Selig Not Sure of Contraction Vote

With the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins perhaps days from extinction, Commissioner Bud Selig said Friday he has not yet determined whether to ask owners to vote next week to dissolve the ailing franchises.

Selig, a noted consensus builder, does not call for votes unless he believes owners will approve a proposal. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Friday that Selig believes he can get the required votes--23 owners out of 30--to approve the elimination of the Expos and Twins. Selig declined to confirm or deny the report.

“You have to remember that the concept of contraction came from many owners to start with,” Selig told The Times. “At the time, I dismissed it. Now, again, it’s a viable option.”

It is unclear exactly what the owners might vote on--to eliminate the Expos and Twins immediately, to allow them to play another season in the hope of securing new owners and/or new ballparks, or to authorize Selig to implement contraction should he choose as part of this fall’s negotiations with the players’ union. The union insists it must approve any contraction plan, particularly with regard to dispersal of players and their contracts.

Other contraction possibilities include the Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Oakland Athletics. But the Expos and Twins perhaps work best because they have owners willing to sell and stadium leases with reasonable escape clauses.

In the case of the Twins, owner Carl Pohlad, 86, is weary of fighting for a baseball-only stadium to replace the Metrodome, unable to find local buyers and willing to consider accepting as much as $250 million from fellow owners to fold his team.

In the case of the Expos, owner Jeffrey Loria wants out of Montreal but not out of baseball. He could use his contraction proceeds to buy the Marlins from John Henry, who also wants to remain in baseball. Henry could then buy the Angels from the Walt Disney Co., which wants to sell to a buyer with local ties; Henry spent his teenage years in Apple Valley and founded his commodities trading firm in Newport Beach.