Michael Barrett on "The Expos: Five years later" panel

When I heard former Expo and current minor league free agent was going to be in town, I knew I had to be there.

He was in town for the Concordia University Sports Journalism Workshop. This year's theme was Montreal: Major League City?

I was planning on checking out all the events, but only ended up staying for the panel Michael Barrett was involved in, titled "The Expos: Five Years Later." The panel also included Dave Van Horne (voice of the Expos from 1969-2001 and the Florida Marlins 2002-present), Elliot Price (Team 990, Montreal sports radio station), and Serge Touchette (RueFrontenac.com and journalist).

I learned numerous things I did not know previously, as I really only became a fan late in their run.

The slow demise started well before the 1994 strike, although that surely was a huge factor.

Charles Bronfman put the Expos up for sale at the start of spring training in 1990. That sale could have surely gone much better.

Tim Raines was traded at the end of the 1990 season.

Of course after the strike, the firesale ocurred sending Larry Walker, John Wetteland, Ken Hill, and Marquis Grissom packing.

Vladimir Guerrero came in in 1996, and was the regular RF starting in 1996. That essentially could have saved the franchise if he had been marketed as LeBron James was. Michael Barrett noted that about how he should have been like LeBron was. Or Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin for that matter (I added them). Michael also stated how the strike was hard to predict. Before that, they should have locked up players to long term deals, similar to Matt Ryan (of the Atlanta Falcons), and built the team around the future star player. Instead Youppi was marketed. Michael told a story about how he almost killed Youppi, pitching a ball right into the throat of the person inside Youppi! He stated he has it on tape and should put it on youtube, would be nice, but we'll have to see!

For a while, the team was marketed all over Canada, and throughout the Northeast US. Media coverage slowly fizzled away, ending with no tv deals, only radio, and advertisers staying away.

Jeffrey Loria and David Samson did not help matters. Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard rejected public funding for a new downtown ballpark. Regardless, Loria and Samson were businessmen, as such, they probably did not exhaust all options in order to get the ballpark deal done. Loria being an art dealer firstly.

I was just watching Top Gear (series 13 episode 7), and they were talking about the cars bad drivers drove. They concluded bad drivers do not care about driving and should have their licences removed. For example, you would not want to eat food cooked by someone who does not care about food. Why should an art dealer be dealing with baseball? Of course, many people like baseball, but that does not make them qualified to own or run a team.

Another issue relating to the ballpark was how Olympic Stadium was indoors. People didn't want to spend the summer days inside! I believe they referred to the fact that if Montreal had a 30 000 seat downtown outside ballpark, the team would be thriving. No doubt! Michael Barrett referred to the rebuilding of the Cleveland Indians with the additions of Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez and the opening of Progressive Field, aka Jacobs Field in 1994.

Michael Barrett also brought up revenue sharing, referring to the Pittsburgh Steelers before and after revenue sharing.

With revenue sharing, and a salary cap, the Expos could probably still be around (I added the salary cap). Of course, also with the new downtown ballpark that would have been steps away from where the Montreal Canadiens play. Now condos, or some sort of living space is there.

Bottom line, Montreal can support a team if done correctly. Once Selig is out, no doubt there would be a possibility. Especially if we could have a ballpark on the water, a la San Francisco.

Check out a couple videos taken by yours truly below. Click on them to get to the Youtube page for further information.

Free Agents on First Day Eligible

I am not a professional athlete, but find it interesting to see who has filed for free agency on the first day eligible. I suppose the main reason would be to test the market, see what offers come up. Which I suppose is true, however reasons you will not hear from players, at least the vast majority (read everyone save for Manny Ramirez!), would be that they are no longer happy where they are, do not like their current team, or are looking for more money.

65 players filed for free agency on the first day possible, the day after the World Series ended.

Topping the list is Manny Ramirez. Jason Varitek is on the list too. Ryan Dempster and Jim Edmonds from the Cubs are on the list. They obviously want a chance at a championship! Some more Red Sox and former Red Sox are on the list including Alex Cora, David Ross, Kevin Millar, and Eric Gagne.

Former Montreal Expo Brad Wilkerson is on the list as a Blue Jay.

My source is here. Numerous players have become free agents since the first day. See more here and here.

Sweeping the Sox

So I won't go into too much detail about game three, as I watched it on television.

Game three of the series of Boston at Toronto had Josh Beckett up against Roy Halladay, making for a good potential pitcher's duel. The only difference was Josh Beckett was just off the disabled list with a lower back strain, so he would have had a limited number of pitches he could throw. In the end he threw 92 pitches, 59 for strikes, which amounted to four and two thirds innings.

