Oil up those gloves, lace up those cleats, it's time for some baseball!
Pitchers and catchers reported to training camp this week, but there was no shortage of curveballs thrown during the offseason.
As always, big trades dominated baseball headlines. The new-look Mets made more than 10 major trades and free agent signings, but the Braves may have pulled off the biggest coup by landing Gary Sheffield. Oh yeah, the Yankees also happened to shore up all their glaring weaknesses by signing Jason Giambi, Steve Karsay and Rondell White, and trading for Robin Ventura.
The most fascinating transaction, however, may be the Boston-Florida-Montreal deal that the commissioner's office helped broker. Amid claims that baseball team ownership was a losing endeavor, John Henry, Jeffrey Loria and the league pulled off a three-team trade. Henry abandoned the Marlins and bought the Red Sox for $660 million. Loria decided that he'd had enough of the Expos' mascot, Youppi, and bought up the newly available Marlins for $158.5 million. The rest of the owners wanted to find out what a Youppi was and each bought a share in the $120 million Expos.
If Youppi is as confused as we are, at least he can look to the Phillie Phanatic for support. The only other time the league has owned a team was between the 1942 and 1943 seasons, when the National League took over the Phillies. Montreal, however, is expected to play at least an entire season under the league's ownership.
Just to make sure that no one knows what's going on up North, a game of front-office musical chairs ensues and the coaching carousel continues. Loria took all but six members of the Expos' staff to the Florida sunshine. After free agents Mark Smith and Tim Raines signed minor league deals with the Marlins, league-appointed team president Tony Tavares, general manager Omar Minaya and manager Frank Robinson scrambled to come up with some non-roster invitees before spring training began. As of Tuesday, they had found Jose Canseco.
Jose Canseco in the DH-deficient National League?
Things were bad in Montreal, but they were never this bad.
Indeed, the commissioner's office has dealt Tavares, Minaya and Robinson a losing hand. With the future of the Expos still up in the air, the trio's hands are tied. What happens when the team needs to trade for that one last piece of the puzzle come August? Would any team trade a proven pro for minor league prospects that may be available if Montreal is contracted at season's end? If Montreal is out of the running by that time, should Minaya build for the future and trade pending free agents for prospects? Wouldn't these deals be questioned if the team is contracted and the players' original team reacquires them in a dispersal draft?
The questions facing the Expos' front office pale in comparison to the uncertainties surrounding the newly displaced Marlins' staff. Although Minaya has said he will try to hire as many of the former Florida employees as possible, there is no system in place to guarantee them a future job.
All of this because a couple of owners didn't think they were making enough money off the national pastime. Henry went from a small market to the biggest market outside of New York, while Loria went from no-market to small market.
I cannot remember a baseball fiasco as big as this. Even the 1994 strike that canceled the World Series featured opposition to owners' greed.
But it's only Montreal, you say? Those Canadians will always care more about the Stanley Cup than a World Series ring. Besides, the exchange rate and low interest make fielding a financially viable team impossible.
This may all be true, but the league knows that the lucrative Washington market will welcome the Expos with open arms. Commissioner Bud Selig has repeatedly acknowledged that moving a team to D.C. is a definite possibility. So what are you afraid of, Bud? Orioles owner and lawyer-extrodinaire Peter Angelos filing a lawsuit against the league? Is that threat great enough to risk putting the league through a PR nightmare like the one that followed the 1994 strike?
In the meantime, the Expos will have to play the biggest waste of a season in baseball history, and the rest of the baseball community will be left waiting to see what will happen next year.
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