]

Regular season

  • On August 7, 1999, Wade Boggs had the 3,000th hit of his career.[5] The hit was a home run.

Opening Day starters

2Randy WinnCF
14Dave MartinezRF
33Jose CansecoDH
29Fred McGriff1B
23John FlahertyC
12Wade Boggs3B
44Paul SorrentoLF
13Miguel Cairo2B
19Kevin StockerSS
40Wilson AlvarezP

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 9864 0.605 48–33 50–31
Boston Red Sox 9468 0.580 4 49–32 45–36
Toronto Blue Jays 8478 0.519 14 40–41 44–37
Baltimore Orioles 7884 0.481 20 41–40 37–44
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6993 0.426 29 33–48 36–45

Record vs. opponents

1999 American League Records

Sources:
Team ANA BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL 
Anaheim 3–91–95–51–95–57–56–46–48–46–67–56–63–96–12
Baltimore 9–35–77–31–95–56–48–14–95–75–55–76–61–1111–7
Boston 9–17–57–58–47–58–26–48–44–67–34–94–59–36–12
Chicago 5–53–75–73–97–56–68–3–15–73–74–86–45–56–49–9
Cleveland 9–19–14–89–38–57–59–33–710–27–35–43–75–79–9
Detroit 5–55–55–75–75–87–46–65–74–63–74–55–52–108–10
Kansas City 5–74–62–86–65–74–75–85–46–67–52–84–63–76–12
Minnesota 4–61–84–63–8–13–96–68–54–67–54–85–50–124–610–7
New York 4–69–44–87–57–37–54–56–46–49–18–48–410–29–9
Oakland 4–87–56–47–32–106–46–65–74–66–69–15–78–212–6
Seattle 6–65–53–78–43–77–35–78–41–96–68–45–87–27–11
Tampa Bay 5–77–59–44–64–55–48–25–54–81–94–84–85–84–14
Texas 6–66–65–45–57–35–56–412–04–87–58–58–46–410–8
Toronto 9–311–13–94–67–510–27–36–42–102–82–78–54–69–9

Notable transactions

  • April 9, 1999: Dave Silvestri was released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[1]
  • May 27, 1999: Aaron Small was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[6]
  • July 23, 1999: Joe Oliver was traded by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with Humberto Cota to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jose Guillen and Jeff Sparks.[2]
  • June 23, 1999: Jim Morris was signed as a Free Agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[7]

Draft Picks

  • June 2, 1999: Josh Hamilton was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1999 amateur draft. Player signed June 3, 1999.[8]
  • June 2, 1999: Carl Crawford was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 2nd round of the 1999 amateur draft. Player signed June 14, 1999.[9]
  • June 2, 1999: Doug Waechter was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 3rd round of the 1999 amateur draft. Player signed June 27, 1999.[10]

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 1999, the Marlins won the series 5 games to 1.[11]

  • June 4 - Devil Rays vs Marlins: 0 – 10
  • June 5 - Devil Rays vs Marlins: 7 – 9
  • June 6 - Devil Rays vs Marlins: 6 – 11
  • July 9 - Devil Rays @ Marlins: 4 – 11
  • July 10 - Devil Rays @ Marlins: 9 – 8
  • July 11 - Devil Rays @ Marlins: 2 – 3

The Rookie

While coaching baseball for the Reagan County Owls, Jim Morris made a promise to his team that he would try out for Major League Baseball if his team won the District Championship, something the team had never accomplished before. His team won the title, and Morris kept his end of the bargain. At tryouts, the Major League scout for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays initially wasn't interested in Morris. But, the scout agreed to allow him to try out so Morris could keep his promise to his students. Surprisingly, Morris discovered that in spite of his age, and having several surgeries on his arm, he was able to throw a 98-mph fastball. In fact, he threw 12 consecutive 98-mph fastballs. After much debate with his family, Morris signed a professional contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization at the age of 35. He started out with the Minor League Class AA Orlando Rays but after a few appearances he moved up to a spot with the AAA Durham Bulls. Thanks to solid performances with Durham, Tampa Bay gave him a chance to pitch with the big club when the rosters expanded, and on September 18, 1999, against Royce Clayton of the Texas Rangers, the 35-year-old Morris made his debut, striking Clayton out on four pitches. His goal of pitching in the majors was finally realized, and he made four more appearances later that year.

Roster

1999 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: 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 SB
CJohn Flaherty117446124.27814710
1BFred McGriff144529164.310321041
2BMiguel Cairo120465137.29533622
3BWade Boggs9029288.3012291
SSKevin Stocker7925476.2991279
LFBubba Trammell8228382.29014390
CFRandy Winn7930381.2672249
RFDave Martinez143514146.28466613
DHJosé Canseco113430120.27934953

Other batters

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI SB
Rich Butler7203.150000
Danny Clyburn288116.198350
Steve Cox6194.211000
Mike Difelice5117955.3076270
Julio Franco110.000000
Tony Graffanino3913041.3152193
Jose Guillen4716841.2442130
David Lamb551228.2261130
Aaron Ledesma9329478.2650301
Terrell Lowery6618548.2592170
Quinton McCracken4014837.2501186
Herbert Perry6620953.2546320
Bob Smith6819936.1813194
Paul Sorrento9929469.23511421

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bobby Witt32180.17155.84123
Wilson Alvarez28160.0994.22128
Ryan Rupe24142.1894.5597
Rolando Arrojo24140.27125.18107
Dave Eiland2180.1485.6053

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO Sv
Mickey Callaway519.1127.45110
Cory Lidle55.0107.2040
Bryan Rekar2794.2665.80550
Tony Saunders942.0336.43300
Dan Wheeler630.2045.87320

Relief pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO Sv
Scott Aldred3724.1325.18220
Norm Charlton4250.2234.44450
Mike Duvall4040.0114.05180
Eddie Gaillard88.2102.0870
Roberto Hernandez7273.1233.076943
Albie Lopez5164.0324.64371
Jim Mecir1720.2012.61150
Jim Morris54.2005.7930
Alan Newman1815.2226.89200
Julio Santana2255.1147.32340
Jeff Sparks810.0005.40171
Rick White63108.0534.08810
Esteban Yan5061.0345.90460

Game log

Game Log

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Durham Bulls International League Bill Evers
AA Orlando Rays Southern League Bill Russell
A St. Petersburg Devil Rays Florida State League Roy Silver
A Charleston RiverDogs South Atlantic League Charlie Montoyo
A-Short Season Hudson Valley Renegades New York–Penn League Edwin Rodríguez
Rookie Princeton Devil Rays Appalachian League Bobby Ramos

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Orlando, Hudson Valley[12][13]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.