Move doesn’t make Expos’ woes vanish

MONTREAL — The Montreal Expos franchise that will move to Washington is a shell of the organization that was long known for player development and just two years ago competed for the National League wild card.

The new owner of the Expos will be purchasing a team with serious problems:

• The Expos rank last in their division, the NL East.

• The roster is populated by a few talented players mixed with many others of minor league caliber.

• The farm system is ordinary.

• The player development department suffers low morale because of low budgets and the defection of many top scouts.

• The club’s spring training complex is located in a rural section of Florida that was abandoned by the Expos’ former owners and turned down by several other clubs.

Yet this is a major league club, one that soon will be competing in Washington. That means the Expos, despite their many and obvious flaws, likely will command a stunning sale price — perhaps as much as $300million for a franchise that Forbes Magazine recently valued at $108million.

Of the franchises in the four major sports — NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL — only four NHL teams were valued at less than the Expos.

If the move had occurred two years ago, Washington fans would have received a competitive team led by superstar Vladimir Guerrero.

The departure of Guerrero after last season — he signed a five-year, $70million deal with the Anaheim Angels — was the final blow to a franchise that was occasionally competitive and consistently developed stars.

“They are not the same team without Guerrero,” one National League scout said. “They are missing that one big star to build around and carry the team.”

Guerrero batted .323 with 234 home runs and 702 RBI over eight seasons. But the Expos have a $37million payroll this season — less than a quarter of the New York Yankees’ payroll — and Guerrero was a luxury they could not afford.

They also were forced to trade young pitcher Javier Vazquez, who went 13-12 with a 3.24 ERA and 241 strikeouts last year, to the Yankees because salary arbitration soon would have rendered him too costly as well.

Expos president Tony Tavares and general manager Omar Minaya had little choice in Guerrero’s case.

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