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A bit less than two years ago, I noted that it had been nearly six years — a long time, in baseball — since the Montreal Expos had been a thing in Major League Baseball, and I wondered who was likely to be the last active player to have worn an Expos uniform. I chose Vladimir Guerrero– who was in the midst of a momentary resurgence–in a fit of something like nostalgia.

Well, now, in a little more than 24 hours, the team that once was les Expos will kick off its eighth season as the Washington Nationals, and it seems a good time to revisit the question: Do we have a better idea now of who will be the last Expo standing?

Well, if nothing else, the opening field has gotten a lot smaller. Here’s a table of all 13 hitters and 13 pitchers who played for the Expos, who Baseball-Reference still characterizes as active, and who played in the majors at some point in 2010 or 2011; with their 2012 seasonal age, where they spent 2011, and their stats or other relevant notes. (You can see the original lists from the site here and here):

Name

Age

2011 Team

Stats/Comments

Luis Ayala

34

Yankees

2.09 ERA but -0.4 WARP in 56 IP; now with Baltimore

Miguel Batista

41

Cardinals/Mets

3.60 ERA, 0.0 WARP in 60.0 IP; back with Mets; poet

Geoff Blum

39

Diamondbacks

Just 55 PA in 2011; back with Arizona and figures to play more in 2012

Milton Bradley

34

Mariners

Released by Seattle last May, career likely over

Orlando Cabrera

37

Indians/Giants

76 OPS+, 0.4 WARP since 2009; mercifully retired in January

Jamey Carroll

38

Dodgers

5.8 WARP over the past two years; a starting SS for the first time at 38

Endy Chavez

34

Rangers

Strong comeback in 2011; figures to start more in with Orioles in 2012

Bruce Chen

35

Royals

3.77 ERA, 4.42 FIP, 1.7 WARP; signed with Royals through 2013

Bartolo Colon

39

Yankees

Unlikely 2.2 WARP in 164 IP; now the Athletics’ No. 2 starter

Chad Cordero

30

Blue Jays (AAA)

14 total big-league innings, 2008-11; retired after independent league stint

Scott Downs

36

Angels

1.34 ERA in 54 innings; 2.17 in 290 innings since 2007

Vladimir Guerrero

37

Orioles

101 OPS+, 0.1 WARP; currently unsigned and may go overseas

Brendan Harris

31

Orioles (AAA)

Played 136 games in Norfolk with a .282 OBP.

Livan Hernandez

37

Nationals

FIPs below 4 in 2010-11, now with Braves. No reflection, cannot be killed

Maicer Izturis

31

Angels

2.4 WARP in career-high 122 games in 2011

Nick Johnson

32

Indians (AAA)

Hit just .201/.326/.328 in the minors, now with Baltimore

Ted Lilly

36

Dodgers

3.97, 1.8 WARP in 193 innings; signed with Los Angeles through 2013

Guillermo Mota

38

Giants

3.81 ERA, 3.89 FIP in 80 innings, back in Giants ‘pen for 2012

Val Pascucci

33

Mets

2004 with Expos, ‘11 with Mets only MLB experience; 234 minor league HR

Carl Pavano

36

Twins

1.4 WARP in 222 innings; down from 1.7 in 2010 and 2.4 in 2009

Jon Rauch

33

Blue Jays

4.85 ERA and 5.29 FIP; now with Mets; extremely tall; neck tattoo

Juan Rivera

33

Blue Jays/Dodgers

91 OPS+ in 521 PA; somehow got $4.5 million from Dodgers for 2012

Brian Schneider

35

Phillies

Hit .208/.297/.320 in 286 PA in 2010-11. Still a Phillie for 2012.

Matt Stairs

44

Nationals

With Expos in 1992, teammate of Gary Carter. Retired in August.

Claudio Vargas

34

Rockies (AAA)

Retired in July 2011 after struggling to 11.08 ERA in Colorado Springs

Javier Vazquez

36

Marlins

Can definitely still pitch; doesn’t seem to want to, at least right now

There’s your entire list. We can immediately eliminate retirees or apparent retirees Bradley, Cabrera, Cordero, Stairs, and Vargas. It’s also easy to throw out Batista, Colon and Blum because of age; Colon might be excellent again this year, but he doesn’t likely have five solid years left, and it’s hard to imagine that no one else on this list does. I’ll reluctantly knock Jamey Carroll out for the same reason; he’s been getting better with age, but he’ll be 40 when his current deal ends. Pascucci and Harris seem unlikely ever to make it out of the minors again, so they’re out.

How about your middle relievers? Ayala’s pretty 2011 ERA earned him a contract with the Orioles, but as was written in our 2012 annual, his peripherals were little different from his most recent seasons, which include a 5.43 major league ERA in 2009 and a 6.42 minor league ERA in 2010. Mota has become one of those workhorses teams can always use to take the pressure off the rest of a tired bullpen, and he could be one of those freaks who keeps doing that into his mid-40s, but that’s not the kind of thing you should ever bet on.

For the same reason, I’ll dismiss Livan Hernandez. With a fastball that no longer touches 85 and relying more than ever on that huge, loopy, ridiculous curve, you could say Livan has a bit of the Moyer in him. Moyer, 12 years Livan’s senior, has a job. But Moyer was considerably better through his mid- to late-30s than Livan has been, and anyway, he’s a once-in-all-of-baseball-history kind of story. So, no, Livan isn’t the guy.

