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.

Fred McGriff only spent a few years for the Devil Rays near the end of his career but he was very productive for them. He played in 577 games for the Devil Rays in which he was 603 for 2,074 (.291 avg, .864 OPS) with 277 runs scored, 99 homers and 359 RBIs. McGriff is still #3 all-time for the Rays in hits, #2 in both batting average and OPS, #5 in runs scored, #3 in homers and #3 in RBIs despite not playing too long in Tampa. He made the All-Star team for the Devil Rays at the age of 36 when he played in 158 games in which he was 157 for 566 (.277 avg, .826 OPS) with 82 runs scored, 27 homers and 106 RBIs. The “Crime Dog” wasn’t with the Devil Rays for a long time but he made his mark in team history.