Monday, July 08, 2002
Expos reportedly not done dealing
Baseball notebook
The Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — The surprising Montreal Expos, already having made one big deal, went into the All-Star break trying to close another trade to get outfielder Cliff Floyd and right-hander Ryan Dempster from the Florida Marlins.
The Expos also were discussing a deal that would bring them right-hander Orlando Hernandez from the New York Yankees.
Montreal boosted its postseason chances on June 27 by getting pitcher Bartolo Colon from the Cleveland Indians.
The Expos, who survived baseball's offseason plan to eliminate them, trail Atlanta by 9 1/2 games in the NL East. They were 5 games behind Arizona in the wild-card race, after the Diamondbacks lost to the San Francisco Giants 5-2 late Sunday.
To add Floyd to their outfield and Dempster to their rotation, the Expos discussed trading pitchers Masato Yoshii and Graeme Lloyd and three prospects to the Marlins, two people familiar with the talks said Sunday, speaking on the condition they not be identified. One of those minor leaguers is Double-A pitcher Josh Karp, who was on the U.S. team in Sunday's Futures game as part of All-Star week.
“There are a lot of rumors flying around,” Karp said. “It's a crazy situation, seeing a lot of guys in the organization being traded.”
The Expos need approval from major league baseball to raise their payroll. Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria sold the Expos to the other 29 teams in February after the contraction plan fell through.
While the Yankees and Expos were talking about Hernandez, they weren't close to a deal, two baseball officials with knowledge of those talks said Sunday.
Montreal GM Omar Minaya and the Yankees declined comment.
ALL-STAR FUTURES: Jose Reyes, one of the New York Mets' top prospects, hit a bases-loaded triple to lead the World team to a 5-1 victory over the United States in the All-Star Futures game at Milwaukee's Miller Park.
Dave Concepcion's World team scored five runs in the third inning off Rockies prospect Aaron Cook. Reds prospect Wily Mo Pena was hit by a pitch to start the inning and went to third base on Angel Berroa's hit-and-run single. After a walk to Andres Torres loaded the bases, Reyes hit a line drive into the gap in right-center that cleared them.
Victor Martinez and Justin Morneau then added RBI singles.
TIGERS: Detroit outfielder Bobby Higginson is angry at his team for dealing ace right-hander Jeff Weaver to the New York Yankees.
“It was a terrible trade,” Higginson told The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press. “We just traded a No. 1 starter who's 25 years old and wanted to stay here. For the baseball fans in Detroit, this is a bad day. I think he'll win a Cy Young with New York, a couple of them.”
WHITE SOX: Slugger Frank Thomas, unhappy with being benched, showed up late and missed Chicago's pregame stretch.
Out of the lineup for the third game in a row, Thomas got to the clubhouse about 1 hour, 50 minutes before the game but not in time for warmup exercises.
Thomas said after Sunday's 9-3 loss to Cleveland that arriving late wasn't the big deal everyone was making it. He expected to be fined $100.
“I don't know who started the rumor like I'm AWOL or something. . . . I was a little late,” Thomas said. “The bottom line is I was just a little late and it's not a big issue. It's over.”
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Expos reportedly not done dealing