Expansion Draft Just A Warmup

Five years ago, when baseball held its last expansion draft, the real fun began right after the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins finished picking their players.

That’s when teams literally started lining up in a New York City hotel ballroom, where the draft took place, to announce trades.

In one frenetic hour following the draft, seven deals came down.

Some were unusual - the Marlins, having taken catcher Eric Helfand from Oakland, sent him back to the A’s for Walt Weiss.

Some turned out to be significant - the Rockies turned around and traded Kevin Reimer to Milwaukee for Dante Bichette.

And one didn’t even involve an expansion team - Seattle sent Kevin Mitchell to Cincinnati for Norm Charlton.

So, with teams barred from making trades until the end of Tuesday’s draft, will the same thing happen after the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays are done picking?

Probably so.

It’s no secret that the Montreal Expos may deal Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez.

The Toronto Blue Jays, considered the early favorites to get Martinez, backed off when Montreal asked for Jose Cruz Jr. and Kelvim Escobar. That may put the Cleveland Indians, clearly in search of a No. 1 starter, in position to land him.

The Florida Marlins, having made most of their roster available, might follow up the trade of Moises Alou by dealing the likes of Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown or Bobby Bonilla.

The center of attention

The pursuit of free agent Brady Anderson is picking up at a rapid pace, perhaps helped by the stalemate between Bernie Williams and the New York Yankees.

The Yankees, Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays appear to be the leading contenders for Anderson, who was not happy with the way Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos’ tactics prompted manager Davey Johnson to resign.

Anderson’s home run total dipped from 50 to a more reasonable 18 last season, and he would make a nice fit for a lot of teams looking for a center fielder to bat leadoff.

Future considerations

Before they traded Moises Alou and his $5 million salary to Houston, the Florida Marlins had committed $47,075,000 to 12 players on their 40-man roster for next season.

And the Marlins weren’t No. 1 on the list of 1998 payrolls, trailing the Baltimore Orioles, who had guaranteed $49,369,801 to 14 players.

Others with big 1998 commitments include the Braves ($40,725,000 to seven players) and the Seattle Mariners ($38,180,791 to 10 players).