-- Baseball returns to Washington, D.C. --

[Sean Mota]

Almost 33 years to the date of the Senators' final game in
Washington, D.C., the District and Major League Baseball on
Wednesday announced that the Montreal Expos are moving to
the nation's capital.

The Expos will be the first MLB franchise to move since 1971
when the second Senators franchise left Washington for
Arlington, Texas. The Expos will be renamed and plan to play
the next three seasons at RFK Stadium while a new $400
million ballpark is being built at a location along the
Anacostia River waterfront near M and South Capitol Streets,
which is now the preferred site among the four proposed in
the District last year.

RFK Stadium hasn't had baseball regularly since the Senators
moved to Texas. The Senators played 10 years at RFK when the
oval, two-decked stadium with the roller-coaster facade
opened in 1962.

 

[Mr Tony]

Watched the last home game on "The Score" from Canada...real sad

The last game is on RDS (French) in Canada and FS New York

 

[Sean Mota]

Will this make a difference if the the owner (current or new) makes no investment in the team. Let me name some of the players that were Expos players before they departed because the team was not able to make a commitment to them.

Vladimir Guerrero
Pedro Martinez
John Wetland
Todd Walker
(current shortop for Boston; do not remember his name)
Carlos Perez
Javier Vasquez
Ted Lily
Andre Galarraga
and the list goes on and on... I am sure somebody else can come up with more names...

The bottom line for the Expos is that they have to sign some of their youngsters so that they can put a team that at least compete and who knows they may become the next A's/Rangers/Twins team...

 

[Mr Tony]

A story of the fire sale

Here's a look at some of the key players who got away:

Randy Johnson: The flame-throwing pitcher was a prospect in the Expos organization in 1989 when he was traded to Seattle for pitcher Mark Langston in a pre-deadline deal to try to win a pennant.

Pedro Martinez: After becoming the first and only Expo ever to win a Cy Young Award, was traded on Nov. 18, 1997, to Boston for pitchers Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr.

Javier Vazquez: Traded to the New York Yankees on Dec. 4, 2003, for 1B Nick Johnson, OF Juan Rivera and LHP Randy Choate.

Ugueth Urbina: Traded to Boston on July 31, 2002, for pitchers Tomo Ohka and Rich Rundles and cash.

Bartolo Colon: Acquired in June, 2002, from Cleveland in a six-player trade, but was dealt on Jan. 15, 2003, to the Chicago White Sox in another six-player deal that landed pitchers Rocky Biddle and Orlando Hernandez and 1B Jeff Liefer.

Larry Walker: Maple Ridge, B.C., slugger signed as a free agent by Colorado after the strike-shortened 1994 season.

Vladimir Guerrero: Signed as a free agent by Anaheim last winter.

Moises Alou: Left as a free agent after the 1996 season.

Marquis Grissom: Traded to Atlanta in the wake of the 1994 strike in the same week as pitchers Ken Hill and John Wetteland.

Orlando Cabrera: Traded to Boston on July 31 in a four-team deal that landed shortstop Alex Gonzalez and some prospects.

Michael Barrett: Traded for two prospects on Dec. 15 to Oakland, who flipped him to the Chicago Cubs.

 

[Mr Tony]

took part of this from TSN

That is not far from the truth, as a look at ex-Expos scattered around the major leagues shows. A team of former Expos would have a formidable starting rotation of Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Javier Vazquez, Bartolo Colon and Carl Pavano. The closer could be Ugueth Urbina, backed in the bullpen by Rheal Cormier, Scott Stewart and perhaps Dustin Hermanson and Miguel Batista.

An all-star outfield would have Vladimir Guerrero, Larry Walker and Moises Alou, with Marquis Grissom and Rondell White in reserve.

The catcher would be Michael Barrett, now hitting up a storm with the Chicago Cubs.

The infield could be Cliff Floyd at first base, Mark Grudzielanek at second, Orlando Cabrera at shortstop and Geoff Blum at third. The bench may include Wil Cordero, Todd Zeile and Brad Fullmer, among others.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story.asp?id=100224

 

[Sean Mota]

Wow Iceberg that was good! Management is the problem here. If the Expos ownership keep doing the same Washington/Montreal would not matter. It has been shown that if the only way to draw fans to the ball park or pay to see them on TV or listen to them on Radio is to put a competitive team on the field. That's it! It does not take much... This is why the Twins today are successful. They were also in a predicament a few years ago and there were talks about contraction in the Kelly regime. Now that they have a competitive team in the field, they are drawing revenue.

 

[Mr Tony]

That was tough on us Twins fans.....I was there when there were 4000 people

Yep...ol Bud wanted to contract the Twins and now they're successful....HEY BUD...CONTRACT THE BREWERS!!

 

[Mr Tony]

TSN in Canada has a retrospect of the Expos on their site

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/feature.asp?fid=9973

real good read

 

[Sean Mota]

HEY BUD...CONTRACT THE BREWERS!!

Actually the Arizona Diamond Backs and the previous idiot general manager, made the Brewers a better team this year. That was so idiotic when they traded for Richad Sexon and gave away major league establish players...

 

[Sean Mota]

From the same article that Iceberg posted:

While the Expos have been successful in developing young talent, the fans no longer seemed interested in supporting a team that can't keep its best players. Attendance figures continued to drop until the bitter end, making it that much harder to maintain a major league outfit.

While the decision to move the Expos is somewhat anti-climatic, it would also seem that fans in Montreal feel Major League Baseball quit on them some time ago. They have responded in kind.

The above says it all about the Expos Management and Major League Baseball.

Sad to see them go... It was good while it lasted and I am sure the same will happen if they do not invest in their talent. Where the F***K is the luxury tax money going?

 

[Neutron]

I hate that there won't be any NHL to watch this winter. Gotta figure out what to watch during the baseball offseason, besides football.

I'm proud of the Rangers. That will be one team that will never be contracted. They draw too many fans out to the ballpark for them to ever consider contraction. I do wish they would do realignment so that the Rangers would be in the AL Central and play more road games in their time zone.

 

[voomvoom]

what to watch

They draw too many fans out to the ballpark for them to ever consider contraction. I do wish they would do realignment so that the Rangers would be in the AL Central and play more road games in their time zone.

You know what? The folks in Cleveland said the same thing about the Browns.... It took Major League Baseball 30 to 35 years to get the Braves out of the West Division. Go figure...