Expansion of 1993

The Expansion of the National League in 1993 began on August 8, 1985 when the players and the owners agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement. The basic agreement, the name for baseball's CBA, allowed the National League to expand by two members to match the number of teams in the American League since the expansion of 1977.

Ten cities were considered serious candidates for the two spots: Buffalo, NY, Charlotte, NC, Denver, CO, Miami, FL, Nashville, TN, Orlando, FL, Phoenix, AZ, Sacramento, CA, Tampa, FL-St. Petersburg, FL, and Washington, DC. On December 18, 1990 the National League expansion committee, led by Pittsburgh Pirates Chairman Doug Danforth, eliminated four cities (Charlotte, Nashville, Phoenix and Sacramento) to cut the list down to the six finalists. With three sites from Florida remaining in contention, it became apparent that one would win out while the other spot would go to a non-Florida team.

On June 10, 1991, the expansion committee accepted the bids of the Miami and Denver groups, thus the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies were born.

Expansion Draft

On November 17, 1992, an expansion draft was held. It was the first time that teams from both leagues were required to make players available for the draft - all other previous expansion drafts had been conducted exclusively within one league. The Rockies picked Atlanta Braves pitcher David Nied with their first pick. The Marlins took Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nigel Wilson as their first selection. Other notable selections included Vinny Castilla, Joe Girardi and Brad Ausmus for Colorado and Jeff Conine, Trevor Hoffman and Carl Everett for Florida.

1st Round

	Colorado Rockies			Florida Marlins
Pick	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team
1st	David Nied	RHP	Braves	Nigel Wilson	OF	Blue Jays
2nd	Charlie Hayes	3B	Yankees	Jose Martinez	RHP	Mets
3rd	Darren Holmes	RHP	Brewers	Bret Barberie	SS	Expos
4th	Jerald Clark	OF	Padres	Trevor Hoffman	RHP	Reds
5th	Kevin Reimer	OF	Rangers	Pat Rapp	RHP	Giants
6th	Eric Young	2B	Dodgers	Greg Hibbard	LHP	White Sox
7th	Jody Reed	2B	Red Sox	Chuck Carr	OF	Cardinals
8th	Scott Aldred	LHP	Tigers	Darrell Whitmore	OF	Indians
9th	Alex Cole	OF	Pirates	Eric Helfand	C	A’s
10th	Joe Girardi	C	Cubs	Bryan Harvey	RHP	Angels
11th	Willie Blair	RHP	Astros	Jeff Conine	1B-OF	Royals
12th	Jayhawk Owens	C	Twins	Kip Yaughn	RHP	Orioles
13th	Andy Ashby	RHP	Phillies	Jesus Tavarez	CF	Mariners

2nd Round

	Colorado Rockies			Florida Marlins
Pick	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team
1st	Freddie Benavides	SS	Reds	Carl Everett	OF	Yankees
2nd	Roberto Mejia	2B	Dodgers	Dave Weathers	RHP	Blue Jays
3rd	Doug Bochtler	RHP	Expos	John Johnstone	RHP	Mets
4th	Lance Painter	LHP	Padres	Ramon Martinez	SS	Pirates
5th	Butch Henry	LHP	Astros	Steve Decker	C	Giants
6th	Ryan Hawblitzel	RHP	Cubs	Cris Carpenter	RHP	Cardinals
7th	Vinny Castilla	SS	Braves	Jack Armstrong	RHP	Indians
8th	Brett Merriman	RHP	Angels	Scott Chiamparino	RHP	Rangers
9th	Jim Tatum	3B	Brewers	Tom Edens	RHP	Twins
10th	Kevin Ritz	RHP	Tigers	Andres Berumen	RHP	Royals
11th	Eric Wedge	C	Red Sox	Robert Person	RHP	White Sox
12th	Keith Shepherd	RHP	Phillies	Jim Corsi	RHP	A’s
13th	Calvin Jones	RHP	Mariners	Richie Lewis	RHP	Orioles

3rd Round

	Colorado Rockies			Florida Marlins
Pick	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team
1st	Brad Ausmus	C	Yankees	Danny Jackson	LHP	Pirates
2nd	Marcus Moore	RHP	Blue Jays	Bob Natal	C	Expos
3rd	Armando Reynoso	RHP	Braves	Jamie McAndrew	RHP	Dodgers
4th	Steve Reed	RHP	Giants	Junior Felix	OF	Angels
5th	Mo Sanford	RHP	Reds	Kerwin Moore	OF	Royals
6th	Pedro Castellano	3B	Cubs	Ryan Bowen	RHP	Astros
7th	Curtis Leskanic	RHP	Brewers	Scott Baker	LHP	Cardinals
8th	Scott Fredrickson	RHP	Padres	Chris Donnels	3B	Mets
9th	Braulio Castillo	OF	Phillies	Monty Fariss	OF	Rangers
10th	Denis Boucher	LHP	Indians	Jeff Tabaka	LHP	Brewers

Post Draft Deals

• 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 A’s for Walt Weiss
• The Marlins traded Tom Edens to the Houston Astros for Hector 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

Sources

Newspaper Article about naming of finalists

Related Sites

• Frank Zimniuch: Baseball's New Frontier: A History of Expansion, 1961-1998, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2013. ISBN 978-0803239944