Montreal Expos - The Final Years (1990-2004)

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1990

Decade

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Titles:

Top Expos Players of the Final Fifteen Years

1994 - Leading NL East when strike was called

Pitchers:

Ballpark:

Javier Vazquez (18.38) - 48

Stad Olympique

Pedro Martinez (20.18) - 43

Dennis Martinez (18.01) - 42

Team Name:

Jeff Fassero (16.11) - 41

Expos

Ugueth Urbina (7.27) - 32

John Wetteland (7.09) - 32

Owner:

Dustin Hermanson (10.28) - 32

Claude Brochu led consortium (1990-1998)

Ken Hill (9.9) - 29

Jeffrey Loria (1999-2002)

Mel Rojas (9.12) - 28

Major League Baseball (2003-2004)

Livan Hernandez (11.3) - 22

Carlos Perez (5.99) - 18

General Managers:

Tony Armas (7.92) - 18

Dave Dombrowski (1990-1991)

Tomokazu Ohka (8.17) - 17

Dan Duquette (1991-1994)

Mark Gardner (3.24) - 15

Kevin Malone (1994-1995)

Chris Nabholtz (7.21) - 14

Jim Beattie (1995-2001)

Rocky Biddle (2.77) - 11

Larry Beinfest (2001)

Oil Can Boyd (6.04) - 10

Omar Minaya (2001 - 2004)

Butch Henry (6.95) - 8

Carl Pavano (2.6) - 8

Managers:

Zach Day (4.26) - 7

Buck Rogers (1990-1991)

Kirk Reuter (3.69) - 6

Tom Runnels (1991-1992)

Felipe Alou (1992-2001)

Catchers:

Jeff Torborg (2001)

Darrin Fletcher (3.43) - 30

Frank Robinson (2002 - 2004)

Michael Barrett (2.06) - 17

Brian Schneider (4.44) - 17

Hall of Famers:

Chris Widger (0.66) - 12

Pedro Maritinez

Vladimir Guerrero

First Basemen:

Larry Walker

David Segui (4.43) - 22

Lee Stevens (0.59) - 12

Rookie of the Year:

None

Second Basemen:

Jose Vidro (17.11) - 39

MVP

DeLino DeShields (10.04) - 32

None

Mike Lansing (10.83) - 27

No Hitters:

ShortStop:

Dennis Martinez (1991 - Perfect Game)

Orlando Cabrera (9.56) - 43

Wilfredo Cordero (4.55) - 26

Cy Young:

Mark Grudzielanek (3.87) - 21

Pedro Maritinez (1997)

Spike Owen (5.92) - 9

Notable Events:

Third Base:

Sean Berry (4.48) - 18

1990 - Charles Bronfman sells the club. This is the beginning of the end,

Tim Wallach (4.71) - 15

although no one seems to realize it at the time.

Shane Andrews (1.59) - 14

Team president Claude Brochu leads a consortium to buy the team as no

suitable buyer is found. There was talk of moving the team to Arizona.

Outfield:

The problem is that there is no one local in Montreal with deep pockets who

Vladimir Guerrero (34.64) - 76

is interested in owning the Expos. From here on in, Montreal will be operating on

Marquis Grissom (19.73) - 58

a shoestring. In addition, there are a bunch of external factors working against

Rondell White (19.3) - 51

the Expos interests which just serve to exacerbate the situation.

Larry Walker (21.28) - 50

The Exhibition Stadium roof. The local political climate where the city refuses

Moises Alou (12.31) - 39

to help finance a much needed new ballpark. A horifically timed strike

Brad Wilkerson (8.92) - 27

(instigated by the Commissioner) which devasted the club's finances.

Ivan Calderon (3.32) - 13

And a Baseball Commissioner who does not seem interested in keeping

Endy Chavez (2.82) - 13

a viable franchise going in a city that has shown it will support

FP Santangelo (6.53) - 11

major league baseball if the conditions are right.

Dave Martinez (4.06) - 10

1990 - Tim Raines is traded to the White Sox in a salary dump.

Notable Events:

1991 - A 55 ton concrete slab crashes to the ground from the retractable roof

2000 - Lots of good young talent on the roster and in the organization.

of the stadium. The roof is replaced by a permanent roof.

Despite the dire financial straits of the club, high quality GM's such as

This is a dealbreaker for support of the club by local Montrealers who don't

Dave Dombrowski, Dan Duquette, Kevin Malone and Jim Beattie kept the

want to be sitting inside on the relatively few beautiful summer nights.

talent at a competitive level in the midst of all of the defections due to

Part of the perfect storm that doomed the Expos in Montreal.

free agency and salary dumps:

□ 2B - Jose Vidro, 25, 6th round '82 draft

1992 - GM Dave Dombrowski, 35, is hired away by the Marlins.

