The Expos are making their move

[Disgruntled70sHab]

I just hope it's enough. They've re-acquired Pedro Geurrero's older brother, Wilton, along with former Expo, Cliff Floyd who started his career with the Expos in '93.

This is the second major trade the Expos have pulled off in a short period of time. Late last month they acquired 6 ' 235 lb, Bartolo Colon from Cleveland.

What really cheeses me off about this whole affair is that MLB Commissionaire, Bud Selig, hasn't one bit of interest in holding on to the Expos regardless how successful they are doing this year.

Has he since talked of contraction for the Minnesota Twins? No, he hasn't. All it took was a public hearing with Selig on the stand and all of a sudden Minnesota is off of the hot seat.

However, when he talks of Montreal's contraction, he does so as if it were commonplace. Contraction? Just a run-of-the-mill process in baseball. Give me a freakin' break!

I can't believe contracting the Expos is going to save his league. I think it's just a ploy to deceive baseball fans into thinking the league and it's commissionaire are doing something to alleviate the league's financial woes. How will contracting the Expos save major league baseball?

Selig, and the owners who make decisions about major league baseball are the only ones who should be held accountable for the financial mess baseball is in. It's not the Expos' fault. Cheers.

[Doc Holliday]

You're right DIS, it's not the Expos's fault but it certainly is Montreal's big corporate communitie's fault.

Jean Coutu and his bunch of suits hid behind Claude Brochu to slowly but surely kill baseball in Montreal by disgusting the fans with the many fire sales and poor product they were imposing on us. Their affiliation with Loria ended the process cleanly. In the end they were able to hide from the cameras throughout the whole process and let 2-3 guys (Brochu, Loria, Samson) take the blame for everything. In one year MLB as the owner was able to restore some dignity to this club. At least the Expos will go down with some flaire.

Just like when the HABS got sold to an American owner after NO local interest was displayed, once the Expos disapear, expect the big corporate community to come out with the usual:
...we were preparing something... It happenned too quickly... we wanted to do something... yadda, yadda, yadda.

The local corporate giants and money holders in Quebec are spineless and couldn't careless about the community when taking risks is involved.

[MPLABBE]

The Expos will choke like they always have. It doesn't matter how much talent they have, they always find a way to blow it.


Let me put this in a HABS context.

We are in our last year or ''could'' be last year. We have this great farm system which will be useless if this is our last year. We don't draw anyone, interest in the team is horrible, it looks like the team will die.

But our brilliant GM, seeing we need a forward with size, swings a deal for UFA-to-be Keith Tkachuk! but the price is steep: Komisarek, Balej and Garon. The Habs look like an awesome team on paper now.

2 weeks later, our brilliant GM strikes again! With the Habs needing a big, talented, strong center, he acquires Jason Allison. The price was once again steep: Hainsey, Milroy and Perezhogin!! We look like a surefire stanley cup contender

Yet, the team still can't win, they give up goals at the worst possible time, they take dumb penalties, they can't score the ''big'' goals,etc. Tkachuk and Allison arrive and they still can't do anything I mentionned above and the momentum created by the moves is gone after 2 weeks!!

Can't seem possible, eh?? welcome to Exposland. It's happening in front of my own eyes.

Thank god I have the Habs!

[Disgruntled70sHab]

I don't think it has anything to choking IMHO, Marc. I really don't think the Expos has what it takes to compete in their final year. They've basically added three impact players without increasing their payroll. But, that aside, when you lose 3 straight against the Braves it still puts things into perspective.

The thing that pisses me off is that Jeff Loria was permitted to dump his club and move on to another team. What's confusing is why the league would bother to take the Expos off of his hands.

Major league baseball is a very poor business and it's decisions like this one reaffirm that very thing.

No, I don't think the Expos have what it takes to make a run in their final year. But, at least they're trying. Cheers.

[GARB08]

i think the expo's may be doing one of those movie years. Montreal doesn't deserve the expo's any other cuty would support this team. I say as what some columist on sportsnet said"mold the jay with the expo's put them in toronto in the national league and they will be competative".
Also if the city of montreal would have given loria the land he wanted we wouldn't be in this situation.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Actually they do deserve the team, Bob. I've been convinced of that by Bad Company acutally. BC has followed the demise of the team more than I have.

