All in a day’s work

In one of the shrewdest moves in expansion draft history followed up by one of the worst trades ever by an expansion team – both coming on the same day – the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 27 years ago today select a little-known, 23-year-old outfielder named Bobby Abreu from the Houston Astros and promptly deal him to Philadelphia for starting shortstop Kevin Stocker.

Abreu ends up batting .291 over 18 seasons in the majors, where he is named to two All-Star teams and wins a Gold Glove with the Phillies in 2005.

As for Stocker – the shortstop on Philadelphia’s 1993 World Series team – he ends up only playing two-plus seasons in Tampa Bay before leaving the majors in 2000 at the age of 30 with a .254 career average.

Abreu still produces in the majors for another decade-plus after Stocker’s plays his final game in 2001 with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Class AAA team in Las Vegas.

“Fortunately for me, baseball is not my life,” the introspective, family-oriented Stocker tells the Tampa Bay Times on the eve of the 2000 season, his last in the majors.

“If it wasn’t there, that would be fine,” Stocker says. “I would miss it and everything, but it is not my life, not what I’m about. I look at playing baseball really as a privilege, so it’s not going to be something that’s going to consume me.”