| 1992 Major League Baseball expansion draft | |
|---|---|
 The logo for the 1992 MLB expansion draft | |
| General information | |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Date | November 17, 1992 |
| Location | New York City |
| Network | ESPN |
| Overview | |
| 72 total selections | |
| League | Major League Baseball[a] |
| Expansion teams | Colorado Rockies Florida Marlins |
| Expansion season | 1993 |
| First selection | David Nied (Colorado Rockies) |
The1992 Major League Baseball expansion draft was held on November 17, 1992, in New York City. Theexpansion draft allowed twoexpansion teams inMajor League Baseball (MLB)—theColorado Rockies andFlorida Marlins[b]—to build their rosters prior to their inaugural seasons.
The 1990collective bargaining agreement between MLB owners and theMLB Players Association allowed theNational League (NL) to expand by two members—from 12 to 14—to match the size of theAmerican League (AL). In June 1991, MLB accepted bids of groups fromMiami,Florida, andDenver,Colorado, with debuts set for the1993 season. The Rockies were placed in theNL West division and the Marlins were placed in theNL East division.
This was the first major-league expansion draft that allowed expansion teams to select players from either league. The Marlins and Rockies used the 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.[2] All three rounds of the draft were televised byESPN.
Major League Baseball (MLB) team owners and theMLB Players Association agreed to expand theNational League (NL) by two teams in the 1990collective bargaining agreement.[3] Prior to expansion, the NL had 12 teams while theAmerican League had 14.[4]
In June 1991, MLB accepted two bids forexpansion franchises: one forMiami,Florida, and the other forDenver,Colorado. Both teams were set to debut in 1993.[5][6] Expansion was approved unanimously by all teams in July 1991.[7] The Denver group chose to call their franchise theColorado Rockies, the same name used as theNational Hockey League franchise that played in Denver from 1976 to 1982. The Miami group chose to call themselves theFlorida Marlins to broaden their fanbase to the entire state,[7] while reviving the nickname of theMiami Marlins, a defunctMinor League Baseball team.[8] Anexpansion draft to stock both franchises was set for November 1992.[7]
In contrast to previous expansion drafts, players from both theAmerican League (AL) andNational League (NL) were available to theexpansion clubs.[2] Each existing club could protect 15 players on their40-man 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.[9]
All unprotected MLB andminor league players were eligible except those chosen in theamateur drafts of1991 or1992 and players who were 18 or younger when signed in 1990.[9] Players who werefree agents after the1992 season were not eligible for selection in the draft.[2] The Rockies and Marlins, however, were not restricted in offering contracts to free agents. The Rockies signed their first free agent,Andrés Galarraga, to a one-year contract the day before the expansion draft.[10]
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 the1993 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.[2][9] The three rounds of the draft were televised byESPN.[2]
With the first pick, the Rockies choseDavid Nied, who had a 3–0win–loss record with a 1.17earned run average in six MLB appearances with theAtlanta Braves.[11] The Marlins' first selection,Nigel Wilson, spent the 1992 season with theDouble-AKnoxville Smokies of theToronto Blue Jays organization, and had no MLB experience.[12]
In total, the Rockies and Marlins chose 41 pitchers with their combined 72 selections.[13] Of the 72 players chosen, 11 wereAll-Stars during their careers.Jack Armstrong,[14]Bryan Harvey,[15] andDanny Jackson[16] had been All-Stars before the expansion draft, whileAndy Ashby,[17]Brad Ausmus,[18]Vinny Castilla,[19]Jeff Conine,[20]Carl Everett,[21]Joe Girardi,[22] Harvey,[15]Trevor Hoffman,[23] Jackson,[16] andEric Young[24] became All-Stars later on in their careers. Hoffman would also be elected to the Hall of Fame in 2018.
‡ | All-Star |
|---|---|
† | Member of theBaseball Hall of Fame |
The following trades were announced at the conclusion of the expansion draft:[28]
Several older star players who were left unprotected, includingDanny Tartabull,Jack Morris, andShawon Dunston, were not selected due to their high salaries and advanced age.[29] Based on the results of the expansion draft, the Marlins were projected to have a higher payroll in 1993 than the Rockies.[30] The Rockies' payroll appeared to be $4 million, less than what the Marlins would pay Bryan Harvey.[29]
TheNew York Yankees challenged the validity of the draft on the basis that the Marlins did not compensate the Yankees for the loss of territory inFort 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, CommissionerBud Selig and the major league executive council affirmed the draft results.[31]
In the1993 Major League Baseball season, the Marlins and Rockies both finished sixth out of seven teams in their respective divisions.[32] The Rockies were the first team to reach theplayoffs, using the roster they developed through the expansion draft to win thewild card in1995, a record for the shortest amount of time for an expansion baseball team to make the playoffs at the time.[33] (TheArizona Diamondbacks would go on to break the record by reaching the playoffs in1999, theirsecond year of existence.)[34] Ritz and Painter, both selected in the expansion draft, started Games 1 and 2 of the1995 National League Division Series for the Rockies.[33] The Rockies added free agent acquisitionLarry Walker to a lineup of power hitters in Galarraga, Bichette, and Castilla, known collectively as the "Blake Street Bombers".[35]
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.[36]Jeff Conine, nicknamed "Mr. Marlin", was the only player selected in the expansion draft on the Marlins'1997 World Series championship roster.[37] 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 theSan Diego Padres forGary Sheffield,[38] a key member of the1997 Florida Marlins.[39] However, other key players to the Marlins' World Series championship were signed as free agents.[40] The 1997 Marlins set records by reaching and winning theWorld Series in the team's fifth year[41] (these records were broken by the2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, who won the World Series in their fourth year of existence)[34] and were the firstwild card team to win the World Series.[42]
