Date(s) November 18, 1997 Overall selections 70 | Location Phoenix Civic Center | |
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First selections Tony Saunders, Tampa Bay Devil RaysBrian Anderson, Arizona Diamondbacks | ||
The 1997 Major League Baseball expansion draft was conducted by Major League Baseball (MLB) on November 18, 1997, in the Phoenix Civic Center to stock the major league rosters of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks, new major league expansion franchises that were set to start play in the 1998 season. Tampa Bay was to join the American League East division, displacing the Detroit Tigers (who moved to the American League Central division, thus displacing the Milwaukee Brewers, who moved to the National League Central division), and Arizona joined the National League West division.
Contents
Background
Following the success of the 1993 expansion, which added the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins, MLB in 1994 set up an expansion committee to add two new expansion teams. Tampa Bay and Phoenix were chosen for the two expansion franchises.
Procedures
Similar to the 1992 expansion draft, both expansion teams selected 35 players. The draft was divided into three rounds. Each team would select 14 players in round 1, 14 players in round 2, and 7 players in round 3. Tampa Bay general manager Chuck LaMar and Arizona general manager Joe Garagiola, Jr. oversaw their teams' selections.
The Devil Rays and Diamondbacks could pick any player not on the protected lists of the 28 other teams, although no team could lose more than one player in a given round. The protected list for each team consisted of:
As with the 1992 expansion draft, the order was determined by a coin toss. The winner of the toss could choose either: (a) The first overall pick in the expansion draft or (b) allow the other team to pick first and receive both the second and third overall expansion draft picks and the right to pick first in the subsequent rounds of the expansion draft. Tampa Bay won the toss and chose to select first.
Results
The Devil Rays reportedly considered trading the player they were to select first. They chose Tony Saunders from the Florida Marlins.
Post-draft trades
Once the draft was completed a number of trades were made. Teams had to wait until after the draft or risk losing their newly acquired players because they were not on their protected lists.
Aftermath
The Diamondbacks intended to spend money. The day prior to the expansion draft, they signed Jay Bell to a $34 million contract across five years. Two weeks following the draft, the Diamondbacks traded Fryman and Martin for Matt Williams.
The Devil Rays and Diamondbacks had differing results in their first years in MLB. Both teams altered their initial plans of developing youth; the Devil Rays acquired sluggers Jose Canseco, Vinny Castilla, and Greg Vaughn while the Diamondbacks added Randy Johnson, Todd Stottlemyre, Steve Finley, Armando Reynoso, Greg Swindell and Greg Colbrunn. While the Devil Rays consistently finished last in the AL East, the Diamondbacks won the 2001 World Series.