Boston scored first thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury's first home run, a solo homer. That was in the top of the third, and in the bottom of the fourth, Vernon wells gave the Jays the lead with a two run homer. The next inning, Boston tied it up again with another solo home run, this time from Jason Varitek. In the Jay's half of the fifth inning, Frank "The Tank" Thomas hit a grand slam, to give the Jays the lead that would end up being enough to sweep the series.

All in all very well played baseball from the Blue Jays. If they keep it up they could definitely be up there in the AL East. I saw Frank Thomas comment how the Japan travel does takes its toll for about a week after returning, so no doubt the Red Sox were somewhat tired and fatigued.

David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were both silenced for the most part during the series. David Ortiz went 1 for 11, getting his first hit on Sunday. He drew 2 walks, and struckout twice. Manny did a little better going 3 for 11. He drew one walk, and struckout three times. Both only got a single RBI each.

Japan game 2 (Boston Red Sox at Oakland Athletics at Tokya, Japan)

Canadian Rich Harden (Victoria, B.C.) got it done to split the Japan series. Provided he stays healthy this year, looks like he should be a very welcome part of the starting rotation. He only allowed 4 hits over 6 IP, and his only run given up was a home run to Manny Ramirez. As Joe Blanton noted in his latest blog entry, Fun not lost in translation, they'll get you eventually. You referring to pitchers of course.

Emil Brown made up for his baserunning blunder by hitting a three run homer. In hockey terms he'd be credited with the game winning goal, but the game winning run went to Mark Ellis, as he was run number 2 to score for the A's, and that's all they needed.

Both teams return to play today, Friday the 28th, albeit as Spring Training games. Oakland, who 'hosted' the Red Sox in Japan, will play against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park (formerly SBC Park, formerly Pacific Bell Park) Friday and Sunday, and Saturday will be at McAfee Coliseum also against the Giants. The Red Sox will be playing vs the Dodgers, Friday at Dodger Stadium, Saturday at L.A. Memorial Coliseum, and back to Dodger Stadium Sunday to conclude spring training 2008. All away games for Boston. The L.A. Memorial Coliseum game is to mark 50 years since they began play there. They played there from 1958-1961.

From Wikipedia:

In the meantime, the Dodgers played their home games from 1958 to 1961 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a gargantuan football and track-and-field stadium that had been built to host the 1932 Summer Olympics. The Coliseum's dimensions were not optimal for baseball, and the only way to fit a diamond into the oval-shaped stadium was to lay the third-base line along the short axis of the oval, and the first-base line along the long axis. See picture. This resulted in a left-field fence that was only some 250 feet from home plate, and a 40-foot screen was erected to prevent home runs from becoming too easy to hit. Still, the 1958 season saw 182 home runs hit to left field in the Coliseum, while only 3 were hit to center field and 8 to right field. Dodgers outfielder Wally Moon, newly acquired for the 1959 season, became adept at launching lazy fly balls over the screen, which became known as "Moon shots."

Should be quite interesting, Now with added seats, to left field it will be 201 feet, and a 60 foot high screen! Just seeing the above photo reminded me of the fourth incarnation of Polo Grounds, thanks to the oddity of the dimensions. More than 115 000 are expected! Might just have to write a blog entry for that game!

Boston Red Sox at Oakland Athletics at Tokyo

Thought I'd make a post about the opening series taking place in Tokyo, Japan.

So, since the games are in Japan, at 7PM Japan Standard Time, they are take place at 6AM Eastern Daylight Time. I managed to hit snooze way time many times (what else is new), so I got up in time to catch the 9th, and 10th innings.

The hero of the game, Brandon Moss, was not supposed to play, as he replaced J.D. Drew who had lower back stiffness. He pulled a 2-2 pitch just a few feet over the right field wall, off of Oakland's closer Huston Street. He was credited with the blown save (1), and loss (1), as he also gave up a double off of Manny Ramirez that scored two. One being David Ortiz, who received his first intentional walk of what I am sure will be many in 2008.

Oakland probably could have tied the game again, but Emil Brown got a little greedy going for third, and was thrown out trying to stretch a RBI double into a triple with only 1 out. So instead it was 2 down, and no one on base. Despite that, they still almost rallied, as Bobby Crosby, and Jack Hannahan both singled, but the game was over after Kurt Suzuki grounded out to Kevin Youkilis, score it 3-1.

Game two is a mere few hours away. It'll be Jon Lester versus Rich Harden. Go here for complete coverage of "Opening Series Japan 2008".