2002 Kansas City Royals season

2002  Kansas City Royals
League	American League
Division	Central
Ballpark	Kauffman Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Record	62-100 (.383)
Divisional place	4th
Owners	David Glass
General managers	Allard Baird
Managers	Tony Muser, John Mizerock, Tony Peña
Television	KMBC-TV KCWE FSN Rocky Mountain (Paul Splittorff, Bob Davis)
Radio	KMBZ (Denny Matthews, Ryan Lefebvre)
←  2001 Seasons 2003  →

The 2002 Kansas City Royals season was the 34th season for the franchise, and their 30th at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals failed to improve on their 65-97 record from 2001, and finished fourth in the American League Central, with a record of 62 wins and 100 losses, their first 100 loss season in franchise history. The Royals missed the postseason for the 17th consecutive season.

Offseason

• December 18, 2001: Chuck Knoblauch was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals. ^[1]
• December 19, 2001: Traded a PTBNL to the Chicago Cubs for Michael Tucker. The Royals sent Shawn Sonnier to Chicago on March 15, 2002, to complete the trade. ^[2]
• January 10, 2002: Paul Byrd was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals. ^[3]
• March 28, 2002: Donzell McDonald was assigned to the Kansas City Royals by the Cleveland Indians. ^[4]

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL Central

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	94	67	.584	—	54‍–‍27	40‍–‍40
Chicago White Sox	81	81	.500	13½	47‍–‍34	34‍–‍47
Cleveland Indians	74	88	.457	20½	39‍–‍42	35‍–‍46
Kansas City Royals	62	100	.383	32½	37‍–‍44	25‍–‍56
Detroit Tigers	55	106	.342	39	33‍–‍47	22‍–‍59

American League Wild Card

• v
• t
• e

Division leaders

Team	W	L	Pct.
New York Yankees	103	58	.640
Minnesota Twins	94	67	.584
Oakland Athletics	103	59	.636

• v
• t
• e

Wild Card team
(Top team qualifies for postseason)

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Anaheim Angels	99	63	.611	—
Boston Red Sox	93	69	.574	6
Seattle Mariners	93	69	.574	6
Chicago White Sox	81	81	.500	18
Toronto Blue Jays	78	84	.481	21
Cleveland Indians	74	88	.457	25
Texas Rangers	72	90	.444	27
Baltimore Orioles	67	95	.414	32
Kansas City Royals	62	100	.383	37
Detroit Tigers	55	106	.342	43½
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	55	106	.342	43½

Record vs. opponents

2002 American League record Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2002 v t e
Team	ANA	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TB	TEX	TOR	NL
Anaheim	—	7–2	3–4	6–3	6–3	8–1	6–3	4–5	3–4	9–11	9–10	8–1	12–7	7–2	11–7
Baltimore	2–7	—	6–13	3–4	1–5	2–4	7–0	5–1	6–13	4–5	5–4	10–9	3–6	4–15	9–9
Boston	4–3	13–6	—	2–4	5–4	5–4	4–2	3–3	9–10	6–3	4–5	16–3	4–3	13–6	5–13
Chicago	3–6	4–3	4–2	—	9–10	12–7	11–8	8–11	2–4	2–7	5–4	4–3	5–4	4–2	8–10
Cleveland	3–6	5–1	4–5	10–9	—	10–9	9–10	8–11	3–6	2–5	3–4	4–2	4–5	3–3	6–12
Detroit	1–8	4–2	4–5	7–12	9–10	—	9–10	4–14	1–8	1–6	2–5	2–4	5–4	0–6	6–12
Kansas City	3–6	0–7	2–4	8–11	10–9	10–9	—	5–14	1–5	1–8	3–6	4–2	7–2	3–4	5–13
Minnesota	5–4	1–5	3–3	11–8	11–8	14–4	14–5	—	0–6	3–6	5–4	5–2	6–3	6–1	10–8
New York	4–3	13–6	10–9	4–2	6–3	8–1	5–1	6–0	—	5–4	4–5	13–5	4–3	10–9	11–7
Oakland	11–9	5–4	3–6	7–2	5–2	6–1	8–1	6–3	4–5	—	8–11	8–1	13–6	3–6	16–2
Seattle	10–9	4–5	5–4	4–5	4–3	5–2	6–3	4–5	5–4	11–8	—	5–4	13–7	6–3	11–7
Tampa Bay	1–8	9–10	3–16	3–4	2–4	4–2	2–4	2–5	5–13	1–8	4–5	—	4–5	8–11	7–11
Texas	7–12	6–3	3–4	4–5	5–4	4–5	2–7	3–6	3–4	6–13	7–13	5–4	—	8–1	9–9
Toronto	2–7	15–4	6–13	2–4	3–3	6–0	4–3	1–6	9–10	6–3	3–6	11–8	1–8	—	9–9

Notable transactions

• June 4, 2002: Zack Greinke was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (6th pick) of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed July 13, 2002. ^[5]

