Two Many?

Thursday, July 17

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Players say it's 'ludicrous' to have two different homes

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Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Baseball players may try to block the Montreal Expos from playing home games at two sites next year.

The commissioner's office moved 22 of the team's 81 home games to San Juan, Puerto Rico, this year under an agreement with the players' association.

"It is far from clear to me that the players will agree to play part of the season in Montreal and part of the season in Puerto Rico," Gene Orza, the union's No. 2 official, said Thursday. "I just don't see that flying as smoothly as it did the last time around, if at all."

Northern Virginia; Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C., have bid for the Expos, but baseball owners say they want complete financing plans for a new ballpark in place before they make a decision.

Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said earlier this week that Puerto Rico has bid to have the Expos play their entire schedule in San Juan next year. DuPuy and Rob Manfred, management's top labor lawyer, met before Tuesday's All-Star game in Chicago with Orza and union lawyers Michael Weiner and Steve Fehr. Orza would not say if the Expos were discussed at the meeting.

Expos outfielder Brad Wilkerson, speaking before Montreal's game in Philadelphia on Thursday, said he would rather play all 81 home games in San Juan than split the sites.

"It's pretty ludicrous to have us play in two different homes," he said. "It's unfair, but if we have to do it, we will. If they wanted to give this team the best chance to win, they wouldn't do it."

Pitcher Joey Eischen felt the same way.

"They should have us play in one place," he said. "We don't want a split. But they'll do whatever they want."

Rob Manfred, baseball's top labor lawyer, declined comment, saying the sides had not yet started discussions on 2004.

The commissioner's office originally had hoped to have owners decide on a permanent site for the Expos by the All-Star break. DuPuy said Tuesday that baseball hoped to have a decision by September but didn't feel bound by the deadline.

In Virginia, Arlington County's top elected officials said the delay was hurting the chance of approving a ballpark site. The Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority is considering five potential stadium locations, including three in Arlington County.

"It's certainly a step in the wrong direction," Board of Supervisors chairman Paul Ferguson said. "It's a very divisive issue ... and the divisiveness is increasing. I would argue that support is split about 50-50, but my instincts are that momentum seems to be swinging against."

Players on the Expos, who were bought by the other 29 teams before the 2002 season, have tired of their constant travel this season. They were 32-18 on May 25, then went 8-14 on a trip that ended June 19.

"While the players liked playing in Puerto Rico, they certainly didn't like being the tail of the schedule dog," Orza said. "As between playing all of their games in Puerto Rico, all of their games in Montreal, all of their games in Washington, all of their games in Portland or someplace else, or all of their games in Northern Virginia, those are all preferable to playing 22 games in Puerto Rico in 2004 under circumstances where the schedule has been completed."

AP Sports Writer Rob Maaddi in Philadelphia and Matthew Barakat in Arlington, Va., contributed to this story.