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All the way home Union unlikely to approve split schedule for Expos in 2004Posted: Wednesday July 30, 2003 7:39 PMMONTREAL (AP) -- Expos players and their union are unlikely to approve having the team play home games in different sites next year. The team met Wednesday with the No. 2 official of the players' association, which negotiated the agreement that allowed 22 of the Expos' home games to be moved this season from Montreal to San Juan, Puerto Rico. "We want to play 81 games in one city," said catcher Brian Schneider, the Expos' player representative. "That's what the players want, and I think everyone's expressed that pretty much. I don't think the guys would be very happy if we had a split schedule." The Expos are being sought by Northern Virginia; Portland, Ore.; and Washington, D.C. Baseball owners still haven't determined where the team will play next season, and Puerto Rico also has offered to host the team for all 81 games in 2004. "There's virtually nothing that major league baseball could do, in my estimation, that would make the players agree once again to split up the season the way they did," said Gene Orza, the union's No. 2 official. "The players feel very strongly that the way that they were fit into the schedule substantially affected their competitive integrity." The Expos were bought by the other 29 teams before the 2002 season. Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, declined comment when contacted after the meeting. DuPuy has said baseball hopes to make a decision by the end of September on the future of the Expos, but team president Tony Tavares isn't sure the timetable will be met. "We're just not privy to what the decision-making process is, other than to know that major league baseball is focused on a permanent relocation of this franchise," he said. "Whether they can accomplish this before the 2004 schedule, frankly, I'm a bit skeptical." Expos players have tired of their long travel this season. They were 32-18 on May 25, then went 8-14 on a 25-day trip that included their second homestand in Puerto Rico. "The players have various options," Orza said. "They could play all their games in Montreal, all their games someplace else, all their games in Puerto Rico other than someplace else, or a part of the season again like they did last year. All I can say is that the latter choice is not a realistic choice in 2004." The Expos have averaged 14,248 through their first 16 games in San Juan, and 11,058 through 37 games in Montreal.
"If it keeps our team together playing in Puerto Rico because we make more money down there, I'm for all for keeping our team together," Schneider said. "And that's what it's come down to. I don't want guys to be traded away or not be able to be signed in the offseason just because we don't have enough money. We've been through that enough."
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