The Inevitable Montreal Expos Relocation

The rookie trio of Delino DeShields, Larry Walker and Marquis Grissom in the late 80s.

I'm not kidding, that's how they wrote it!

Expos also developed Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Cliff Floyd, Rondall White, Vlad Guerrero, Ugeth Urbina who all became allstars.

They also got Moises Alou from the Pirates when he was a minor leaguer, so they had nearly two outfields of allstars in ten years.

Oh and Javier Vazquez looked unhittable last night, by the way.

Regarding the Washington Senators.......the original franchise was part of the American League for 60 years, from 1901-60, then relocated to Minnesota and became the Twins in 1961. Second incarnation was a 1961 expansion team, that then moved to Texas and became the Rangers in 1971.

MLB seems to think it financially beneficial to be coy while cities try to outbid each other. The potential ownership groups in DC/NoVa have become disillusioned with the endless bullshit process and the refusal of MLB to shit or get off the pot. Arlington, VA doesn't want a stadium in its midst. A site at Potomac Yards not far from National Airport would be nice but isn't for sale. A site in Springfield, VA--very near the infamous I-95/I-495 "mixing bowl" would be a traffic/logistical nightmare dwarfing even the current fiasco at Redskins games. DC would be insane to offer public funds for a park, though mayor Tony Williams would probably like to do just that.

Tinfoil-hat-wearers in DC (e.g. Thomas Boswell think that Angelos purposely threw the Orioles in the tank five years ago to drive down attendance so his case against a DC team would be weakened. Meanwhile, the Orioles want DC to make improvements to New York Avenue NE, the main route out of DC to Baltimore.

Meanwhile, les Expos can't sign players to extensions because they don't want to spend half their seasons in San Juan/Monterrey/etc. The whole thing is ugly, and a real reminder of what counts in baseball--and it's not OPS.

Someone -- Gammons? -- said last week they still might contract them, but they'd need a second victim.

Geez, the great Walter Johnson pitched for the original Senators -- no Jonathan Richman fans??

On the plus side, this would not involve the further bloating of my DC tax bill as suggested by Mayor Tony Williams' stadium plan.

revenue from the casino in the new convention center will pay for the stadium!

...i'll stop now.

Sources familiar with the Expos-relocation process told ESPN.com on Thursday that union leaders Donald Fehr and Gene Orza met Wednesday with Montreal player representative Brian Schneider and his assistant, Brad Wilkerson.

The player reps were informed by the union that there is now an overwhelming probability that they will wind up in either Washington or Northern Virginia -- although there is still a small chance that baseball could opt for Las Vegas.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/columnist/bodley/2004-09-20-bodley_x.htm

and DC commission picks an M Street site:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/expos/2004-09-22-dc-stadium_x.htm

FUCK YOU PETER ANGELOS

-- mookieproof (mookieproo...), September 11th, 2004 1:07 AM. (mookieproof)

The Bmore-DC distance isn't really relevant, although Angelos wants everyone to think that it is. Simply put, the population of the Bmore-DC area is plenty big enough to support more than one team. The Ravens and Redskins are doing fine in the NFL. And the population of that area is larger than the Bay area, which also supports multiple sports franchises in multiple sports.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1890915

this is really good news

Senators, while the logical choice, does sound rather stodgy, and is associated with what was historically a loser franchise. I dread a push for some more politically-weighted name, like the Washington Freedoms or some goddamn thing.

How about the D.C. Dukes?

The Ambassadors: too awkward, and it contains the word "ass."
The Monuments: "Let's go Mons?" "Let's go 'Ments?"
The Potomacs: Hey, a team called the 'Macs could be huge!

The D.C. Potomacs!

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/story/235692p-202412c.html

As for dissident Orioles owner Peter Angelos, sources have speculated that part of MLB's appeasement settlement with him would be to move Baltimore to the NL East or give Angelos the option of owning the Washington team. If the latter pans out, MLB would auction off the Orioles.

__

Peter Gammons said that Jerry Reinsdorf has expressed interest in having the White Sox move to the AL East (!) and Toronto going to the Central, too. JR apparently wants to guarantee the Sox never see the postseason ever again, if that's the case.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&page=caple_jim

And he's not the only writer I've seen who thinks it's even money they play one more year Up North!

the district government is touting its financing plan by saying that only businesses, not individuals, will bear additional taxes to pay for the stadium. but come on, who will the costs be passed along to? it's already ridiculously expensive to live here in comparison to the services offered by the district. i really want baseball to come here, but making citizens pay for it is stupid. also, i feel bad for montréal.

1) Embrace change and follow this new team as if it were my dear deceased Expos.

2) Remain bitter and wish plagues upon this new team in honor of my dear deceased Expos.

My dear deceased Expos also drafted and developed Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Tim Wallach, Scott Sanderson, Steve Rogers, Gary Carter, Warren Cromartie...

They had the good sense to trade Dan Schatzeder for Ron LeFlore in 1979, and they also had the good sense to dump LeFlore off on the White Sox after the 1980 season.

Kinda fitting that their last batter's name was Endy.

agreed about the first and last. and the ppl designing alternate unis need to be shot.

http://www.core77.com/inconspicuous/

He's a smart and funny cookie.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpcDBuM2RlBF9TAzk1ODYxNzc3BHNlYwN0aA--?slug=ap-expos-namechange&prov=ap&type=lgns

washington NATIONALS, folks

Chris Kahrl of BP summarizes the Nationals' two signings last week: "Jim Bowden flushes a bunch of money down the drain in Washington."

this is what sucks about mlb jerking dc around so long. they're still calling the shots! the franchise needs 1) owners 2) that will spend money or bring in sharp baseball folks that know how to maximize their dollars.

you didn't expect mlb to hire a sabr dude, did you?

http://espn.go.com/i/magazine/new/uni_ds_wash.jpg

(and, yeah...i think the monument is intentionally phallic. y'know...father of the nation?)

Dude, you'd be surprised at the number of "SABR dudes" MLB -- and mlb.com in particular -- is employing these days to make a mint (see the late chapters of my latest book recommendation).

as for the skins, they should change the helmet logo back to the 60's "r" and call themselves the washington servicemarks. washington's legal population would applaud!

i like "nationals" just fine. the logo is pretty weak and i'm not wild about the proposed unis or resurrecting the "w" hat given the current political climate.

especially if tony williams doesn't run, she's got to be a favorite if the mlb accepts the newly amended proposal. she could then claim responsbility for holding mlb accountable to the people of dc AND bringing a team to dc.

a lot of ifs there, though.

tempered enthusiasm

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-baseball-new-stadium-1.4947176

Stephen Brunt, who I view as a pretty smart analyst, was on the Fan yesterday talking about this. (Weird to say, but I lived one street over from the Brunts as a kid; we played street hockey. Lost track of him after high school, then one day he was everywhere sports-related.) He said that for the longest time, right up till six months ago, he was certain Montreal would never get another team. He's revised that, and now he thinks it will happen.