# 2006 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season

The 2006 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season was their ninth since the franchise was created. They finished last in the American League East, posting a league-worst record of 61–101. Their manager was Joe Maddon, who entered his first season with the Devil Rays. The Devil Rays' offense had the fewest runs (689), hits (1,395) and RBI (650) in Major League Baseball, as well as the joint-lowest batting average (.255) and lowest on-base percentage (.314).

## Offseason

* December 2, 2005: Pete LaForest was selected off waivers by the San Diego Padres from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
* December 7, 2005: Dewon Brazelton was traded by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to the San Diego Padres for Sean Burroughs.
* January 18, 2006: Luis Rivas was signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
* January 31, 2006: Russell Branyan was signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 97 | 65 | .599 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 47‍–‍34 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 87 | 75 | .537 | 10 | 50‍–‍31 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Boston Red Sox | 86 | 76 | .531 | 11 | 48‍–‍33 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 70 | 92 | .432 | 27 | 40‍–‍41 | 30‍–‍51 |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 61 | 101 | .377 | 36 | 41‍–‍40 | 20‍–‍61 |

### Record vs. opponents

2006 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | LAA | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR | NL |
| Baltimore | — | 3–15 | 2–5 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 4–6 | 3–6 | 7–12 | 2–4 | 4–6 | 13–6 | 3–6 | 8–11 | 9–9 |
| Boston | 15–3 | — | 4–2 | 3–4 | 3–3 | 4–5 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 8–11 | 3–7 | 4–6 | 10–9 | 5–4 | 7–12 | 16–2 |
| Chicago | 5–2 | 2–4 | — | 8–11 | 12–7 | 11–8 | 6–3 | 9–10 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 5–4 | 3–3 | 5–5 | 5–4 | 14–4 |
| Cleveland | 2–4 | 4–3 | 11–8 | — | 6–13 | 10–8 | 4–5 | 8–11 | 3–4 | 3–6 | 4–5 | 6–1 | 5–4 | 4–2 | 8–10 |
| Detroit | 3–3 | 3–3 | 7–12 | 13–6 | — | 14–4 | 3–5 | 11–8 | 2–5 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 5–3 | 5–5 | 3–3 | 15–3 |
| Kansas City | 1–5 | 5–4 | 8–11 | 8–10 | 4–14 | — | 3–7 | 7–12 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 3–5 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 3–4 | 10–8 |
| Los Angeles | 6–4 | 3–3 | 3–6 | 5–4 | 5–3 | 7–3 | — | 4–2 | 6–4 | 11–8 | 10–9 | 7–2 | 11–8 | 4–6 | 7–11 |
| Minnesota | 6–3 | 5–1 | 10–9 | 11–8 | 8–11 | 12–7 | 2–4 | — | 3–3 | 6–4 | 5–3 | 6–1 | 4–5 | 2–5 | 16–2 |
| New York | 12–7 | 11–8 | 4–2 | 4–3 | 5–2 | 7–2 | 4–6 | 3–3 | — | 3–6 | 3–3 | 13–5 | 8–2 | 10–8 | 10–8 |
| Oakland | 4–2 | 7–3 | 3–3 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 8–11 | 4–6 | 6–3 | — | 17–2 | 6–3 | 9–10 | 6–4 | 8–10 |
| Seattle | 6–4 | 6–4 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 3–6 | 5–3 | 9–10 | 3–5 | 3–3 | 2–17 | — | 6–3 | 8–11 | 4–5 | 14–4 |
| Tampa Bay | 6–13 | 9–10 | 3–3 | 1–6 | 3–5 | 5–1 | 2–7 | 1–6 | 5–13 | 3–6 | 3–6 | — | 3–6 | 6–12 | 11–7 |
| Texas | 6–3 | 4–5 | 5–5 | 4–5 | 5–5 | 3–3 | 8–11 | 5–4 | 2–8 | 10–9 | 11–8 | 6–3 | — | 4–2 | 7–11 |
| Toronto | 11–8 | 12–7 | 4–5 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 4–3 | 6–4 | 5–2 | 8–10 | 4–6 | 5–4 | 12–6 | 2–4 | — | 9–9 |

### Opening Day starters

* Carl Crawford
* Jonny Gomes
* Nick Green
* Toby Hall
* Damon Hollins
* Aubrey Huff
* Travis Lee
* Seth McClung
* Tomás Pérez
* Ty Wigginton

### Transactions

* Evan Longoria was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1st round of the June amateur draft.
* July 12, 2006: Aubrey Huff was traded by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with cash to the Houston Astros for Ben Zobrist and Mitch Talbot (minors).
* August 24, 2006: Russell Branyan was traded by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later and Evan Meek (minors). The San Diego Padres sent Dale Thayer (minors) (September 15, 2006) to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to complete the trade.

