2001 Record: 62-100, 5th in AL East 2001 Results | 2002 Schedule | 2002 Roster | 2001 Statistics: Batting | Pitching Offense (AL rank) Defense (AL rank) 672 runs (14th) Home: 348 runs (13th) Road: 324 (14th) 887 runs allowed (13th) Home: 4.67 ERA (11th) Road: 5.23 ERA (12th) 2001 Stats Leaders   Average: Ben Grieve, .264 Runs: Greg Vaughn, 74 On-base pct: Grieve, .372 Stolen bases: Jason Tyner, 31 Wins: Tanyon Sturtze, 11 Saves: Esteban Yan, 22 Home runs: Vaughn, 24 RBI: Vaughn, 82 Slugging pct.: Vaughn, .433 OPS: Vaughn, 766 ERA: Sturtze, 4.42 Strikeouts: Ryan Rupe, 123

ESPN's Take Q: Who or what is the brightest ray of hope for the downtrodden Devil Rays in 2002? The Devil Rays are finally on their way to getting it right. They found out the hard way that a lineup of power hitters with low on-base percentages will not get the job done. Now the focus is back on building with youth and catcher Toby Hall is a great start. The Devil Rays have good arms on the horizon and contending clubs could be looking to the Devil Rays for tradeable players at the July 31 deadline. It will be a good time for the front office to improve the talent pool. They will have to endure more growing pains, but if the organization can stick with this game plan, it will eventually pay dividends. -- Tom Candiotti  ESPN.com's Crystal Ball Toby Hall is Tampa's All-Star rep and follows his Futures Game MVP trophy with the All-Star MVP. Love Ichiro's game but not his fantasy price? Jason Tyner may be your solution. He brings a similar slap-n-go hitting style and his speed can be lethal (31 SBs in 105 games). Tyner might give Ichiro a run for the league steals title playing a full season. Ben Grieve is coming off his worst season, but all hope is not lost. Grieve hit 51 points better in the second half and, just 25 years old, there is no reason he can't rebound to his ML 162-game averages of 22 HR, 95 RBI and .276 BA. -- Brandon Funston Batting order Jason Tyner, LF/CF Brent Abernathy, 2B Ben Grieve, LF/RF Greg Vaughn, DH Toby Hall, C Steve Cox, 1B Randy Winn, CF/RF Russ Johnson, 3B Chris Gomez, SS Bench Jason Conti, John Flaherty, Damian Rolls, Aubrey Huff, Felix Escalona Rotation Joe Kennedy, Paul Wilson, Tanyon Sturtze, Ryan Rupe, Wilson Alvarez Bullpen Esteban Yan, Victor Zambrano, Travis Phelps, Doug Creek, Jesus Colome Carl Crawford, CF With Josh Hamilton's future in doubt with back problems, Crawford becomes Tampa Bay's outfielder to watch. Crawford is young and athletic, but hasn't hit for power (4 HR at Double-A) or learned to draw walks (36).

Catcher: Toby Hall Should be one of best-hitting catchers in baseball after hitting .335 in Triple-A (where he was the International League MVP) and .298 in 49 games with Devil Rays. AL Position Ranking: 5th First Base: Steve Cox Finally gets a shot at full-time duties. Last year's 750 OPS won't cut it as a first baseman, however. He's capable of doing better. AL Position Ranking: 14th Second Base: Brent Abernathy Abernathy does a little of everything and has the desire and ability to improve upon a solid rookie campaign in which he hit .270, slugged .382 and stole eight bases in 79 games. AL Position Ranking: 8th Third Base: Aubrey Huff Huff, who was a big-time hitter in the minors, blew his big chance last year with a terrible offensive performance (.248, 8 HRs in 411 at-bats). Russ Johnson may start the season and Jared Sandberg is in the minors. Huff is the best option if he gets a chance. AL Position Ranking: 11th Shortstop: Chris Gomez Slugged .513 in 58 games with Devil Rays. Naturally, the team got all excited and re-signed him for one year plus a team option. Unless he's on the Bret Boone diet, he'll revert back to usual stickless ways. AL Position Ranking: 14th Left Field: Ben Grieve What the heck happened? After hitting 55 HRs in 1999-2000, he dropped to 11 last year. He's young enough (26 in May) that we should expect him to bounce back, but there have to be concerns about his drop in bat speed. AL Position Ranking: 10th Center Field: Jason Tyner He has less power than the Queen of England, doesn't get on base enough for a leadoff hitter (.311 OBP) and Hal McRae doesn't think much of his defense in center (which means he may end up in left). But he's really fast. AL Position Ranking: 14th Right Field: Randy Winn Jason Conti is also vying for outfield time. Wynn is a nice reserve, but stretched as a regular, but he may end up in center field. AL Position Ranking: 14th Designated Hitter: Greg Vaughn Vaughn still has two years and $18 million left on his deal, which makes him nearly untradeable unless he plays well. Leg injuries slowed him in the second half (.213, 3 HR), so he could put up better numbers this year. Then again, he's also 36. AL Position Ranking: 6th No. 1 Starter: Joe Kennedy This kid could be a good one. He pitched in low Class A in 2000 and was in the majors by June. He's not a flamethrower, but had a 52/3 K/BB ratio in Double-A and 78/34 in the majors. AL Ranking among starters: 36th No. 2 Starter: Paul Wilson After an awful start (8.43 ERA through May), Wilson eventually regrouped and went 6-2, 2.55 over final 12 starts. Let's hope the former No. 1 overall pick can stay healthy. If he does, could be big surprise. AL Ranking among starters: 41st No. 3 Starter: Tanyon Sturtze Also pitched better in the second half (8-5, 3.68). He's probably not that good, but maybe at 31 he's turned the corner. Trade bait. AL Ranking among starters: 47th No. 4 Starter: Ryan Rupe On the bright side, he had a nice 123/48 K/BB ratio. On the dark side, he got blasted for 30 HRs in 143.1 innings. AL Ranking among starters: 55th Bullpen: Victor Zambrano, Jesus Colome, Doug Creek, Travis Phelps Phelps and Zambrano came out of nowhere to provide quality middle help as rookies last year. The key is Colome, who throws bullets and could develop as a dominant setup guy and future closer. AL Position Ranking: 9th Closer: Esteban Yan Converted back to relief, threw more strikes (11 walks in 62.1 innings) and as a result his ERA dropped from 6.21 to 3.90. If he falters early, grip on job is shaky. AL Position Ranking: 12th

Overall Power Index Rankings (AL rank):
Position: 10.67 (13th) | Pitching: 12.17 (13th)

-- David Schoenfield