The last MLB expansion draft took place on November 18th, 1997. Each of the 28 existing teams was able to initially protect 15 players, with the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks mostly alternating picks to fill their new rosters.
The first round consisted of one player being taken from each of the 28 teams, giving the Devil Rays and D’Backs 14 players each. At that point, each of the 28 teams was able to protect an additional three players. After the completion of the second round, each team added another three players to their protected list. In the third round, the Rays and D’Backs would each take an additional seven players, with each new club ending up with 35 in total.
Detailed rules can be found here, but basically each team’s best prospects were not eligible for the draft. Still, about a quarter of the players chosen were minor leaguers. Also, players with no-trade clauses or ten-and-five rights had to be put on protected lists unless they waived those rights. And there would be no reason to protect players eligible for free agency.
We thought it would be fun to determine each team’s current 15-player protected list, as if a new two-team expansion draft is scheduled for November. For simplicity’s sake, only players with MLB experience will be eligible for our mock expansion draft.
So far, we’ve done the Yankees.
Next up, we’ll shape a 15-player protected list for the Red Sox.
Free agents Mitch Moreland, Martin Perez, Collin McHugh, Jackie Bradley Jr., Kevin Pillar, and Brandon Workman will be excluded. The Red Sox have club options on Moreland and Perez, but I don’t think they would burn protected spots on them regardless.
Dustin Pedroia, Chris Sale, J.D. Martinez, and Xander Bogaerts automatically take up four of the 15 spots due to their no-trade rights. That leaves 11 more players to protect. I’ve decided to lock in six more spots for the following players:
Rafael Devers
Eduardo Rodriguez
Christian Vazquez
Andrew Benintendi
Alex Verdugo
Michael Chavis
That leaves five spots for these 19 players:
Matt Barnes
Ryan Brasier
Colten Brewer
Austin Brice
Nathan Eovaldi
Matt Hall
Heath Hembree
Darwinzon Hernandez
Tzu-Wei Lin
Chris Mazza
Josh Osich
Jose Peraza
Kevin Plawecki
Mike Shawaryn
Jeffrey Springs
Josh Taylor
Phillips Valdez
Marcus Walden
Ryan Weber
With that, we turn it over to the MLBTR readership! In the poll below, please select exactly five players that you think the Red Sox should protect in our upcoming mock expansion draft. Click here to view the results.
