2002 Toronto Blue Jays season

The 2002 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's 26th season of Major League Baseball. It resulted in the Blue Jays finishing third in the American League East with a record of 78 wins and 84 losses.

Transactions

Transactions by the Toronto Blue Jays during the off-season before the 2002 season.

Regular season

Summary

The Blue Jays started the 2002 season with slow progress in performance. Buck Martinez was fired about a third of the way through the season, with a 20–33 record. He was replaced by third base coach Carlos Tosca, an experienced minor league manager. They went 58–51 under Tosca to finish the season 78–84. Roy Halladay, a talented but inconsistent prospect who was no more than a fifth starter who alternated between Toronto and Triple-A during his first three seasons, was relied on as the team's ace and rose to the challenge being the team's top pitcher, finishing the season with a 19–7 record and a 2.93 ERA. The hitters were led once again by Carlos Delgado. Ricciardi was credited for dumping Raúl Mondesí in mid-season to the New York Yankees to free up his salary, which in turn was used for the off-season signing of Mike Bordick, Frank Catalanotto and Tanyon Sturtze. Promising young players were assigned to key roles, including starting third baseman Eric Hinske and 23-year-old centre fielder Vernon Wells, who had his first 100 RBI season replacing Mondesi. Another bright young player was Josh Phelps, a former catcher turned designated hitter, who hit 15 home runs.

Opening Day starters

Transactions

Transactions for the Toronto Blue Jays during the 2002 regular season.

2002 draft picks

Source
The 2002 MLB draft was held on June 4-5.

Round

Pick

Player

Position

College/School

Nationality

Signed

Russ Adams

North Carolina

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	Ken Huckaby	88	273	67	.245	3	22
1B	Carlos Delgado	143	505	140	.277	33	108
2B	Orlando Hudson	54	192	53	.276	4	23
SS	Chris Woodward	90	312	86	.276	13	45
3B	Eric Hinske	151	566	158	.279	24	84
LF	Shannon Stewart	141	577	175	.303	10	45
CF	Vernon Wells	159	608	167	.275	23	100
RF	Raúl Mondesí	75	299	67	.224	15	45
DH	Josh Phelps	74	265	82	.309	15	58

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
José Cruz Jr.	124	466	114	.245	18	70
Dave Berg	109	374	101	.270	4	39
Felipe López	85	282	64	.227	8	34
Tom Wilson	96	265	68	.257	8	37
Joe Lawrence	55	150	27	.180	2	15
Darrin Fletcher	45	127	28	.220	3	22
DeWayne Wise	42	112	20	.179	3	13
Homer Bush	23	78	18	.231	1	2
Jayson Werth	15	46	12	.261	0	6
Brian Lesher	24	38	5	.132	0	2
Kevin Cash	7	14	2	.143	0	0
Pedro Swann	13	12	1	.083	0	1

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
Roy Halladay	34	239.1	19	7	2.93	168
Esteban Loaiza	25	151.1	9	10	5.71	87
Steve Parris	14	75.1	5	5	5.97	48
Chris Carpenter	13	73.1	4	5	5.28	45
Brian Cooper	2	8.1	0	1	14.04	3

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
Pete Walker	37	139.1	10	5	4.33	80
Justin Miller	25	102.1	9	5	5.54	68
Luke Prokopec	22	71.2	2	9	6.78	41
Brandon Lyon	15	62.0	1	4	6.53	30
Mark Hendrickson	16	36.2	3	0	2.45	21
Mike Smith	14	35.1	0	3	6.62	16

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
Kelvim Escobar	76	5	7	38	4.27	85
Scott Cassidy	58	1	4	0	5.73	48
Cliff Politte	55	1	3	1	3.61	57
Félix Heredia	53	1	2	0	3.61	31
Scott Eyre	49	2	4	0	4.97	51
Corey Thurman	43	2	3	0	4.37	56
Dan Plesac	19	1	2	0	3.38	14
Brian Bowles	17	2	1	0	4.05	19
Pedro Borbón Jr.	16	1	2	0	4.97	11
Jason Kershner	10	0	0	1	1.69	7
Bob File	5	0	1	0	18.90	2
Scott Wiggins	3	0	0	0	3.38	3
Pasqual Coco	2	0	1	0	18.00	0

Award winners

Eric Hinske, American League Rookie of the Year AwardEric Hinske, The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award
All-Star Game

Roy Halladay, pitcher