Expos de Montréal

[Invité]

http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2012/11/13/the-marlins-a-modest-proposal/

 

Peut-être les Expos vont revenir!!!! I can only dream!!!! Imagine same division as Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox!!!

 

15. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Regional population: 3,824,221.

 

But wait, didn’t things go very badly in Montreal before? They certainly did, but not because of the city nor its love of baseball. Corrupt government and underfunded ownership and a betrayed fan base – all of them saddled with the greatest white elephant in the history of North American sports construction, Olympic Stadium. In every full season between 1979 and 1983 – even in that XXL Airplane Hangar - Les Expos drew at least 2,102,173 fans a year.

 

The peak total – 2,320,651 in 1983 – edged out the Cardinals for second place in National League attendance, and was just about a million more than the Mets drew in New York. It was about then that stuff started falling from the roof of the tribute to provincial graft, and star players started falling off the Expos’ roster. But make no mistake about it: Montreal supported baseball. As late as 1997 the Expos still brought in a million-and-a-half fans (more than the Mets or the Giants).

 

If all that could not be done in the ’90s and ’00s could be put together – a downtown stadium with government support, plus a well-run franchise making a long-term commitment – baseball’s second try in Montreal could be a triumph. And consider if it were the Rays fleeing north. Not only would Montreal get that well-run franchise, but it would suddenly find itself in a division with rivals from hated cities like Boston and New York…

 

…and Toronto.

 

Montreal and Toronto in the same division. Genius, I tells ya. Genius.

 

It’s a win-win. Unless you’re one of those few Florida baseball fans.

 

Oh yeah, I left out a fifth thing to do about the Marlins and Marlins Park: E) Ship Giancarlo Stanton separately. And while you’re at it, you might as well start wrapping uber-prospect Christian Yelich too.

[ToxiK]

http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2012/11/13/the-marlins-a-modest-proposal/

 

Peut-être les Expos vont revenir!!!! I can only dream!!!! Imagine same division as Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox!!!

 

Being in the same division then the 2 richest teams in MLB? Not a good way to insure success in Montréal. And NL baseball is much more fun then AL baseball (well, at least it was when I was following baseball).

[Chris1989]

Nice article, here's hoping!

[ProposMontréal]

Je crois que c'est une bonne idée d'être dans la même divisions que les équipes riches. Regarde l'Impact comment els gens ce sont déplacé pour voir New-York et Los Angeles. Ces équipes attire les foules, qui remplient les coffres, qui donne plus d'argent pour apporter les meilleurs joueurs qui attire plus de gens dans le stade. Des équipes comme les Yankees et les Red-Sox sont un cercle vicieux positif.

[eastender85]

Ca serait la meilleure idée ! Imaginez les gens de Boston et Toronto et New York qui se déplacerait 41 match par année et vice-versa. Ca c'est crééer une plus-value à un investissement, emmener de l'argent extérieur dans la ville. En plus..... Expos Vs Red Sox au Fenway Park WOW on part quand?!?! Rêves à part, il nous faut encore un stade et la mentalité québécoise n'est pas de ce côté malheureusement !

[MtlMan]

un cercle vicieux positif.

 

Ça c'est la première fois que je l'entends!

[MtlMan]

Blague à part, il manque UN investisseur solide pour ramener le baseball. Un qui serait prêt à sortir quelques centaines de millions. On pourrait alors convaincre les gouvernements d'investir une partie. Ça ferait moins peur au public. Mais qui serait cet investisseur?

 

.........

 

Silence.

[Habsfan]

I love that Olberman article. True that it does get our hopes up, but it is interesting that they are talking about Montreal more and more in the Major League circles around the States.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed...by the way, I LOVE the idea of the Expos playing in the same division as the Red Sox, the Yankees and the Blue Jays. Our Attendance record would be higher then it has ever been.

[MtlMan]

I love that Olberman article. True that it does get our hopes up, but it is interesting that they are talking about Montreal more and more in the Major League circles around the States.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed...by the way, I LOVE the idea of the Expos playing in the same division as the Red Sox, the Yankees and the Blue Jays. Our Attendance record would be higher then it has ever been.

 

Stimuler 2 rivalités naturelles (Toronto et Boston vs Mtl) serait en effet logique et potentiellement payant.

[LindbergMTL]

En passant, Jeffrey Loria, ca vous rappelle quelque chose? (un petit gout amer dans la bouche...)

 

Reviewing Marlins Deal, Selig Expresses Caution

 

 

By BEN STRAUSS

 

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Two days after the Miami Marlins shocked their fans and the baseball world by announcing a trade that purged their roster of large salaries and much of its talent, Commissioner Bud Selig weighed in.

 

“I want to think about all of it, and I want to review everything,” Selig said. “I want to be my usual painstaking, cautious, slow, conservative self in analyzing it. There’s a lot of variables here.”

 

Speaking after two days of meetings with team owners at a hotel near Chicago, Selig said that the trade — which would send Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle and others to the Toronto Blue Jays for role players and prospects — had not yet been officially presented to him, but that he was weighing it.

 

The trade comes less than a year after Marlins Park opened in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, with taxpayers picking up most of the $515 million cost. Critics have said that the financial commitment by the city and Miami-Dade County has not been reciprocated by the team.

 

Despite the outcry, Selig gave no indication that he had plans to block the trade, saying there was no such precedent. In 1976, Bowie Kuhn, then the commissioner, vetoed the Oakland Athletics’ attempt to send Vida Blue to the Yankees and Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Boston Red Sox. But Charles O. Finley, the A’s owner, was trying to sell his players, not trade them for other players, so the situation was different from the Marlins’ trade.

 

Selig also made an effort to defend the deal. He said he talked to two independent “baseball people” who thought the Marlins did “very well” with the prospects they received from the Blue Jays.

 

“Clubs have to make their own decisions, and that’s not up to the commissioner,” Selig said.

 

Still, a sense of betrayal exists in Miami after the team’s owner, Jeffrey Loria, promised a new way forward for the former Florida Marlins with a new stadium, new uniforms and a new name last year. He delivered on it by spending $106 million on Reyes last winter and millions more on the free agents Buehrle and Heath Bell, a reliever who was traded last month. With the latest deal, however, the Marlins signaled a probable return to minuscule payrolls.

“I am aware of the anger, I am,” Selig said. “The questions are fair about the Marlins’ fans. I want you to know that. It’s a subject that I’m extremely sensitive about.”

 

He added, “I am very protective of this sport.”

 

Other small-market owners were reluctant to say where they stood on the pending trade. “Every team makes their own decision on how they handle things,” said Mark Attanasio, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. “They’re choosing to retool.”

 

Stuart Sternberg, whose Tampa Bay Rays have helped upend the conventional wisdom that small-market teams with small payrolls cannot compete, spoke of the plight facing his team and the Marlins. “You can’t sustain success as a small-market team,” he said. “You do the best you can.”

 

BACK WITH A BANG Manny Ramirez homered on the first pitch he saw in the Dominican Republic winter league. Thousands of fans stood and cheered as Ramirez came to bat Wednesday night for the Cibao Eagles. He then drove a ball over the right-field fence. The Eagles lost, 3-2, to the Escogido Lions. Ramirez was released from his minor league contract with the Athletics in June after serving a second 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s drug policy. (AP)

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/sports/baseball/bud-selig-gives-no-indication-he-will-block-marlins-trade.html