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HOW IT'S PLAYING: MLB'S WEEK THAT WAS ASTOUNDS MEDIA

          Following MLB's Expansion Draft on Tuesday, Jayson
     Stark of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER wrote, "[W]hen the desert
     dust had settled after this one, something far more
     significant had happened than the exhausting spectacle of 17
     teams trading, signing or drafting a staggering 90 different
     players.  Beneath the surface of all that real-life
     Rotisserie pandemonium, it was clear the game is still in a
     very bizarre state."   More Stark: "[W]ith very few
     exceptions, stadiums are the only way to survive now"
     (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 11/20).  In Atlanta, Tim Tucker
     noted comparisons of Tuesday to the old days of winter
     meetings with heavy trade action: "Sorry.  There's no
     comparison between old-fashioned trades of comparable
     players and these new-fangled deals in which one side gets
     vastly superior talent and the other gets payroll relief"
     (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 11/19).  In Detroit, Jerry Green:
     "[T]he sport that once considered itself the national
     pastime has become a bazaar" (DETROIT NEWS, 11/20).
          STRIPED-DOWN DEALS: In N.Y., Dave Anderson: "If the
     industry known as Major League Baseball continues to wonder
     why it continues to disenchant more and more fans, it has
     only to watch the butchering of the Florida Marlins by their
     bottom-line owner" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/21).  In Toronto, Richard
     Griffin: "This live-for-today mentality can only lead to
     diminishing fan loyalty and interest.  It's already begun in
     Florida.  Baseball is playing a dangerous game" (TORONTO
     STAR, 11/20).  In Philadelphia, Bill Conlin: "I hope [Acting
     Commissioner] Bud Selig ... felt as embarrassed as he looked
     on camera Tuesday night while his sport scaled the heights
     of institutional madness" (DAILY NEWS, 11/20).  In Seattle,
     Steve Kelly noted that Selig called Tuesday a "great day"
     for MLB, and wrote under the header, "What's So 'Great'
     About Gutting Franchises?" (SEATTLE TIMES, 11/19).  In San
     Diego, Nick Canepa: "[I]f you're a baseball fan, [Tuesday]
     had to be depressing, because we got a real good taste of
     all that's wrong with the game. ... It was a dreadful
     microcosm of what baseball has become" (UNION-TRIBUNE,
     11/20).  In Dallas, Ken Daley noted the "optimism" of the
     expansion teams, and wrote, "And why not?  In baseball's
     caste system of haves and haves not, the newcomers at least
     have cause for optimism.  That's something more and more
     teams are finding in short supply" (MORNING NEWS, 11/20).
          PITY LES EXPOS: In Montreal, Jack Todd, on the Expos
     trading Pedro Martinez, adding to a long list of talented
     Montreal players who the team couldn't afford: "Just don't
     say [the Expos] did the wrong thing, because they had no
     choice. ... [I]t's about the long-term survival of baseball
     in Montreal.  No stadium, no baseball. ... You care about
     baseball in this town?  Good, buy a seat license or two. 
     You don't?  Say goodbye.  You know how.  You've had lots of
     practice" (Montreal GAZETTE, 11/20).  In Montreal, Jeff
     Blair: "There is a peculiar kind of hurt known all too well
     by Expos fans, a sense of opportunity lost combined with
     frustration at the skewed economics of major-league
     baseball.  There's an understanding that getting close to a
     favourite player means accepting the fact he'll be in
     another uniform when he reaches the pinnacle of his career,
     and even though the risk is accepted each year by a hearty
     (albeit diminishing) few, each parting still carries its own
     hurt" (GAZETTE, 11/20).  In Boston, after the trade for
     Martinez, Bob Ryan wrote, "We don't deserve Pedro Martinez
     ... No one does.  He should belong to Montreal until his
     contract expires."  Noting the game's economics, Ryan added,
     "The Red Sox can afford what Montreal cannot afford.  But
     the Red Sox cannot afford what Arizona can afford, and the
     Diamondbacks haven't played so much as one exhibition game
     yet.  What kind of madness is this?" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/20). 
      

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