MLB Expansion Draft - Part 1: The groundwork

With the National Hockey League expanding to 32 teams and rumors swirling that Major League Baseball could pursue expansion in the future, it's time to examine what that might look like.

First, inventing the teams. Unlike the NHL, we'll launch both of our clubs at the same time, and they'll draft against one another. They will be:

Nashville Sounds, run by our editors Bryan Mcwilliam, Tom Ruminski, and Simon Sharkey-Gotlieb.

The Sounds have a long history in Nashville, which is seen as a viable market in the near future. They would need a new MLB park as the Triple-A Sounds' current stadium, which opened in 2015 and seats 10,000, just wouldn't cut it. The Milwaukee Brewers would also have to look for a new Triple-A affiliate.

Montreal Expos, run by Josh Goldberg, Travis Sawchik, and Brandon Wile.

And, of course, the Expos make their long-awaited return. After losing their franchise to the Washington Nationals in 2004, Montreal baseball fans have settled for the occasional exhibition game played at Olympic Stadium by the Toronto Blue Jays. They'll also need a new park as The Big O is considered largely inhospitable due to its outdated concrete floors and turf. But, hey, at least Youppi! would be back.

Next, we had to develop a list of unprotected players for each club. The rules are as follows:

• Each team must unprotect six players on the 40-man roster with at least one year of service time (three hitters, three pitchers)
• One hitter and one pitcher must have at least six years of service time (if a club doesn't have a player who qualifies, the player with the most service time is automatically unprotected)
• One pitcher must qualify as a starter (30% of appearances last year or 50% of career outings must be starts)
• Players with 10-and-5 rights, injured players, and players on the restricted list were exempted

The draft will be run in two rounds, with each expansion team making 30 selections. A club can only have one player drafted from its unprotected list per round, meaning every team will lose two players.

Without further ado, here are the lists our managers will be drafting from:

AL East

The Orioles, Red Sox, and Rays all wind up leaving players they just signed unprotected in Odor, Kluber, and Hill. The division's most intriguing name, though, is likely Stanton. Despite being a potent slugger, he's still owed at least $189 million, and that would be a huge amount for an expansion team to take on.

AL Central

The Guardians get hit hard by this exercise. Their unwillingness to sign any free agents leaves them with only one active player owning more than six years of service - Ramirez. Meanwhile, Bieber is automatically unprotected as the pitcher with the most service at 3.097, which will definitely make him one of the most sought-after players come draft time. While the Guardians may not like this exercise, it's worth noting that even the rebuilding Orioles and Pirates have added free agents with more than six years of service.

Everything else is pretty straightforward in the AL Central. However, the Tigers likely aren't thrilled at the prospect of losing Rodriguez, who they just landed on a pretty reasonable five-year, $77-million contract.

AL West

Frazier, who the Mariners just acquired via trade, is automatically unprotected by being the longest-tenured hitter in Seattle with 5.075. Manaea is also automatically thrown out there for the A's with 5.157 years of service. Both players would be earmarked for free agency the following winter barring an extension with their new club.

NL East

This is probably the division with the least intrigue, but Robles is an interesting entrant. Perhaps the Nationals would rather risk losing Carter Kieboom, but Robles is coming up on his rising-cost arbitration years and has yet to show that he can be even an average hitter. If he doesn't perform this year, he's likely a non-tender candidate next winter anyway.

NL Central

With Yadier Molina exempted based on his 10-and-5 rights, the Cardinals have to choose between leaving Goldschmidt or Nolan Arenado unprotected. Arenado is still owed $179 million, so it's plausible St. Louis would dangle him and hope an expansion team wouldn't want that contract on the books. But he's also three years younger than Goldschmidt, still a Gold Glove defender at third base, and showed his bat still plays away from Coors Field.

Meanwhile, the Brewers are forced to dangle Suter with 4.161 years of service. Interestingly, Josh Hader narrowly missed being automatically unprotected with 4.115 years of service - 46 fewer days than Suter.

NL West

A handful of potential salary dumps highlight the NL West, with Bumgarner, Price, Longoria, Hosmer, and Blackmon. Arguably, the most intriguing name potentially on the move is Paddack, who has become mostly superfluous after an impressive rookie campaign. He's young and still shows promise at 26, but he owns a 4.95 ERA and 4.22 FIP over the past two years while tossing 167 1/3 innings. He's coming up on his arbitration years and is a better option for the Padres than leaving any of their other starters unprotected.