Latest news is that Les Expos are about ready to acquire Ryan Dempster and Cliff Floyd from the Florida Fish for a boatload of prospects.

Floyd, Dempster part of 'aggressive' talks by Marlins

Les Expos really are trying to go out with a bang. It's getting more and more obvious that this is the franchise's farewell season, possibly just for Montreal, possibly period. Might as well try and compete one last time.

In the meantime, the Marlins are raking in more good young prospects ... but what's the point if you're always going to trade them as soon as they're hitting their peaks and become arbitration-eligible. Florida should be a major market franchise. Instead, they're acting like the ... ummm ... Montreal Expos. Say, where did the Marlins new owner come from?

What is there an echo in here???

Guess we were posting simultaneously. Great minds think alike, or at least at the same time!

[ July 06, 2002: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

Cliff Floyd has stated categorically that he would veto any deal sending him back to Les Expos. I'm guessing he had a bad experience with Montreal smoke-meat or poutine.

Don't know about that, but this is from the report on ESPN.com:

[quote] The Sun-Sentinel reported Saturday that the Marlins outfielder could be traded to the Expos, the team whom he spent his first six professional seasons.

According to the report, Floyd's contract states he can block trades to six teams, but Montreal is not one of them. Floyd reportedly took them off the no-trade list last offseason, never considering the Expos to be in the playoff hunt this season.

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If Floyd's contract only rules out 6 teams and the Les 'Spos ain't one of them, he may very well be headed north of the border. And frankly, why wouldn't he. With him and Dempster, plus the recent acquisition of Colon, the Expos can make a real run at the Wild Card. Gotta think the division is out of reach.

Following on G-V's logic, an Expos team with a rejuvinated lineup has far greater value to a buyer who will take it south of the border - then, Loria winds down the Marlins franchise, oversees the dispersal of Beckett and the other prospects, and ends up ahead (compared to the limited payout he would have received if the Expos had been contracted at the beginning of this year)..... just conjectre, of course...

I'd heard that Montreal WAS still one of the "blocked" teams. Who knows where the truth may lie in Contract-Land.

As for the division being out of reach, I like the way Frank Robinson put it earlier this week (in paraphrase): "You don't go out and expect to pick up eight games in one week; you go out and pick up one game each week, and during the last week, you find yourselves in a race, and you sprint for the finish line." Something like that. I like a man with a realistic plan.

[quote]Originally posted by Seph:
I'd heard that Montreal WAS still one of the "blocked" teams. Who knows where the truth may lie in Contract-Land.

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Montreal WAS one of the blocked teams. It is no more. And Floyd had temporarily forgotten that he lifted the block in the offseason.This is from mlb.com:

"A few days ago, Floyd said he wouldn't go to Montreal. His comment was made because he believed the Expos were included in a limited no-trade clause in his contract.
"At one point, they were. But in the off-season Floyd and his agent, Seth Levinson, agreed to remove the Expos from the list and replace them with the Giants. The swap was made to protect Floyd from becoming an insurance policy in case Barry Bonds decided to sign with another team."

There are two possible explanations for Les Expos suddenly becoming talent buyers, neither of which involve maintaining a major league baseball franchise in the Province of Quebec:

Theory 1: Baseball has a buyer lined up for this franchise. It is for a large market that would definitely support a winning franchise but would have a problem with an expansion-caliber loser. In other words: Washington, DC/Northern Virginia. Because the NoVa Expos (or Washington Senators III) must win immediately ... and current baseball economics dictate that quality players are easier to pick up in mid-season than the off-season ... prospects who will mature in three years or so have diminshed value. Star (ish) players in their prime are picked up to lure fans to the ballpark for the new franchise in 2003.

Theory 2: Contraction is for real. Omar Minaya and Frank Robinson are having fun playing with the house's money.

[ July 06, 2002: Message edited by: Charlie in the Trees ]

I'd go with #1. Contraction isn't for real. MLB is stocking the Expos (remember, they have to approve every Montreal deal -- who, all the owners? the Executive Council? Anyone know?) to jack up the sale price.

i.e., for the NL wild card, Let's Go Anyone-But-Les Expos!

The latest on the Cliff Floyd-Ryan Dempster trade rumors. Floyd may still be headed north of the border, but Dempster looks to be going to Cincinnati. From ESPN.com:

[quote]The Florida Marlins were close to finalizing a pair of trades Thursday, deals that would send Cliff Floyd to Montreal and Ryan Dempster to Cincinnati, The Associated Press learned.

The Marlins would send Floyd, a power-hitting outfielder, and minor league right-hander Claudio Vargas to the Expos for pitchers Carl Pavano and Graeme Lloyd and a pair of minor leagues.

Dempster would be traded to the Reds for outfielder Juan Encarnacion.

Both deals were close to completion, according to a team official and another source close to one of the players, both speaking on the condition they not be identified.

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Dempster for Encarnacion seems like a good move for both clubs. Cincy needs young arms and they have this abundance of outfielders. However, I think the Reds should have tried to trade Ken Griffey Jr. to Colorado for Mike Hampton. Think about the power a healthy Griffey could generate in the thin Rocky Mountain air and away from the pressure cooker situation in Cincy. And Hampton is just the kind of front line starter the Reds need.

