September 29, 2004
And away we go...
Word on the street - okay, and on the AP wire - is that MLB will announce Wednesday afternoon its intention to move the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C. for the 2005 season. Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos met with MLB lieutenant Bob DuPuy for six hours today, with presumably enough progress being made on compensation talks that MLB feels it can hold a press conference without worrying about Angelos bursting in, lawyers blazing.
The fate of the Expos now lies in the hands of the D.C. city council, which is expected to begin consideration of a $440 million stadium-finance package by the end of the week; and U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages, who could yet send the Expos back to Montreal for another season with a court injunction in the continuing RICO suit against MLB and former Expos owner Jeffrey Loria. In the meantime, the Expos are preparing for what could be their final home game on Wednesday night, one day before the 33rd anniversary of the Senators' last game in Washington.
LATE NOTE: ESPN's Jayson Stark cites "baseball sources" as saying that MLB has offered to Angelos: 1) a guaranteed annual team income, with MLB making up the difference; and 2) a guaranteed minimum team sale price, with MLB again making up any shortfall. If true, this is pretty extraordinary, and would be the biggest incentive to gut a team's payroll since Carl Pohlad decided he'd rather cash revenue-sharing checks than field a baseball team. I'll be watching this one closely.