□ SS - Orlando Cabrera, 25, IFA '93

An outstanding major league executive, he had been GM of the Expos since

□ 3B - Michael Barrett, 23, 1st round '95 draft

'88 and had been amassing some top level talent for Montreal.

□ OF - Rondell White, 28, 1st round '90 draft

□ OF - Vladimir Guerrero, 25, future HOF, IFA '93

1992 - Over the previous ten years, the Expos have not strayed too far from

□ C - Brian Schneider, 23, 5th round '95 draft

.500. They've had some good teams, but not great teams over the period.

□ IF - Geoff Blum, 27, 7th round '94 draft

In '92, however, the team is on the upswing, winning 87 games, a sixteen

□ P - Javier Vasquez, 23, 5th round '94 draft

game improvement from '91.

□ P - Dustin Hermanson, 27, trade with Florida for Cliff Floyd '97

The top players on the '92 squad:

□ P - Tony Armas, 21, trade with Boston for Pedro Martinez '98

□ 2B DeLino DeShields, 23, 1st round pick in '87

□ P - Carl Pavano, 24, trade with Boston for Pedro Martinez '98

3rd full season, had 46 stolen bases and batted .292

□ P - Ugueth Urbina, 26, IFA '90

□ OF Larry Walker, 25, signed as an IFA in '84

□ OF - Milton Bradley, 22, 2nd round '96

3rd full season, 23-93-.301 with 18 stolen bases

□ 2B - Brandon Phillips, 19 (minors), 2nd round '99, rookie in 2002

□ CF Marquis Grissom, 25, 3rd round pick in '88 draft

□ OF - Brad Wilkerson, 23, (minors), 1st round '98, rookie in 2001

3rd full season, 14-66-.276 with 78 stolen bases

□ OF Moises Alou, 25, trade from Pittsburgh for Zane Smith in '92

Plus the following players are drafted in 2000:

9-56-,282 with 16 stolen bases

□ CF Grady Sizemore, 17, 3rd round of draft, rookie in 2004

□ RHP Dennis Martinez, 38, FA from Baltimore in '87

□ Lefty Cliff Lee, 22, 4th round of draft, rookie in 2002

The ace of the staff still going strong 16-11 2.47

□ OF Jason Bay, 21, 22nd round of draft, traded away in 2002

□ RHP Ken Hill, 26, trade from St. Louis for Andres Galarraga

16-9 2.68

2002 - Jeffrey Loria sells the Expos to major league baseball and uses

□ LHP Jeff Fassero, 29, a late bloomer who had been knocking around the

the proceeds to buy the Florida Marlins, who had been owned by John

minors for a while was picked up as a bargain free agent in '91

Henry. Henry, in turn, uses the proceeds from that sale to buy the Boston

□ Reliever Mel Rojas, 25, signed as an IFA in '86

Red Sox. Major League baseball overpaid Loria for the Expos (112 million)

7-1 1.43 as a setup man

and gave him an interest free loan of 46 million so that he could pay Henry.

□ Closer John Wetteland, 25, trade from Cincinnati for 3 players in '92

Major League baseball owners had voted unanimously to contract the

4-4 2.92 with 37 saves.

major leagues by two teams, the Expos and the Minnesota Twins.

However, a lawsuit brought by those governing the Twins ballpark, the

1993 - LHP Kirk Reuter is a rookie. He was an 18th round pick in '91

Metrodome, against the Major Leagues for breach of contract put the

He goes 8-0 with a 2.73 ERA

kibosh on the contraction. One would guess that Twins ownership must

have been on board with all of this, at what price?

1993 - The team improves as the youthful squad continues to develop

Because of the lawsuit aginst Loria by the fourteen previous owners he had

gaining 7 games in the standings to 94 wins.

bought out, the status of the Expos was now in limbo. The National League

owned the team and they were temporarily constrained to stay in Montreal

1993 - A bunch of good young players move up to the big leagues

until the suit was settled.

solidifying the roster. They will all go on to have lengthy big league careers:

It's unclear where the Expos would have ended up at this point if it weren't

□ C- Darrin Fletcher, 26, was stolen from the Phillies in a lopsided trade

for the ex-owners' lawsuit. Were they going to move to Washington in 2002?

□ 1B - Greg Colbrunn, 23, 6th round pick in '87 draft

□ SS- Wil Cordero, 21, IFA in '88

2002 - Major League baseball hires Omar Minaya to run the club.

