FORT MYERS, Fla. – While Carl Crawford will be the natural focus any time the Red Sox and Rays face each other – as they do on Tuesday night in an exhibition contest in Fort Myers – another Sox newcomer has deeper roots in the Tampa Bay organization.

In June of 1996, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were more an idea than a team. Major League Baseball had awarded Tampa Bay a franchise one year earlier. It would be two more seasons before the organization featured a major league team, set to unveil in 1998.

Rhode Island native Dan Wheeler had just completed his freshman season at Central Arizona Junior College, pitching well enough to earn second-team All-American honors. He was offered a scholarship to transfer to Division 1 powerhouse Arizona State.

And had any team but the Devil Rays taken Wheeler in the 1996 draft, he might well have gone to ASU. Instead, the right-hander saw an opportunity with little precedent.

Though Tampa Bay was taking him as a 34th round draft-and-follow in the 1996 season, when they offered him $125,000 to sign before the 1997 draft (following a standout sophomore year), Wheeler jumped at the chance.

In 1996, the Devil Rays had only three minor league affiliates – two Rookie Level teams, and one Short-Season Class-A affiliate. In ’97, the team’s highest organized affiliate was the St. Petersburg Devil Rays in the Hi-A Florida State League.

Beyond that, there was nothing but open road. The Devil Rays didn’t have a Double-A or Triple-A team, let alone a major league club, that could impede a pitcher’s path to the highest level of the game. In that context, even though he was signing with a franchise that was virtually unrecognizable, Wheeler’s decision to turn pro was easy.

“That was a big part of it, realizing that I can realize my dream of playing professional baseball, and then the next level, the major leagues. That was a big part of it,” said Wheeler. “There wasn’t anybody there that could stop me.

“If I was taken by the Red Sox, I’d probably have to pay my dues a little bit longer in the minor leagues. As far as the Rays go, I’d get a lot of experience at higher levels earlier, and I think that makes you a stronger person.”

True to that forecast, Wheeler ended up being thrown into the deep end before long. He debuted in the New York-Penn League in 1997, then spent all of 1998 (a year in which the Devil Rays added a Triple-A affiliate, but still had yet to add a Double-A franchise) in the Single-A South Atlantic League.

In 1999, Wheeler enjoyed a rapid ascent to the majors. He spent a couple months in both Double-A Orlando and Triple-A Durham before receiving a September call-up at the end of the year.

Wheeler was just 21 years old, with all of 67 games of professional experience, yet there he was, trying to get big league hitters out. There were moments of success (he struck out 12 batters against the A’s in his third big league start, setting a Rays franchise record that would stand until 2007) and many failures.

“I was pretty young trying to learn in the big leagues against professional hitters, big league hitters,” said Wheeler. “I think that helped me.”

Still, in retrospect, it appears safe to say that Wheeler was probably in a bit over his head while shuffling between the majors and minors from 1999-2001. In 30 big league games with Tampa Bay over those three years, he had a 2-5 record and 6.43 ERA, including an 8.66 mark in 2001.

The Rays released Wheeler after that season, but he regained his footing in Triple-A with the Braves in 2002 and then, as a member of the Mets in 2003, established himself as a major league contributor, going 1-3 with a 3.71 ERA in 35 appearances that year. Though Wheeler struggled in his early days in the majors, he believes that he was able to apply the lessons learned with the Devil Rays to become a better pitcher.

“Bill Russell, my Double-A manager, always said it was a lot easier to make it to the big leagues than to stay in the big leagues,” said Wheeler. “I never understood at the time what he meant. Now I do, obviously.

“You’re not changing anything. Those guys have you, they know what you’re throwing, they get tendencies – what you like to throw at certain points in the season, what they like to swing at. I think that was big for me to realize that at an early age. It took a while for me to comprehend it.”

He solidified his big league credentials as one of the better setup men in the National League with the Astros from 2004-07, positioning himself to become a trade target of the Devil Rays in 2007, when the team was under new ownership. The next year, Wheeler was one of the most important members of a Rays bullpen that helped transform the team from a perennial cellar-dweller into shock-the-world contender status.

“You come back and realize that there’s something here,” said Wheeler.

Now, Wheeler is in some respects the last of the original Devil Rays. Tampa Bay selected a whopping 97 players in its first draft in 1996, but of those who actually signed with the club, only Wheeler remains on a major league roster.

And so, though he is no longer a member of the Rays, he will always be more than happy to identify himself with a franchise that he joined on its ground floor.

“I always say I was the 34th overall pick for the Rays – the Devil Rays at the time – because I was in the first draft. It was a neat thing to be a part of. It really was,” said Wheeler. “You get to watch the organization grow. And I still keep track of them. I always did when I was with Houston, kept track of what they were doing, how they progressed.

“For me to go back there and be rewarded for the years I spent there before, when they finally were able to make it to a competitive level, winning a couple of AL East titles and making it to a World Series, it was pretty neat to be a part of.”