Expansion of 1998

The Expansion of 1998 began in March of 1994 when the two major leagues created an expansion committee to look into feasibility of expanding from 28 to 30 teams. The committee was headed by Boston Red Sox general partner John Harrington. The committee also included Stanton Cook of the Chicago Cubs, Bill Giles of the Philadelphia Phillies, Richard Jacobs of the Cleveland Indians, Stan Kasten of the Atlanta Braves, Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox and George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees. League presidents Leonard Coleman and Bobby Brown were also on the committee. In June of 1994, the committee announced the 9 cities who had applied for a team: Buffalo, NY, Mexico City, Monterrey, Nashville, TN, Northern Virginia, Orlando, FL, Phoenix, AZ, St. Petersburg, FL and Vancouver, BC. Despite rumors that Charlotte, NC, Washington, DC and Guadalajara would be strong contenders, the three cities chose not to apply (although the Northern Virginia group was in effect bidding on behalf of the Nation's Capital).

The Committee selected four finalists from the group: Northern Virginia, Orlando, Phoenix and St. Petersburg. On March 9, 1995, Major League Baseball voted 28-0 to award franchises to the Tampa Bay area and to Phoenix. These teams would begin play in 1998 and become the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks.

With the expansion, there was also a realignment of leagues. The Milwaukee Brewers moved to the National League. Without this move, each league would have 15 teams, necessitating interleague play every day of the season, something which only took place in 2013, when the Houston Astros moved from the National League to the American League. Thus, the National League had 16 teams and the American League 14. Before this decision was made Commissioner Bud Selig had proposed a Radical Realignment plan, which was not accepted.

Expansion Draft

On November 18, 1997, an expansion draft was held. All existing teams made players available, and the two new teams could pick players from any of them, irrespective of league. The Devil Rays selected pitcher Tony Saunders from the Florida Marlins with their first pick, while the Diamondbacks took pitcher Brian Anderson from the Cleveland Indians with their first selection.

1st Round

	Tampa Bay Devil Rays			Arizona Diamondbacks
Pick	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team
1st	Tony Saunders	LHP	Marlins	Brian Anderson	LHP	Indians
2nd	Quinton McCracken	OF	Rockies	Jeff Suppan	RHP	Red Sox
3rd	Bobby Abreu	OF	Astros	Gabe Alvarez	3B	Padres
4th	Miguel Cairo	2B	Cubs	Jorge Fabregas	C	White Sox
5th	Rich Butler	OF	Blue Jays	Karim Garcia	OF	Dodgers
6th	Bobby Smith	SS	Braves	Edwin Diaz	2B	Rangers
7th	Jason Johnson	RHP	Pirates	Cory Lidle	RHP	Mets
8th	Dmitri Young	OF	Reds	Joel Adamson	LHP	Brewers
9th	Esteban Yan	RHP	Orioles	Ben Ford	RHP	Yankees
10th	Mike Difelice	C	Cardinals	Yamil Benitez	OF	Royals
11th	Bubba Trammell	OF	Tigers	Neil Weber	LHP	Expos
12th	Andy Sheets	SS	Mariners	Jason Boyd	RHP	Phillies
13th	Dennis Springer	RHP	Angels	Brent Brede	1B	Twins
14th	Dan Carlson	RHP	Giants	Tony Batista	SS	A’s

2nd Round

	Tampa Bay Devil Rays			Arizona Diamondbacks
Pick	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team
1st	Brian Boehringer	RHP	Yankees	Tom Martin	LHP	Astros
2nd	Mike Duvall	LHP	Marlins	Omar Daal	LHP	Blue Jays
3rd	John LeRoy	RHP	Braves	Scott Winchester	RHP	Reds
4th	Jim Mecir	RHP	Red Sox	Clint Sodowsky	RHP	Pirates
5th	Bryan Rekar	RHP	Rockies	Danny Klassen	SS	Brewers
6th	Rick Gorecki	RHP	Dodgers	Matt Drews	RHP	Tigers
7th	Ramon Tatis	LHP	Cubs	Todd Erdos	RHP	Padres
8th	Kerry Robinson	OF	Cardinals	Chris Clemons	RHP	White Sox
9th	Steve Cox	1B	A’s	David Dellucci	OF	Orioles
10th	Albie Lopez	RHP	Indians	Damian Miller	C	Twins
11th	Jose Paniagua	RHP	Expos	Hector Carrasco	RHP	Royals
12th	Carlos Mendoza	OF	Mets	Hanley Frias	SS	Rangers
13th	Ryan Karp	LHP	Phillies	Bob Wolcott	RHP	Mariners
14th	Santos Hernandez	RHP	Giants	Mike Bell	3B	Angels

3rd Round

	Tampa Bay Devil Rays			Arizona Diamondbacks
Pick	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team
1st	Randy Winn	OF	Marlins	Joe Randa	3B	Pirates
2nd	Terrell Wade	LHP	Braves	Jesus Martinez	LHP	Dodgers
3rd	Aaron Ledesma	SS	Orioles	Russ Springer	RHP	Astros
4th	Brooks Kieschnick	OF-1B	Cubs	Bryan Corey	RHP	Tigers
5th	Luke Wilcox	OF	Yankees	Kelly Stinnett	C	Brewers
6th	Herbert Perry	1B	Indians	Chuck McElroy	LHP	White Sox
7th	Vaughn Eshelman	LHP	A’s	Marty Janzen	RHP	Blue Jays

Post-Draft Deals

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.

• The Devil Rays traded Bobby Abreu to the Philadelphia Phillies for Kevin Stocker
• The Devil Rays traded Andy Sheets & Brian Boehringer to the San Diego Padres for John Flaherty
• The Devil Rays traded Dmitri Young to the Cincinnati Reds for Mike Kelly
• The Devil Rays purchased Fred McGriff from the Atlanta Braves
• The Diamondbacks traded Gabe Alvarez, Joe Randa and Matt Drews to the Detroit Tigers for Travis Fryman
• The Diamondbacks traded Scott Winchester to the Cincinnati Reds for Felix Rodriguez
• The Diamondbacks traded Jesus Martinez to the Florida Marlins for Devon White
• The Diamondbacks traded Chuck McElroy to the Colorado Rockies for Harvey Pulliam
• The Montreal Expos traded Pedro Martinez to the Boston Red Sox for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas, Jr
• The Montreal Expos traded Mike Lansing to the Colorado Rockies for Jake Westbrook, Mark Hamlin and John Nicholson
• The Florida Marlins traded Robb Nen to the San Francisco Giants for Joe Fontenot, Mike Pageler & Mike Villano

Further Reading

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