□ 3B - Mike Lansing, 25, purchased from Baltimore in '92

□ OF Rondell White, 21, was a first round pick in '90 and will have an

2002 - The Expos unexpectedly contend. Omar Minaya, in a desperate,

excellent big league career

last ditch attempt to save the club in Montreal (at the time baseball was

□ OF Cliff Floyd, 20, was a first round pick in '91 and will be a star

trying to eliminate the Expos), makes a horrendous, but understandable,

□ OF-Matt Stairs, 24, IFA in '89

deal for Cleveland ace Bartolo Colon, trading Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore

□ RHP-Kent Bottenfeld, 24, 4th round in '86

and Brandon Phillips. The deal makes you cringe just looking at it.

□ RHP-Jeff Shaw, 26, trade with KC in '96

Anyway, the Expos falter, don't make the playoffs, and it all goes to naught.

1994 - Ace Dennis Martinez, 39, leaves for Cleveland as a free agent.

2003 - Minaya gets a little of it back, stealing righthander Livan

As good as he is, the Expos don't miss him as they've got lots of pitching.

Hernandez, 28, from the Giants for Jim Brower and Matt Blank (who?).

1994 - With Mike Lansing in the wings, Montreal trades 2B Delino DeShields

2003 - Righty reliever Chad Cordero, 21, is the 20th overall pick of the

to the Dodgers for RHP Pedro Martinez, 22, in a quality for quality deal.

draft, he is brought up to majors in August

1994 - Coincidentally, the Expos only first place finishes occurred during

2004 - The inevitable dropping of the other shoe as Vladimir Guerrero

strike shortened seasons (It also happened in '81).

signs with the Angels as a free agent. Montreal drops sixteen games

They have a terrific 74-40 record to no avail when the strike ends the season.

in the standings. This one hurt, badly.

There is no post season for this outstanding team to play for a titile.

The team is led by it's outstanding pitching. Newly acquired Pedro Martinez,

2004 - SS Ian Desmond, 18, is selected in the 3rd round of the draft,

Kirk Reuter, Ken Hill, Jeff Fassero, Butch Henry (he had two good years),

rookie in 2009

John Wetteland and Mel Rojas gave Montreal deep depth on the mound.

Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom and Larry Walker were the big sticks.

2005 - The franchise is moved to Washington.

The hurdle of the ex-Expos owner's lawsuit against Loria and the

1995 - The Expos conduct a fire sale prior to the belated start of the '95

Major Leagues was ruled in favor of Loria and there was nothing

season Gone are Cliff Floyd, Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker, Ken Hill and

left to keep the team in Montreal.

John Wetteland. This series of moves seals the Expos doom in Montreal.

The strike couldn't have happened at a worse time as the club was operating

2005 - The franchise, still owned by the Natiional League is moved to

on a shoestring as it was. Now the Expos had to sell off talent just to

Washington once the lawsuit against Loria is lost.

remain economically viable.

The club draws 2.7 million fans which makes them an attractive buy.

1997 - Pedro wins the Cy Young

2006 - Ted Lerner buys the club. Fortuitously, the National League had

moved the franchise to a city where there was a buyer.

1998 - Olympic Stadium roof is brought down for a year

The net result of this complex and obtuse set of maneuverings:

□ Montreal loses their team as their lawsuit fails

1998 - Jeffrey Loria takes over as Managing General partner of the club

□ Minnesota keeps their team as the Metrodome's lawsuit succeeds

from Claude Brochu. Initially, folks in Montreal thought this was a good

□ Washington gets a baseball team and an owner with deep pockets

thing as Loria promised to keep the team in Montreal and also to

in Ted Lerner in 2006.

replace horrific Olympic Stadium with a new park. The folks in Montreal

□ Jeffrey Loria ends up owning the Marlins and by the time he sells

were wrong.

the club in 2017, the city of Miami had built a new stadium for him and the

Loria originally bought a piece of the Expos in '98 for 50 million.

price for the club, including the existence of a new stadium, was 1.2 billion.

He then bought out other members of the Montreal ownership

Not a bad profit for an initial 50 million investment in 1998

consortium one by one until he had 92% ownership of the club.

□ John Henry gets to parlay his 158 million investment in buying the

When he tried to sell the team to major league baseball in 2002, the other

Marlins in 1998 to owning the lucrative Boston Red Sox franchise

fourteen original owners sued claiming that Loria had misled them and

which is worth several billion.

undermined the team's operation so that he would force a move

As an aside, this is an example of the thing that made selfish Selig such a

out of Montreal. They said they never would have sold to Loria

horrific commissioner because you know none of this would have gone

if they had known that he had no intention of staying in Montreal.

down if Selig's beloved Milwaukee were the city that was the

candidate to be contracted.