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BASEBALL LIVES IN OUR CITY

Braves Trade Recalls a Controversial Expos Blockbuster

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Phillips Trade Recalls Controversial Expos Blockbuster

Brandon Phillips While Still With the Cincinnati Reds

On Sunday, the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds completed a trade that sent Brandon Phillips to his hometown in exchange for a couple of pitching prospects. On the surface, this was hardly an earth-shattering move between two non-contender teams. However, a closer look recalls a controversial Expos blockbuster from the team’s final seasons in Montreal.

By acquiring Phillips, the Braves reunited him with Bartolo Colon, who signed with Atlanta as a free agent in November. Expos fans recall that Omar Minaya sent Phillips to Cleveland in a package deal for Colon during the 2002 season. Minaya was going all-in for the postseason. Some people called it the “Trade of the Decade”. Instead, it became an example of how trading the farm for a rental player can backfire on a team.

The Controversial Expos Blockbuster

The full deal was Phillips, Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Lee Stevens for Colon and Tim Drew. At the time, only Stevens was on the active big-league roster for the Expos. Colon was an ace pitcher in Cleveland. Phillips, Lee and Sizemore were top prospects but hadn’t played a big-league game with the Expos yet.

Colon Part of Controversial Expos Blockbuster

Bartolo Colon With the White Sox After the Expos Traded Him

It was an exciting trade and Colon pitched well in Montreal. He went 10-4 with a 3.31 Earned-Run Average. However, the Expos didn’t make the playoffs and wound up trading Colon to the White Sox in the subsequent offseason in a payroll-cutting move.

While Colon was an established ace, there was little chance he would stay in Montreal for more than a few months. Phillips, Lee and Sizemore became All-Stars outside of Montreal. The Indians clearly won the deal.

The 2002 trade may have tilted heavily in Cleveland’s favour but it has taken numerous twists over the years.

Colon and Phillips are two of the last remaining connections to the Montreal Expos in Major League Baseball. Colon is technically the last former Expo remaining in the big leagues since Phillips never played with Montreal’s Major League team.

As it stands, Phillips is a fading player who will serve as middle-infield depth on a bottom-feeding team. Sizemore and Lee may never play again in the big leagues. As for Colon, he reinvented himself as a pitcher and remains a highly-productive fixture in the starting rotation.

Oh yeah, and baseball fans will forever love “Big Sexy” for this:

While the Braves may have been bitter rivals to Expos fans for years, they now have a special connection to Nos Amours. By reuniting two of the last remaining players connected to the Expos, the Braves have given nostalgic Montrealers a reason to follow their games this season.

Unless of course they don’t want to be reminded of that controversial Expos blockbuster that backfired in 2002.

 

After a Ten-Year Wait, Raines Elected to Hall of Fame

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Tim Raines (as manager of the Newark Bears) has been elected to the Hall of Fame.

After ten long years, the wait is finally over.

Tim Raines has been elected into Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame, joining Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez as the 2017 inductees that were announced tonight at 6PM.

For weeks, Montrealers and Expos fans from all over wondered whether Raines would be inducted in his last year of eligibility. In 2014, the Baseball Hall of Fame adjusted its rules to grant players only ten years of eligibility on ballots, as opposed to 15. This was Raines’ tenth and final year on the ballot after failing to appear on the required 75 per cent of voters’ ballots last year. He had come up just short with 69.8 per cent.

There was a strong sense leading up to tonight’s announcement that Raines would finally make the cut, as he was on over 90% of ballots made public. In the end, he made it onto 86 per cent of the ballots.

Raines, nicknamed “Rock”, will enter the Hall of Fame as a Montreal Expo, having played 13 seasons with the team, the bulk of his sterling 23-year career.

He was beloved by Montrealers for being able to dominate a game with his bat and his speed. He finished his career with 2,605 hits, 1,330 walks, a .294 batting average, a .385 on-base percentage, 1,571 runs scored and 808 stolen bases (fifth best all-time). His 84.7 per cent success rate for stolen bases is first all-time among players with at least 400 attempts. To put that last stat in perspective, Rickey Henderson, widely regarded as the greatest base-stealer of all-time, would have needed to steal 448 more bases without being caught in order to surpass Raines’ success rate.

This is an important moment in Expos history, as Raines will become the third Expo inducted into the Hall of Fame after Gary Carter (2003) and Andre Dawson (2010).

Tim Raines posted the following on his Twitter account:

Expos fans will no doubt travel in droves to Cooperstown, New York to celebrate with Rock when he is inducted on July 30.