Posted on 06/27/2002 7:42:49 PM PDT by John H K
CLEVELAND -- The disappointing Cleveland Indians traded ace Bartolo Colon to the surprising Montreal Expos for first baseman Lee Stevens in a six-player deal Thursday night.
The Indians sent Colon and a player to be named to the Expos for Stevens and three minor league prospects -- shortstop Brandon Phillips, pitcher Cliff Lee and outfielder Grady Sizemore.
The Indians, who had high hopes after starting the season at 11-1, have faded ever since in the AL Central. They are 36-41 and in third place, seven games behind Minnesota.
The Expos, who escaped baseball's plan to eliminate them in the offseason, have been one of the majors' best success stories this year. Despite a team thrown together in spring training, the Expos are 41-36 and in the middle of the NL wild-card race.
Cleveland announced the trade after being rained out at Boston.
"From the start of the offseason, we stated that if the difficult goal of transitioning and contending was not successful, we would have to enter into a more dramatic and profound rebuilding process. That is the juncture we find ourselves today,'' Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said.
At 29, Colon had finally blossomed into the consistent No. 1 starter the Indians had long coveted. He was expected to join the Expos in Toronto on Friday.
Colon was 10-4 with a 2.55 ERA in 16 starts and was on his way to making the All-Star team for the second time. He was leading the AL in innings and complete games, and was ranked among the leaders in wins, ERA, strikeouts and shutouts.
Colon was signed through this season, with the cost-cutting Indians holding a $6 million club option for 2003.
On Wednesday, Colon was sent home from Fenway Park to get an MRI exam for soreness in his right side. Colon was to miss his scheduled start against Arizona on Friday night at Jacobs Field.
The trade was sure to be another unpopular one with Indians fans, who still haven't recovered from the big deal that sent All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar to the New York Mets last December.
The Indians, who have won six of the last seven division titles and are the defending champions, have a history of making major trades before the July 31 deadline to bolster their chances of winning a World Series.
This time, though, the Indians were the team that traded away a star player. And there still is a chance they might also deal All-Star first baseman Jim Thome, who can become a free agent after the season.
Colon will join a team that many people wrote off long before opening day. But with Vladimir Guerrero, Jose Vidro and pitcher Javier Vazquez, the Expos are looking more and more like a club that could reach the postseason.
Stevens, 34, was hitting only .190 with 10 home runs and 31 RBI. He will fit in well with an Indians team that can hit some home runs but is last in the AL in batting with a .238 average. Stevens had already left the Expos on Thursday night.
Phillips, who turns 21 Friday, is considered perhaps the Expos' top prospect. He hit .327 with nine homers and 35 RBI at Double-A Harrisburg before being promoted to Ottawa. At Triple-A, he's hitting .257 with a homer and five RBI in 10 games.
Lee, 23, was 7-2 with a 3.23 ERA in 15 starts at Harrisburg. In 86 1-3 innings, the left-hander leads the Eastern League with 105 strikeouts and has walked 23.
Sizemore, 19, is hitting .258 at Class A Brevard County, with no homers and 26 RBI in 256 at-bats. He has nine steals.
/john
Hell the Indians could support 90 million payrolls (1998,1999) Cheap @ss Larry Dolan )(new owner of the Indians) doesn't want to play anybody.
A truly unfortunate last name.
Jim Thome is going to be on Cleveland's #1 rated radio show, at 5:00 (drive time) tomorrow.
I guess the question is "Is Thome going to Atlanta or Boston?" (/speculation)
My detector is off sue to being a very angry Clevelander.
How many Indians were harmed in this transaction? Were they dot or feather? Why did Indians (plural) yield only a Colon (singular)?
Payroll is maxed out and the way AOL/TW is losing money, I don't think the pinheads will allow Schuerholtz to make a deal.
I hope I'm wrong though.
Then it will be Boston. He did golf with Grady Little (manager of the RedSox, former bench coach of the Cleveland Indians)
You're blind. Everyone seems to realize this except you and George Steinbrenner. Even Bud Selig in an interview last week in the Sporting News calls a spade a spade:
"[W]e have a competitive-balance problem. I do believe the game has had this remarkable renaissance. Even with attendance down, we're going to draw 70 million people, which is great. But there's a competitive-balance problem and economic problems related to that."
You must be from New York; that's the only explanation I can think of for your continuing myopia.
Big-market? The Expos???
I had a good day myself today at Pac Bell Park - watched the Giants beat up the Padres.
"Aching Knobby Has Bombers Worried."
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