2003 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season

The 2003 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season was their sixth since the franchise was created. This season, they finished last in the American League East with a record of 63–99. Their manager was Lou Piniella who entered his first season with the Devil Rays.

2003 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
League	American League
Division	East
Ballpark	Tropicana Field
City	St. Petersburg, Florida
Record	63–99 (.389)
Divisional place	5th
Owners	Vince Naimoli
General managers	Chuck LaMar
Managers	Lou Piniella
Television	FSN Florida WXPX (Joe Magrane, Dewayne Staats, Todd Kalas)
Radio	WFLA (Paul Olden, Charlie Slowes) WAMA (AM) (Enrique Oliu)
← 2002 2004 →

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	101	61	.623	—	50‍–‍32	51‍–‍29
Boston Red Sox	95	67	.586	6	53‍–‍28	42‍–‍39
Toronto Blue Jays	86	76	.531	15	41‍–‍40	45‍–‍36
Baltimore Orioles	71	91	.438	30	40‍–‍40	31‍–‍51
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	63	99	.389	38	36‍–‍45	27‍–‍54

Record vs. opponents

2003 American League record Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2003 v t e
Team	ANA	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TB	TEX	TOR	NL
Anaheim	—	1–8	3–6	3–4	6–3	6–1	6–3	5–4	3–6	8–12	8–11	6–3	9–10	2–7	11–7
Baltimore	8–1	—	9–10	2–4	3–3	3–3	3–4	3–4	6–13–1	2–7	4–5	8–11	7–2	8–11	5–13
Boston	6–3	10–9	—	5–4	4–2	8–1	5–1	2–4	9–10	3–4	5–2	12–7	5–4	10–9	11–7
Chicago	4–3	4–2	4–5	—	11–8	11–8	11–8	9–10	4–2	4–5	2–7	3–3	3–4	6–3	10–8
Cleveland	3–6	3–3	2–4	8–11	—	12–7	6–13	9–10	2–5	3–6	3–6	5–2	4–5	2–4	6–12
Detroit	1–6	3–3	1–8	8–11	7–12	—	5–14	4–15	1–5	3–6	1–8	2–4	1–6	2–7	4–14
Kansas City	3–6	4–3	1–5	8–11	13–6	14–5	—	11–8	2–4	2–7	4–5	4–3	7–2	1–5	9–9
Minnesota	4–5	4–3	4–2	10–9	10–9	15–4	8–11	—	0–7	8–1	3–6	6–0	5–4	3–3	10–8
New York	6–3	13–6–1	10–9	2–4	5–2	5–1	4–2	7–0	—	3–6	5–4	14–5	4–5	10–9	13–5
Oakland	12–8	7–2	4–3	5–4	6–3	6–3	7–2	1–8	6–3	—	7–12	6–3	15–4	5–2	9–9
Seattle	11–8	5–4	2–5	7–2	6–3	8–1	5–4	6–3	4–5	12–7	—	4–5	10–10	3–4	10–8
Tampa Bay	3–6	11–8	7–12	3–3	2–5	4–2	3–4	0–6	5–14	3–6	5–4	—	3–6	11–8	3–15
Texas	10–9	2–7	4–5	4–3	5–4	6–1	2–7	4–5	5–4	4–15	10–10	6–3	—	5–4	4–14
Toronto	7–2	11–8	9–10	3–6	4–2	7–2	5–1	3–3	9–10	2–5	4–3	8–11	4–5	—	10–8

Transactions

• February 14, 2003: Wayne Gomes was signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.^[1]
• March 10, 2003: Wayne Gomes was released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.^[1]
• March 29, 2003: Al Martin was signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.^[2]
• April 10, 2003: John Rocker signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.^[3]
• June 27, 2003: John Rocker was released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.^[3]

Draft picks

• June 3, 2003: Delmon Young was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 2003 amateur draft. Player signed September 8, 2003.^[4]
• June 3, 2003: Josh Geer was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 19th round of the 2003 amateur draft, but did not sign.^[5]

