In the 1998 expansion season for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, rookie righty starting pitcher took the league by storm.  Arroyo pitched in 32 games (all starts) in 1998 for the Devil Rays and he was 14-12 with a 3.56 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP.  He finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting in the A.L. in 1998.  Arroyo pitched in 56 games (all starts) in his short stint with the Devil Rays (two years) and he was 21-24 with a 4.23 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP.  Arroyo is tied for fifth in Rays’ history with 4 complete games and he is also tied for 4th in shutouts in team history with 2.  The Devil Rays dealt Arroyo to the Rockies along with infielder Aaron Ledesma to the Colorado Rockies for 3B Vinny Castilla on December 13th, 1999.

Righty reliever Danys Baez came to the Devil Rays as a set-up man. The Devil Rays enticed him to come to Tampa as they offered him the chance to close and he did a solid job in his two years with the team. In 2005, Baez pitched in 67 games (0 starts) in which he was 5-4 with 41 saves, a 2.86 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He made the All-Star team for the Devil Rays in 2005. He pitched in 2 seasons with the Devil Rays, working in 129 games (0 starts) in which he was 9-8 with 71 saves, a 3.21 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP. Baez is #2 in Rays/Devil Rays’ history in saves with 71.

Righty reliever Esteban Yan pitched for the Devil Rays when they were not a very good team. He had by far the best year of his major league career in 2001 with the Devil Rays. Yan pitched in 54 games (0 starts) for the D-Rays in 2001 and he was 4-6 with 22 saves, a 3.90 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Yan pitched in 266 games (21 starts) in his five years with the D-Rays and he was 26-30 with 42 saves, a 5.01 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. He is the Rays’ all-time leader in games pitched with 266. He is also #6 in wins (26), #4 in saves (42) and #5 in strikeouts (351) in Rays’ history. As the franchise ages, Yan will likely get bumped out of the record books, but for now….his name is all over it.

The Devil Rays drafted Bobby Abreu from the Astros in the expansion draft in 1997. They then traded him on November 18, 1997 straight up for shortstop Kevin Stocker. In three years with the Devil Rays, Stocker played in 231 games in which he was 176 of 704 (.250 avg, .676 OPS) with 96 runs scored, 9 homers, 60 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Bobby Abreu on the other hand has played in 2,009 games (as of today) in his major league career and he is 2,170 of 7,276 (.298 avg, .893 OPS) with 1,305 runs scored, 262 homers, 1,215 RBIs and 357 stolen bases. It took a while for the Devil Rays to overcome this big time blunder.

Back when the “Devil” was still in the Rays’ team name, Roberto Hernandez was the closer for three years. He pitched in 207 games (0 starts) for the D-Rays and he was 8-16 with 101 saves, a 3.43 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. But, 1999 was his best year as he made the All-Star team and he also finished #10 in the Cy Young voting. He pitched in 72 games (0 starts) for the Devil Rays that year and he was 2-3 with 43 saves, a 3.07 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. Although Hernandez was only with the D-Rays for three seasons he is the all-time leader in franchise history with 101 saves and he is #3 all-time in games pitched with 207.