1992 Major League Baseball expansion draft

The 1992 Major League Baseball expansion draft was held November 17, 1992 in New York City. This expansion draft was conducted by Major League Baseball (MLB) to stock the rosters of the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins, new expansion franchises that were set to start play in the 1993 MLB season. The Marlins joined the National League (NL) East division and the Rockies joined the NL West.

The 1990 collective bargaining agreement between MLB owners and the MLB Players Association allowed the NL to expand by two members to match the American League (AL).^[1] In June 1991, MLB accepted bids of groups from Miami, Florida and Denver, Colorado, with debuts set for 1993.^[2][3]

The Marlins and Rockies used the expansion draft to build their teams using different strategies. As the Rockies had a smaller operating budget than the Marlins, the Rockies targeted prospects with low salaries, while the Marlins selected older players intended to provide more immediate impact.^[4] All three rounds of the draft were televised by ESPN.^[4]

Procedure

As opposed to previous expansion drafts, players from both leagues were available to the expansion clubs.^[4] Each existing club could protect fifteen players on their roster from being drafted and only one player could be drafted from each team in each round. At the end of each round NL teams could protect an additional three players and AL teams could protect an additional four. To further protect the AL teams, a maximum of eight AL teams could have three players chosen.^[5]

All unprotected MLB and minor league players were eligible except those chosen in the amateur drafts of 1991 or 1992 and players who were 18 or younger when signed in 1990.^[5] Players who were free agents after the 1992 season were not eligible for selection in the draft.^[4] The Rockies and Marlins, however, were not restricted in offering contracts to free agents. The Rockies signed their first free agent, Andres Galarraga, to a one-year contract the day before the expansion draft.^[6]

The draft order was determined by a coin toss, the winner of which could choose either: (a) the first overall pick in the expansion draft and the 28th, and last, pick in the first round of the 1993 MLB amateur draft; or (b) allow the other team to pick first and receive both the second and third overall expansion draft picks, the right to pick first in the subsequent rounds of the expansion draft, and the 27th, and next-to-last, overall pick in the 1993 MLB amateur draft. Colorado won the toss and chose to pick first overall leaving the second and third overall picks to the Marlins.^[4][5]

Results

With the first pick, the Rockies chose David Nied, who had a 3–0 win-loss record with a 1.17 earned run average in six MLB appearances with the Atlanta Braves.^[7] The Marlins' first selection, Nigel Wilson, spent the 1992 season with the Double-A Knoxville Smokies of the Toronto Blue Jays organization, and had no MLB experience.^[8]

In total, the Rockies and Marlins chose 41 pitchers with their combined 72 selections.^[9]

Draft-day trades

The following trades were announced at the conclusion of the expansion draft:^[15]

• The Marlins traded Danny Jackson to the Philadelphia Phillies for Joel Adamson and Matt Whisenant
• The Marlins traded Greg Hibbard to the Chicago Cubs for Gary Scott and Alex Arias
• The Marlins traded Eric Helfand and Scott Baker to the Oakland Athletics for Walt Weiss
• The Marlins traded Tom Edens to the Houston Astros for Héctor Carrasco and Brian Griffiths
• The Rockies traded Kevin Reimer to the Milwaukee Brewers for Dante Bichette
• The Rockies traded Jody Reed to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Rudy Seanez
• The Cincinnati Reds traded Norm Charlton to the Seattle Mariners for Kevin Mitchell

Aftermath

Several older star players who were left unprotected, including Danny Tartabull, Jack Morris, and Shawon Dunston, were not selected due to their high salaries and advanced age.^[16] Based on the results of the expansion draft, the Marlins were projected to have a higher payroll in 1993 than the Rockies.^[17] The Rockies' payroll appeared to be $4 million, less than what the Marlins would pay Bryan Harvey.^[16]

The New York Yankees challenged the validity of the draft, on the basis that the Marlins did not compensate the Yankees for the loss of territory in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the Yankees had a minor league team. They attempted to revoke the assignment of Hayes and Ausmus to the Rockies and Everett to the Marlins. Invoking the "best interests of baseball" clause, Commissioner Bud Selig and the major league executive council affirmed the draft results.^[18]

In the 1993 Major League Baseball season, the Marlins and Rockies both finished 6th out of 7 teams in their respective divisions. However, both teams used the draft to build successful teams over the next several years. The Rockies were the first team to reach the playoffs, using the roster they developed through the expansion draft to win the wild card in 1995 in just their third season.^[19] Ritz and Painter, both selected in the expansion draft, started Games 1 and 2 of the 1995 National League Division Series for the Rockies.^[19] The Rockies added free agent acquisition Larry Walker to a lineup of power hitters in Galarraga, Bichette, and Castilla, known collectively as the "Blake Street Bombers".^[20]

Meanwhile, the Marlins kept fewer players they selected in the expansion draft than the Rockies. In 1996, the Rockies retained 13 players from the draft, while the Marlins had six.^[21] Jeff Conine, nicknamed "Mr. Marlin", was the only player selected in the expansion draft on the Marlins' 1997 World Series championship roster.^[22] However, the Marlins used the players selected in the expansion draft to craft their 1997 roster. The Marlins traded three players selected in the draft, Hoffman, Martínez and Berumen, to the San Diego Padres for Gary Sheffield,^[23] a key member of the 1997 Florida Marlins.^[24] However, other key players to the Marlins' World Series championship were signed as free agents.^[25]

See also

• 1993 Major League Baseball expansion

References

In-line citations

General

• "1993 Colorado Rockies Trades and Transactions". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/COL/1993_trans.shtml. Retrieved July 16, 2007. 
• "1993 Florida Marlins Trades and Transactions". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/FLA/1993_trans.shtml. Retrieved July 16, 2007.