EVENTS
 Sportsman of the Year
 Heisman Trophy
 Swimsuit 2001

No. 26 Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Jose Canseco's 431 career homers rank 9th in AL history. Jed Jacobsohn/Allsport

1999 Record: 69-93 (5th in AL East)

Last year the Tampa Bay Devil Rays managed a slight improvement over their inaugural season, but they were out-hit, out-homered and out-scored at Tropicana Field. So the D-Rays made some big off-season moves to make sure that doesn't happen again in 2000.

Tampa Bay has assembled a Murderer's Row for the new millennium by trading for Vinny Castilla and signing Greg Vaughn to go along with power hitters Fred McGriff and Jose Canseco. Last year these four combined for 144 home runs -- that's just one less than the entire team managed in 1999.

But the pitching staff remains suspect and the Devil Rays will miss ace Rolando Arrojo, who was shipped to Colorado in the Castilla deal.

While Castilla is a better third baseman than people think, it's a reach to ask Vaughn to cover Tropicana's cavernous left field. After all the fireworks are over, you still have to play defense to win, and that' s why I rank the Devil Rays at number 26 this spring.

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