Roster

2002 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers 48 Jeremy Affeldt 53 Miguel Asencio 26 Jeff Austin 58 Cory Bailey 35 Ryan Bukvich 36 Paul Byrd 33 Chad Durbin 56 Nate Field 32 Chris George 38 Jason Grimsley 39 Roberto Hernández 40 Runelvys Hernández 52 Jeremy Hill 54 Mike MacDougal 31 Darrell May 57 Scott Mullen 43 Wes Obermueller 41 Dan Reichert 47 Bryan Rekar 56 Shawn Sedlacek 52 Brian Shouse 34 Blake Stein 37 Jeff Suppan 17 Mac Suzuki 46 Brad Voyles 51 Kris Wilson		Catchers 22 Juan Brito  7 A. J. Hinch  2 Brent Mayne 17 Dusty Wathan Infielders 12 Luis Alicea  4 Ángel Berroa 50 Mike Caruso  3 Carlos Febles  6 David McCarty  1 Luis Ordaz 19 Kit Pellow  8 Neifi Pérez 43 Chan Perry 16 Joe Randa 29 Mike Sweeney		Outfielders 15 Carlos Beltrán 30 Brandon Berger 27 Dee Brown  9 Alexis Gómez 45 Aaron Guiel 18 Raúl Ibañez 11 Chuck Knoblauch 19 Donzell McDonald 14 Mark Quinn  1 Donnie Sadler 24 Michael Tucker		Manager 13 John Mizerock 40 Tony Muser  6 Tony Peña Coaches 25 Rich Dauer (third base) 21 Tom Gamboa (first base) 23 Lamar Johnson (hitting) 13 John Mizerock (bullpen) 35 Al Nipper (pitching) 44 Bob Schaefer (bench)

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	Brent Mayne	101	326	77	.236	4	30
1B	Mike Sweeney	126	471	160	.340	24	86
2B	Carlos Febles	119	351	86	.245	4	26
SS	Neifi Pérez	145	554	131	.236	3	37
3B	Joe Randa	151	549	155	.282	11	80
LF	Chuck Knoblauch	80	300	63	.210	6	22
CF	Carlos Beltrán	162	637	174	.273	29	105
RF	Michael Tucker	144	475	118	.248	12	56
DH	Raúl Ibañez	137	497	146	.294	24	103

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
Aaron Guiel	70	240	56	.233	4	38
Luis Alicea	94	237	54	.228	1	23
A. J. Hinch	72	197	49	.249	7	27
Brandon Berger	51	134	27	.201	6	17
Luis Ordaz	33	94	21	.223	0	4
Mark Quinn	23	76	18	.237	2	11
Ángel Berroa	20	75	17	.227	0	5
Donnie Sadler	35	68	13	.191	0	5
Kit Pellow	29	63	15	.238	1	5
Dee Brown	16	51	12	.235	1	7
David McCarty	13	32	3	.094	1	2
Juan Brito	9	23	7	.304	0	1
Donzell McDonald	10	22	4	.182	0	1
Mike Caruso	12	20	2	.100	0	0
Chan Perry	5	11	1	.091	0	3
Alexis Gómez	5	10	2	.200	0	0
Dusty Wathan	3	5	3	.600	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
Paul Byrd	33	228.1	17	11	3.90	129
Jeff Suppan	33	208.0	9	16	5.32	109
Shawn Sedlacek	16	84.1	3	5	6.72	52
Runelvys Hernández	12	74.1	4	4	4.36	45
Chris George	6	27.1	0	4	5.60	13
Chad Durbin	2	8.1	0	1	11.88	5
Wes Obermueller	2	7.2	0	2	11.74	5
Bryan Rekar	2	7.0	0	2	15.43	2

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
Darrell May	30	131.1	4	10	5.35	95
Miguel Asencio	31	123.1	4	7	5.11	58
Jeremy Affeldt	34	77.2	3	4	4.64	67
Dan Reichert	30	66.0	3	5	5.32	36
Mac Suzuki	7	21.0	0	2	9.00	15

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
Roberto Hernández	53	1	3	26	4.33	39
Jason Grimsley	70	4	7	1	3.91	59
Scott Mullen	44	4	5	0	3.15	21
Cory Bailey	37	3	4	1	4.11	24
Blake Stein	27	0	4	1	7.91	42
Ryan Bukvich	26	1	0	0	6.12	20
Brian Shouse	23	0	0	0	6.14	11
Brad Voyles	22	0	2	1	6.51	26
Kris Wilson	12	2	0	0	8.20	10
Jeff Austin	10	0	0	0	4.91	6
Jeremy Hill	10	0	1	0	3.86	7
Mike MacDougal	6	0	1	0	5.00	10
Nate Field	5	0	0	0	9.00	3

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	Pacific Coast League	Bucky Dent
AA	Wichita Wranglers	Texas League	Keith Bodie
A	Wilmington Blue Rocks	Carolina League	Jeff Garber
A	Burlington Bees	Midwest League	Joe Szekely
A-Short Season	Spokane Indians	Northwest League	Tom Poquette
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Lloyd Simmons

^[6]

Notes

1. Chuck Knoblauch Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
2. Michael Tucker Baseball Reference page
3. Paul Byrd Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
4. "Donzell McDonald Stats".
5. "Zack Greinke Stats".
6. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

• 2002 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 2002 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac