Rewind Yourself: The 1992 Expansion Draft
Mr. Marlin began his career as a Royal.
“Rewind Yourself” is an anthology of stories of the stupidest moments in Royals history. See previous episodes here for an explanation of the name of the series.
The Royals have made some head-scratching moves throughout the years. The David Cone trade. The Jermaine Dye trade. The other David Cone trade. Trading for Yuniesky Betancourt. Some of those bad moves were made in part, because of money. But one underrated bad move was a completely unforced error. It came, in the 1992 expansion draft.
Baseball began kicking the idea of expanding again in the mid-80s, having not expanded since the 1977 season when the American League added the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays. There was some sentiment to bring a team back to Washington and Buffalo at one time looked like a serious contender. But ultimately baseball decided to expand to Denver, which was going to get a team in the rival start up Continental League in the 60s that never played a game. The second expansion franchise went to Miami over rival Florida bids in St. Petersburg and Orlando.
The 1992 expansion draft was the first in over 15 years. Previous expansion drafts had limited the player pool to only players in that league. For example, when the Royals entered the league in 1969, they could only select American League players. But with two National League clubs entering the league and the lines between the leagues starting to blur, MLB opened the draft pool to players from all of the 26 other clubs.
Each team could protect 15 players on their 40-man roster. Each team could only lose one player in each round, and at the end of each round, National League clubs could protect three more players while American League clubs could protect four more. All unprotected players were eligible to be selected other than players taken in the last two drafts, and 1990 draftees selected out of high school.
The 1992 Royals were just seven years removed from a championship, but the only players left from that team were starting pitcher Mark Gubicza and 39-year-old DH George Brett. It was their first full season under manager Hal McRae, but the team got off to a dreadful start, losing 16 of their first 17 games. They would eventually lose 90 games that year, their worst season since 1970.
They had an awful defensive infield with stone-handed Gregg Jefferies at third, injury-prone Keith Miller at second, and baby-faced David Howard at shortstop. Upgrading the infield was the top priority that winter, and they were still a free-spending team with a top-ten payroll as owner Ewing Kauffman seemed eager to spend even more to make one more push for a title while he was still alive. The team put out feelers for free agents Tony Fernandez and Ozzie Smith and even discussed a trade idea with the expansion Marlins where they could select shortstop Shawon Dunston from the Cubs and send him Kansas City for prospects.
But general manager Herk Robinson, who had come up on the business side of the organization, seemed ill-prepared for running baseball operations. The team could have opened up one of their 15 valuable slots to protect a player by asking veteran George Brett to waive the requirement that he be protected as a player with 10-5 rights, something George was willing to do.
”I really don’t understand why they didn’t ask me to. I would have,” Brett said. “I can’t for any reason see why Colorado or Florida would have picked me.
“For one thing, they know I might retire. And I’m also a DH.
Instead, some in the front office suggested it was time for George to retire, ticking him off. To assuage him, the Royals quickly picked up his $3 million option for 1993 and put him on the protected list.
With spots limited, the Royals opted not to protect first baseman/outfielder Jeff Conine. The 26-year-old was a late bloomer, having pitched at UCLA before then-Royals scout Guy Hansen convinced him to give hitting a try. The Royals took him in the 58th round of the draft, and in 1992 he hit .302 with 20 home runs for Triple-A Omaha.
But with George at DH and slick-fielding Wally Joyner at first base, there didn’t seem to be a spot for Conine. The Royals also believed in first base prospect Joe Vitiello, so they left minor league first baseman Bob Hamelin unprotected as well. “Vitiello, we feel, is going to go past all of them,” remarked legendary Royals scout Art Stewart.
Instead, the Royals protected Howard, a 25-year-old coming off a season where he played just 74 games and hit .224/.271/.283 - an improvement over his 1991 numbers!
Sure enough, the Marlins selected Conine with the 22nd overall pick in the draft. The move was panned by Kansas City media.
What’s the point of protecting Howard? The organizational answer: You have to have a shortstop.
My reply: You still don’t have a shortstop. Not with Howard and his bad back.
-Gib Twyman, Kansas City Star
Those criticisms would grow louder once the season began. The Royals eventually signed free agent Greg Gagne to a three-year deal, making it less obvious why they needed to protect Howard. Conine happily moved to left field for his new team and played in all 162 games for the Marlins, leading the team with a .292 batting average and finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting. He would be named an All-Star in each of the next two seasons, and was a starter on their championship team in 1997, becoming a fan favorite known as “Mr. Marlin.”
Meanwhile, the Royals got little offensive output from malcontent leftfielder Kevin McReynolds, and Howard played in just 15 games. The 1993 Royals would win 84 games thanks to some big free agent additions like Gagne and All-Star pitcher David Cone. But they had the fourth-highest payroll in baseball, an unsustainable model once Kauffman died that August.