The Expos would seem to be getting the better of their deal though.

[ July 11, 2002: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

Reds do need some arms in the rotation...how much longer can guys like "Spider-bite" White, Sulley, and Gravedigger keep going out on the mound night after night in relief...Someone needs to go more than 5 or 6 innings to give them a rest. I hope Dempster does get here to help out, and I certainly hope Bowden isn't finished...

As far as trading Griffey...WON'T happen, as whiney as it seems he's been...he really does want to be here. With guys like Dunn, and Kearns (nice surprise...didn't expect him for another couple years) here to take the pressure off him as soon as he's completely healthy he'll be back in the lineup. Besides why would Griffey want to leave...he has a built in babysitter in Ken Sr. here...

The trades have apparently resulted in an attendance boom in Montreal--after 11,000-plus the last 2 nights, tonight's attendance was over 17,000. Will it keep up after the Braves leave town, though?

Interesting interview with Cliff Floyd on ESPN Radio: he stated the Marlins never told him he had been traded--he learned about when friends on the Expos called him & said it's a done deal. He said the Marlin organization still hadn't spoken with him.

~Adam

Les Expos get curiouser and curiouser ...

Now Les Expos have traded CLIFF FLOYD to the Red Sox for - typical Expo deal here - two minor league prospects. And BARTOLO COLON may be moved within 24 hours to the same Red Sox, or maybe San Fran, St. Louis, the Mets or back to the Buckeye State with the Reds.

I thought all Expo trades had to balance salary-wise ... that's why they were blocked from acquiring Canada native Ryan Dempster. But they're being allowed to dump salary now ... to contenders? If they make another trade to the Red Sox ... how unfair is it to the Yankees (who cares?) or the Mariners or Angels or A's (whichever loses the AL West would be a wild card contender) that the Red Sox are allowed to benefit from Expo salary dumping?

AND DOES THE FACT THAT COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG PULLED ALL THE LEVERS TO ALLOW JOHN HENRY TO BECOME THE NEW RED SOX OWNER HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT LES EXPOS ARE DUMPING THEIR STARS ON BOSTON?????

(Naah ... Ugly Bud would never ... NEVER ... threaten the integrity of the game like that, would he?)

Yep, looks like MLB just wanted to make it *look* for a couple weeks like they were willing to let the Expos take a shot.

As much as this deal benefits the Red Sox, I have to admit that it does indeed smell fishier than Chelsea Harbor at low tide. Floyd's impact on the Sox lineup is obvious. The rather imposing trio of Nomar, Manny, and Floyd gives the Red Sox one of the best 3-4-5's in the league. In exchange, Montreal gets a couple of OK prospects, and more important, a chance to dump salary. What's the deal? Les Expos can dump salary but not add it??

Sunny Kim is a pretty good pitcher (he had a great start in the Sox pen, but faded, probably because he's always been groomed to be a starter), but he'll probably be a passable #5 starter at best. Seung Song is supposedly the best pitching prospect in the Sox farm system, but he just recently moved up to Double-A. The "player to be named later" will be nothing more than a warm body.

Hey, as a Sox fan, I'm ecstatic about this trade!!! All of a sudden, the AL East division title looks possible, and the Wild Card looks really good. But if I were an Anaheim or A's fan, I'd be PISSED.

Fraud in Montreal (Baseball Prospectus)

It starts to look even fishier when you consider that the MFYs were willing to deal Nick Johnson, already a major-leaguer, and one with a helluva lot more promise than the two minor league pitchers, yet the BoSox managed to snag Floyd. I'm sure it's mere coincidence that George S. is probably the biggest opponent to Selig's revenue-sharing dreams while the Sox owners are the biggest yes-Bud supporters. But hey, we got Cliff Floyd. I'm not complaining.

[ July 31, 2002: Message edited by: BoSoxRudy ]

Steinbrenner: Floyd trade is a dirty anti-Yankee move by MLB


Is this hilariously ironic or what? Not to mention his threat to Cashman...

File Steinbrenner's complaints about the legitimacy of the Cliff Floyd trade under the category: "sometimes even a blind squirrel finds an acorn"

Very, very true.

Now, if Selig is able to get his way and push contraction, will the teams be the Marlins and Minnesota (since the Expos, if they're not taken out, may be moved to DC)? Why doesn't Bud just take out his once decent franchise and spare its poor fans? Milwaukee is a wreck--sorry Brewers fans and citizens of Milwaukee who are paying for that stadium....

[ August 04, 2002: Message edited by: fantomas ]

I'm an Astros fan, but I went to Montreal the last weekend in July to see the Expos play in Olympic Stadium, since I figured this year would be my last chance to do so. I was impressed by how knowledgeable the Expos fans are about the game -- and by how much they respect the game.

It will be sad to see them go. I wonder if it would've made a difference if they had built a downtown stadium as they discussed a few years ago.

Write it down: the Expos will play in Montreal next season. And when they vanish, it will be to move.

Contraction: hasn't happened, never will (as long as MLB exists, that is).

Here's a nice article written by former Expo Tim Raines which ran in the op-ed section of today's Montreal Gazette.

My Heart's Still in Montreal

Well said, Tim! Montrealers will always love you right back!