September 20, 2004
Expos ponder fate
Comments from the Montreal Expos clubhouse on the team's drawn-out relocation saga:
- "The speculation on the TV and in the newspapers doesn't bother me. I don't listen to them. I don't read them. ... The secret word is, 'The Montreal Expos have been relocated to ...' That will get my attention." -Expos manager Frank Robinson
- "The word was we're going to D.C., but now they're backing off that. I'm like, 'OK, whatever.' The way I look at is that we're going to be in Montreal next year. There's a whole bunch of politics involved. It's not easy to move a team." -Expos outfielder Terrmel Sledge
- "I've been telling these guys for two years that the owners aren't going to let go of us. With us, the owners have control of one-30th of our union and we have a contract coming up in two years. It's common sense for them to keep us. They're keeping a piece of that rope so they can play a better game of tug of war with us in two years." -Expos pitcher Joey Eischen
Eischen's theory is that with the league's collective bargaining agreement due to expire in 2006, the league will hold off on selling or moving the Expos until then, at which point Bud Selig will again raise the threat of "contracting" teams in order to force players into bargaining concessions. (Contraction is disallowed through 2006 under the current CBA.) "That's a good point," Expos player rep Brad Wilkerson told Pennsylvania's Patriot-News. "It seems to the general public that they've been working on this for just a year, but they've been working on this for the last three years. They haven't made a decision by now, and that makes you a little wary."
