Winter wonderland

Expos ready to unload; rumors swirl in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- There are rumors -- oh, are there rumors -- that the Montreal Expos will trade some of their best players this weekend during baseball's annual winter meetings.

There's also a persistent rumor that Barry Bonds can be a tad boorish.

Some rumors pan out and some don't, but the fact is you won't be able to stop any of them for the next couple of days. When you put baseball's 30 general managers, and a bunch of other assorted front office folks, all together in one hotel -- even one as big as the sprawling Opryland Hotel here in the Music City -- the talk takes off like a flyball at Coors Field.

When you throw in the fact that all 30 teams are dealing with baseball's new economic system and most teams need to cut payroll -- most notable among them, the Expos -- what you have is a league on the edge of a trading frenzy.

Or not.

Hey, like we said, sometimes these things just don't pan out.

Still, everyone expects at least a little movement this weekend, and everyone expects Omar Minaya, the general manager of the Expos, to be one of the major movers. The reason is simple: Major League Baseball, which now runs the Expos, has ordered the team to slash upwards of $10 million in payroll. That's no rumor. So Minaya says he'll listen to all comers.

The Expos, in effect, are about to be cannibalized -- or at least nibbled on quite a bit -- by the rest of the league.

"Everyone will be talking to the Expos," Arizona GM Joe Garagiola Jr. told The Seattle Times, "if for no other reason that they can faithfully report back that they've talked to the Expos."

If Minaya had a team like, say, the Brewers … well, that would be one thing. But the fact is, the Expos are filled with players that other teams covet. Pitcher Javier Vasquez, catcher Michael Barrett, second baseman Jose Vidro, right fielder Vladimir Guerrero and ace pitcher Bartolo Colon, for instance.

Who's interested in those guys? Heck, who isn't? Though Montreal's GM isn't likely to part with All-Star Guerrero -- the idea is to leave him on the team so it becomes more attractive to a potential buyer for the '04 season -- just about everyone else on the roster is trade bait.

Or not.

"The team will not be stripped," Expos president Tony Tavares announced earlier this month.

Whatever happens with the Expos, it's all a perfect example of what these meetings are about. Fishing a little. Maybe landing a bite if you're lucky. Maybe even a whopper, as the New York Yankees did last year in getting Jason Giambi.

Teams have to watch out, though. Here, the fish bite back.

Expected to be a big presence this weekend is agent Scott Boras, who used these meetings two years ago to land a $252 million contract for client Alex Rodriguez. Boras' prized player this offseason is four-time Cy Young award winner Greg Maddux, the dogged right-hander who has more wins over the past 10 years (178) than anyone in the game, not to mention the lowest ERA (2.51).

Maddux has played the past 10 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, who just lost lefty Tom Glavine to the New York Mets. So Boras undoubtedly will hear from Atlanta's John Schuerholz this weekend. Boras says as many as 11 teams could be lining up for his client.

There are a lot of other free agents available -- Jeff Kent, anyone? -- but there are always more sellers than buyers at these things. The new collective bargaining agreement makes it more so this winter. Even the Yankees are watching their budget.

The Yanks estimate that they could have to pay more than $20 million extra in revenue sharing and payroll tax in '03 because of the new agreement. Their $135 million payroll of last season almost certainly will come down.

Yet the Yankees always find themselves involved, somehow. And there will be other players, too. The Expos, Braves, Mets, Phillies, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Reds, Cubs, Orioles -- we could go on -- all will be looking to make some kind of deal.

Everyone, in fact, will talk. A lot. Someone will actually get something done, too.

That's what we hear, anyway.

John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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