Starting Fresh: The Expansion of 1993

In part five of my six part series on major league expansion drafts, I examine the sixth expansion draft in major league history, the 1993 expansion draft for the newest members of the National League, the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies.

RULES
For the first time in any expansion draft, players from both leagues were eligible to be drafted. The draft had three rounds, each club protecting 15 players initially and three more for the second and third rounds. All unprotected players were eligible except players selected in the 1991 or 1992 amateur drafts or players that were younger then the age of 18 when they signed a contract in one of the previous three seasons.

THE FIRST PICKS
The Colorado Rockies won the pre-draft coin flip and owned the number one selection for the draft and used it to select Atlanta pitcher David Nied. Nied started the Rockies’ first game in history and spent four seasons with the club, posting a 14-18 record before having to retire due to arm problems. The Marlins took outfielder Nigel Wilson with their first pick and while Wilson became a star over in Japan, he went hitless in 23 at-bats with the Fish.

The Rockies took Yankees starting third baseman Charlie Hayes with the third overall selection. Hayes posted personal bests in home runs (25), RBIs (98), batting average (.305), slugging percentage (.522) and on base percentage (.355). Hayes spent one more year in the Rocky Mountains, never replicating his 1993 numbers again. The Marlins took outfielder Jose Martinez fourth but he would never wear a Marlins uniform.

IMMEDIATE CONTRIBUTORS (1993 SEASON)
Hayes and off-season acquisitions Andres Galarraga and Dante Bichette led the way offensively for Colorado, hitting 20 home runs apiece. Pitcher Armando Reynoso, a late selection from the Braves, was the only Rockies pitcher to throw over 150 innings, finishing with a 12-11 record. Right-hander Darren Holmes, the fifth overall pick, led the team with 25 saves.

The Marlins, like the Rockies, didn’t acquire much offense via the expansion draft. Outfielder Jeff Conine hit .292 and drove in 79 runs for Florida, his first of many good seasons in Miami, after getting selected 22^nd overall from Kansas City. Knuckleballer Charlie Hough and 2^nd round pick Jack Armstrong anchored the Florida staff while Bryan Harvey, the twentieth overall pick, almost doubled his counterpart in Colorado, posting 45 saves.

NOTABLE SELECTIONS
Perhaps the biggest impact selection was Colorado’s 20^th pick, a shortstop from the Braves’ organization named Vinicio Castilla. Once in Colorado, Vinny shifted over the third base and had a stretch from 1995-1999 where he would average .302-38-112 per year over that five year period. Castilla left in 2000 but would return to Coors Field in 2004 where he would hit 35 home runs and drive in 131 runs.

Colorado took two catchers who currently are serving as managers. Joe Girardi, the Rockies 10^th pick and their starting catcher for the 1993 season, fills out the line-up card in the Bronx, and fellow backstop Eric Wedge, who was the American League Manager of the Year last season in Cleveland, was a second round pick by Colorado.

All but two of Trevor Hoffman’s 524 saves to date came with the San Diego Padres. His first two were with Florida, the team who drafted Hoffman out of the Reds’ organization with their eighth pick during the draft. While serving as the team’s set-up man, Hoffman was traded in June of that year to the Padres, part of the blockbuster deal that shipped Gary Sheffield to the Marlins.

Future all-stars Eric Young (6^th, Rockies); pitcher Andy Ashby (13^th, Rockies); outfielder Carl Everett (14^th, Marlins) and Brad Ausmus (27^th, Rockies) where also drafted in the 1993 expansion draft.

INAUGURAL SEASONS
Don Baylor’s Colorado club finished with a better record than their expansion rivals, going 67-95 and finishing 6^th in the NL West. Unlike the Marlins, Colorado had no trouble putting up runs, finishing 4^th in the National League, averaging 4.68 runs per game. However, the Rockies surrendered a major league worst 5.97 runs per game, almost a whole run worse then Oakland. The Big Cat, Andres Galarraga, was the only Colorado player at the midsummer classic.

The Marlins, managed by Rene Lachemann, finished the 1993 season with a 65-97 record, finishing 6^th in the National League East. Bryan Harvey and Gary Sheffield, who started at 3^rd base, represented the Marlins at the all-star game. The Marlins also lost the season series to theRockies, losing 7 of the 12 games between the two clubs.