### Roster
## Player stats
### 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 | 64 | 221 | 51 | .231 | 8 | 23 |
| 1B | Travis Lee | 114 | 343 | 77 | .224 | 11 | 31 |
| 2B | Jorge Cantú | 107 | 413 | 103 | .249 | 14 | 62 |
| SS | Julio Lugo | 73 | 289 | 89 | .308 | 12 | 27 |
| 3B | Aubrey Huff | 63 | 230 | 65 | .283 | 8 | 28 |
| LF | Carl Crawford | 151 | 600 | 183 | .305 | 18 | 77 |
| CF | Rocco Baldelli | 92 | 364 | 110 | .302 | 16 | 57 |
| RF | Damon Hollins | 121 | 333 | 76 | .228 | 15 | 33 |
| DH | Jonny Gomes | 117 | 385 | 83 | .216 | 20 | 59 |

#### 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 |
| Ty Wigginton | 122 | 444 | 122 | .275 | 24 | 79 |
| Greg Norton | 98 | 294 | 87 | .296 | 17 | 45 |
| Tomás Pérez | 99 | 241 | 51 | .212 | 2 | 16 |
| Dioner Navarro | 56 | 193 | 47 | .244 | 4 | 20 |
| Ben Zobrist | 52 | 183 | 41 | .224 | 2 | 18 |
| B.J. Upton | 50 | 175 | 43 | .246 | 1 | 10 |
| Russell Branyan | 64 | 169 | 34 | .201 | 12 | 27 |
| Joey Gathright | 55 | 154 | 31 | .201 | 0 | 13 |
| Josh Paul | 58 | 146 | 38 | .260 | 1 | 8 |
| Delmon Young | 30 | 126 | 40 | .317 | 3 | 10 |
| Kevin Witt | 19 | 61 | 9 | .148 | 2 | 5 |
| Nick Green | 17 | 39 | 3 | .077 | 0 | 0 |
| Shawn Riggans | 10 | 29 | 5 | .172 | 0 | 1 |
| Sean Burroughs | 8 | 21 | 4 | .190 | 0 | 1 |
| Luis Ordaz | 1 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
| Scott Kazmir | 24 | 144.2 | 10 | 8 | 3.24 | 163 |
| Casey Fossum | 25 | 130.0 | 6 | 6 | 5.33 | 88 |
| James Shields | 21 | 124.2 | 6 | 8 | 4.84 | 104 |
| Tim Corcoran | 21 | 90.1 | 5 | 9 | 4.38 | 59 |
| Jae Weong Seo | 17 | 90.0 | 1 | 8 | 5.00 | 39 |
| Mark Hendrickson | 13 | 89.2 | 4 | 8 | 3.81 | 51 |
| Doug Waechter | 11 | 53.0 | 1 | 4 | 6.62 | 25 |
| Jason Hammel | 9 | 44.0 | 0 | 6 | 7.77 | 32 |
| J.P. Howell | 8 | 42.1 | 1 | 3 | 5.10 | 33 |
| Brian Stokes | 5 | 24.0 | 1 | 0 | 4.88 | 15 |

#### 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 |
| Seth McClung | 39 | 103.0 | 6 | 12 | 6.29 | 59 |

#### 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 |
| Tyler Walker | 20 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 4.95 | 16 |
| Shawn Camp | 75 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4.68 | 53 |
| Ruddy Lugo | 64 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3.81 | 48 |
| Brian Meadows | 53 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 5.17 | 35 |
| Jon Switzer | 40 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4.54 | 18 |
| Dan Miceli | 33 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3.94 | 18 |
| Chad Harville | 32 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5.93 | 30 |
| Travis Harper | 30 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.93 | 32 |
| Edwin Jackson | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.45 | 27 |
| Chad Orvella | 22 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 7.40 | 17 |
| Juan Salas | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | 8 |
| Scott Dunn | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11.74 | 4 |
| Jason Childers | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.70 | 5 |
| Jesús Colomé | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Durham Bulls | International League | John Tamargo |
| AA | Montgomery Biscuits | Southern League | Charlie Montoyo |
| A | Visalia Oaks | California League | Joe Szekely |
| A | Southwest Michigan Devil Rays | Midwest League | Skeeter Barnes |
| A-Short Season | Hudson Valley Renegades | New York–Penn League | Matt Quatraro |
| Rookie | Princeton Devil Rays | Appalachian League | Jamie Nelson |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Montgomery