Dec. 11

Expos GM Omar Minaya recently returned to his New Jersey home after a week in the Dominican Republic, where he met with Vladimir Guerrero, Bartolo Colon and Fernando Tatis. "I told them their names would be in the papers for a while," says Minaya. "But not to panic. I told them what I believe: that our goal is for the 2003 Montreal Expos to compete in the National League East."

Minaya leaves early Friday morning for Nashville, where he will meet with every team that he believes is serious about dealing for some Expos players. While the general manager won't reveal exactly what he has to pare, it is expected he needs to lop between $12 million and $14 million from the payroll, which can be accomplished by two or three trades.

	“	If you wanted to smuggle plutonium into Nashville, the time to do it is when Omar arrives because everyone's going to be looking at him. ”
		— A general manager on Expos GM Omar Minaya

"Understand," says Minaya, "I look at this as a challenge. I may have to be creative, but at the end of the day, the Expos will still be a contender."

Teams are lined up to talk about Colon and fellow pitcher Javier Vazquez and second baseman Jose Vidro.

"If you wanted to smuggle plutonium into Nashville, the time to do it is when Omar arrives because everyone's going to be looking at him," said a GM.

But Minaya isn't thinking that he necessarily has to trade Colon and/or Guerrero because they are free agents at the end of the '03 season, because the feeling at MLB is that if the team has a prospective buyer come the middle of the summer, that buyer will want at least Guerrero and part of the investment price would be to sign him and keep him away from free agency.

The easiest way to get under budget is to trade Fernando Tatis with one veteran, high-salaried player, but right now there don't seem to be takers for Tatis' $6.5M contract.

"That's all right," says Minaya. "Tatis is in great shape. He is working very hard. He rushed back too soon from an injury and we may have pushed him too hard, and I think he will come back and have a very productive season."

Catcher Michael Barrett (expected to get $2.5 million in arbitration) is expected to be traded, making Brian Schneider the starting catcher. There is interest among teams such as the Orioles in shortstop Orlando Cabrera. Hey, if they did those two moves and traded pitcher Tony Armas Jr., they would be close to budget, although with so many teams interested in Vazquez, Colon and Vidro, Minaya has to listen.

One GM suggested that Minaya could move Armas to Toronto for shortstop Felipe Lopez and a second player, Cabrera to Baltimore, get a couple of young players for Barrett and move a veteran reliever like Matt Herges and be at budget. The addition of Sun Woo Kim gives Montreal a viable power arm in the middle of the bullpen.

"I know I have a lot of teams to talk to," Minaya says, "but while I was away I sat down, went over scouting reports and have some ideas about what I'm looking for. Anyone who knows me knows that if I get something I like, I'll act, so we could get a deal or two done in Nashville before we leave (most clubs are leaving Monday afternoon)."

The Yankees, Rangers and Braves are lined up to talk about Colon, with the Braves, Diamondbacks, Cubs, Rangers, Phillies, Marlins and several others waiting to discuss Vazquez. Both the Cubs and Red Sox are inquiring about Vidro -- one of new Red Sox consultant Bill James' favorites -- but Boston would probably have to come up with a prospect and a player that Minaya could spin to another club in addition to infield prospect Freddy Sanchez to even get in the door on Vidro.

"I strongly doubt that they will trade Vidro," says one Cubs official.

"This could be fun," says Minaya. "And hopefully when we've accomplished what we have to accomplish, we'll have a team that can make a run in the National League East."