To rebutt, it's been exceptionally hard being an Expos fan in recent years. No corporate sponsorship, no owners who legitimately care, developing younger players for the rest of the league, yadda, yadda, yadda ...

It has also to do with shotty ownership and ownership that lies to the fans in order to get what they want. Jeff Loria promised a new downtown stadium. What a crock! He promised to bring the Expos back to respectability. What a crock! He fired the most liked Expo of recent times because he had a disagreement with him. That was Felipe Alou and he had 27 years with the organization when he was dismissed. What a crock!
Then Loria goes to the league and tells them he has no fan support. What a crock! And what's worse, the league and the fans bought into it. What a crock!

Why would a team want to put out the effort if they know they haven't any backing from the owners? Why would they go out night after night knowing that the fans have been turned away by the owners?

No, the city does deserve the Expos Bob. But once that media decides who is to blame, the fans accept it. Cheers.

[BadCompany]

What I find really funny Dis, is how fans and the American media in American cities are now explaining the lack of attendance in THEIR baseball cities. Like FLorida, which is averaging about 10,000 per game (about 1500 more than the 'Spos). They say things like "well, its because of the firesales" or "its a bad stadium" or "the owners lied to us" or "the team isn't competitive." Course, that same logic doesn't apply to Montreal. Here, its because "Montreal has bad baseball fans and isn't a baseball city."

Seven years of firesales. Not one year, or two years, or even three. Seven, beginning with the 1994 fiasco. Cripes, the Blue Jays have had one fire sale, maybe two, and their attendance has plummented. Kansas, Philadephia, Tampa (been around for less than 10 years), Florida, attendance is down everywhere. In fact, attendance in those cities looks an awful lot like attendance was in Montreal, circa 1998.

People forget that Montreal has had baseball in one form or another for over 100 years. Jackie Robinson. The Expos have been here for 43 years now. 43!!! Up until 1994, attendance was fine. In fact, Montreal drew more fans in the 80's than Atlanta, Cleveland, and a whole lot of other now "big market" clubs. Over 30,000 per game, before the Walker, Grissom, Wetteland, Fassero sell-off.

Fans in Florida are now complaining about Jeffrey Loria. Saying "he lied to us." We could have told you that. Dustin Hermanson said the very same thing, saying that he had signed a long term contract with Montreal, because he thought Loria was being upfront with him when he said he was going to make a go of it in Montreal. Hermanson was promptly traded. Graehme Llyod has debated not reporting to the Marlins, because he feels that Loria lied to him when he signed him as the Expos owner. Steve Kline, who married a Montreal girl, and who lives in Montreal during the winter, said he felt betrayed when he was traded, cause he thought the Expos were going to commit to Montreal. Marlin 2nd baseman Derek Lee has demanded a trade, saying that "ownership lied to us." Cliff Floyd told the Montreal media that he was laughing the whole plane ride to Montreal, reading about how Loria and his son, David Samson, were claiming "this wasn't a firesale". "They're lying." he said. When Loria and Samson left the Expos, they took everything with them, including all the team's computers (stats, research, player profiles, databases etc.), equipment (bats, balls, gloves) and they even tried to take the marketing material for Vladimir Guerrero, including a life-size, cardboard cut-out of him.

Florida fans, welcome to Montreal's world. Andres Galarraga, Larry Walker, Cliff Floyd, Moises Alou, John Wetteland, Ken Hill, Jeff Fassero, Will Cordero, Pedro Martinez, Henry Rodriguez, Kent Bottenfield, Matt Stairs. All traded away. 7 years of trading away all-stars, of lies, of mismanagement, and outright theft. If this happens in other cities, then the fans "are right now to support such corrupt ownership." Happens in Montreal, and "Montreal fans are the worst in baseball."

I do not believe baseball can be saved in Montreal, even though I have pledged to buy season tickets for next year (along with 6000 other people). There are too many other problems, such as lack of TV revenue, marketing revenue, weak Canadian dollar, and the astronomical difference between have teams, and have-not teams. Even if Montreal drew 30,000 per game (like in 1994), we couldn't compete with the money-making enterprise that is the New York Yankees. The Expos will almost assuredly leave.

But it won't be because there are no baseball fans in Montreal.