Roster

2003 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Roster
Pitchers 37 Brandon Backe 41 Rob Bell 32 Nick Bierbrodt 45 Dewon Brazelton 38 Lance Carter 49 Jesús Colomé 50 Chad Gaudin 54 Geremi González 58 Travis Harper 17 Joe Kennedy 40 Al Levine 46 Mark Malaska 37 Seth McClung 28,40 Jim Parque 39 Steve Parris 57 Carlos Reyes 48 John Rocker 27 Bobby Seay 59 Jorge Sosa 53 Jason Standridge 43 Jon Switzer 43 Mike Venafro 40 Doug Waechter 47 Víctor Zambrano		Catchers 44 Toby Hall 39 Pete Laforest 20 Javier Valentín Infielders  3,14 Brent Abernathy  8 Marlon Anderson 25 Damion Easley  3 Félix Escalona 16 Travis Lee 36 Jeff Liefer 23 Julio Lugo 10 Rey Ordóñez  1 Antonio Pérez 33 Damian Rolls 26 Jared Sandberg 22 Terry Shumpert  3 Jason Smith 35 Chris Truby		Outfielders  5 Rocco Baldelli 13 Carl Crawford 25 Matt Diaz 18 Ben Grieve 19 Aubrey Huff 24 George Lombard  9 Al Martin 32 Adam Piatt 11 Jason Tyner Other batters 60 Jonny Gomes		Manager 14 Lou Piniella Coaches 29 Chris Bosio (pitching)  4 Lee Elia (hitting)  6 Tom Foley (third base)  2 Billy Hatcher (first base)  7 John McLaren (bench) 15 Matt Sinatro (bullpen)

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; 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
C	Toby Hall	130	463	117	.253	12	47
1B	Travis Lee	145	542	149	.275	19	70
2B	Marlon Anderson	145	482	130	.270	6	67
SS	Julio Lugo	117	433	119	.275	15	53
3B	Damian Rolls	107	373	95	.255	7	46
LF	Carl Crawford	151	630	177	.281	5	54
CF	Rocco Baldelli	156	637	184	.289	11	78
RF	Aubrey Huff	162	636	198	.311	34	107
DH	Al Martin	100	238	60	.252	3	26

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Ben Grieve	55	165	38	.230	4	17
Jared Sandberg	55	136	29	.213	6	23
Javier Valentín	49	135	30	.222	3	15
Antonio Pérez	48	125	31	.248	2	12
Rey Ordóñez	34	117	37	.316	3	22
Damion Easley	36	107	20	.187	1	7
Jason Tyner	46	90	25	.278	0	6
Terry Shumpert	59	84	16	.190	2	7
Pete Laforest	19	48	8	.167	0	6
Chris Truby	13	43	12	.279	0	3
George Lombard	13	37	8	.216	1	4
Adam Piatt	14	32	6	.188	2	3
Félix Escalona	10	27	5	.185	0	2
Jeff Liefer	9	25	3	.120	1	3
Jonny Gomes	8	15	2	.133	0	0
Matt Diaz	4	9	1	.111	0	0
Brent Abernathy	2	7	0	.000	0	0
Jason Smith	1	4	1	.250	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Victor Zambrano	34	188.1	12	10	4.21	132
Geremi González	25	156.1	6	11	3.91	97
Rob Bell	19	101.0	5	4	5.52	44
Dewon Brazelton	10	48.1	1	6	6.89	24
Jason Standridge	8	35.1	0	5	6.37	20
Doug Waechter	6	35.1	3	2	3.31	29
Jim Parque	5	17.1	1	1	11.94	8

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Joe Kennedy	32	133.2	3	12	6.13	77
Jorge Sosa	29	128.2	5	12	4.62	72
Steve Parris	10	43.2	0	3	6.18	14
Chad Gaudin	15	40.0	2	0	3.60	23
Carlos Reyes	10	39.2	0	3	5.22	13
Seth McClung	12	38.2	4	1	5.35	25
Nick Bierbrodt	13	35.1	0	2	9.68	20

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Lance Carter	62	7	5	26	4.33	47
Travis Harper	61	4	8	1	3.77	64
Jesús Colomé	54	3	7	2	4.50	69
Al Levine	36	3	5	0	2.90	25
Brandon Backe	28	1	1	0	5.44	36
Mike Venafro	24	1	0	0	4.74	9
Mark Malaska	22	2	1	0	2.81	17
Bobby Seay	12	0	0	0	3.00	5
Jon Switzer	5	0	0	0	7.45	7
John Rocker	2	0	0	0	9.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Durham Bulls	International League	Bill Evers
AA	Orlando Rays	Southern League	Charlie Montoyo
A	Bakersfield Blaze	California League	Omer Muñoz
A	Charleston RiverDogs	South Atlantic League	Mako Oliveras
A-Short Season	Hudson Valley Renegades	New York–Penn League	Dave Howard
Rookie	Princeton Devil Rays	Appalachian League	Jamie Nelson

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Durham^[6]