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The 1997 MLB Expansion Draft was held November 18, 1997. This expansion draft was conducted by Major League Baseball 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.

Finances

Each expansion franchise paid a fee of $130 million directly to baseball's central fund, broken out as follows: $32 million in July 1995, $25 million in July 1996, $40 million in July 1997 and $33 million in November 1997. In addition, the two expansion teams gave away their rights to $5 million from baseball's central fund for each of the five years following expansion (1998-2002). This brought the total franchise fee to $155 million for each team.

Expansion draft

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. Thus, the Devil Rays and Diamondbacks gained 35 players each. 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:

• For the first round, 15 players from the rosters of their entire organization—both their 40-man roster, plus all minor league affiliates.
• Each team could add three more players to its protected list after each round.
• In addition to the above, players chosen in the 1996 and 1997 amateur drafts were automatically protected, plus players who were 18 or younger when signed in 1995.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

References

• "Baseball-reference.com". http://www.baseball-reference.com. Retrieved March 16, 2006.  
• "sabr.org Reprint of Boston Baseball article with draft rules". http://roadsidephotos.sabr.org/baseball/bb97-8.htm. Retrieved March 17, 2006.  
• "Major League Baseball Expansion Drafts". Archived from the original on 2009-05-18. http://www.webcitation.org/5gsR4VMdk. Retrieved May 16, 2009.