Chavez is a fun player to watch and root for, but he depends on his legs and athleticism, which figure to fade rather quickly now that he’s lost most of two years to injuries (and FRAA already suggests his defense may have taken a step back in ‘11). So, so long to him and Brian Schneider; backup catchers are forever, but PECOTA sees him struggling to a .240 TAv in 2012 and falling off from there.

My pick from just 22 months ago, Vlad Guerrero? Gone as well. That hot streak he was in the midst of in 2010 masks what otherwise might have been a perfectly steady decline from 2007 through the present day. I’m a bit surprised no one could use him as a platoon DH or pinch hitter, but that’s likely all he is, and he’s unlikely to be even that in 2013 and beyond. It’s not happening.

Knock Juan Rivera off, too. He’s one of the younger players on this list and he has a 2012 job, but he’s a bat-only guy whose bat isn’t even particularly good, and can’t have much longer to go. Ditto Nick Johnson. I like Johnson and would love to see him get some luck, stay healthy for several years in a row and be the kind of star hitter he once could have been, but this is a guy who has played 100 games just once since 2006 and who doesn’t really figure into the Orioles’ plans in 2012. You have to figure this year is his last shot, and the odds are long.

Four of the remaining seven are starting pitchers aged 35 or 36. Vazquez is the most talented of them and might be the one with the most gas left in the tank, but he’s currently unsigned by choice and could decide to retire any day, so we can probably drop him. Bruce Chen has carved out a nice, late-blooming career for himself and is a Royal for at least two more years, but he’s been doing a lot of it with smoke and mirrors, and I suspect he’ll have a hard time finding other suitors when this contract is up. As for the remaining two, both Lilly and Pavano have been durable and reasonably effective in recent years, but Lilly’s been better, and his peripherals have stayed more or less constant, while Pavano has watched his strikeout rate plummet to the point where it’s big trouble if it gets any lower. PECOTA’s long-term forecast sees Lilly remaining reasonably effective (above replacement level, at least) through 2016, two years longer than either Pavano or Chen, and it’s possible to see him keeping it up for even longer than that. Only Lilly stays in the competition.

That leaves us with a final four of Downs, Lilly, Rauch and Izturis. I can see it happening with any of the four. Downs is one of those lefty relievers who gets by mostly on command and by dominating fellow lefties, and he hasn’t lost any effectiveness with age yet, so it’s easy to see him going strong for another five or six years, into his early 40s. Rauch is three years younger than Downs, and could certainly have many more years left in big-league bullpens if he can get over the knee and back injuries that slowed him down in 2011.

But I think the biggest change to this race (such as it is) over the past two years is that Macier Izturis — the commenters’ favorite on the initial piece — has emerged as the even clearer favorite. Still just 31, Izturis has established himself as a superutility player who can handle second, third and short, with at least an average glove and average or better offense at any of those positions. He’s had some injury problems, and middle infielders seem to burn out more quickly than most, but Izturis’ bat is good enough that he should be able to hang on to big-league benches even after shortstop has to drop off his resume and he’s limited to, say, first, second and third; he’ll almost certainly be better at that role than Blum or Ty Wigginton is today. I’m not going to put a percentage on it, but I’d say Izturis has to be the overwhelming favorite to be the last Expo at this point, followed by Downs, then the field, then Lilly, then Rauch.

That’s a pretty dull, sad way for a franchise’s history to come to a close. Nothing against Izturis as a player, but his Expos career consists of a 53 OPS+ in 32 games as a 23-year-old rookie. If some enterprising GM (perhaps the Nationals, or the Blue Jays) wanted to throw Guerrero (or, better, Tim Raines) a one-day contract after Izturis is done, well, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Thank you for reading

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dethwurm
4/04
Izturis barely counts as an Expo, but he's been a useful player with a cool name for quite awhile now. Perhaps a less romantic milestone than being the last Expo, but he's got a good shot to end up the last, best infielder Izturis from Barquisimeto.

It's mildly interesting (okay, not at all interesting) that he and Guerrero both ended up being (arguably, in Vlad's case) more identifiable as Angels than Expos. I got to see them hit back-to-back bombs against the White Sox a few years back, a real treat from two of my favorite players. Brandon Wood had his first Major League hit that game to. I thought that was going to be something I would tell my grandkids..... hah.

Anyways, the last Expo will be Livan Hernandez. He is indestructible; possibly a vampire, possibly a terminator, possibly both. Except instead of destroying humanity, he eats innings for crummy teams.
gpurcell
4/04
I agree, it is "37 year old" Hernandez.
mattymatty2000
4/04
I'm holding out hope that Pedro Martinez decides to return and crafts a second Moyer-esque career for himself.
xavier
4/04
This article just makes me sad.
doctawojo
4/04
Aw.
hotstatrat
4/04
I wonder how many other teams had this many players from the years the Expos existed who were still active last year. My guess would be very few.
mandamin
4/04
Very good point. I actually assumed the Expos' total would be low, because the last few teams were so bad and they employed so many people (like Pascucci, until 2011) who would just never hack it on any other team...but it's high, I guess because the teams were so young. I ran the same searches for 6-7 random other teams, and they all fell between 17 and 24, none as many as the Expos' 26.
beeker99
4/04
I think Downs is behind Lilly. Lilly may have a little of the Moyer in him, himself. I think its unlikely Downs can pitch effectively for another 5-6 years. He's in the middle of a 5 year run (45+ IP, ERA<=4.00 each year) that only 17 other relievers have managed to meet (or exceed) since 2000. Of those 17, only 10 did for 6 consecutive years (or more), and only 3 did it for 8 consecutive years (or more).

If you look for non-consecutive years in the same time frame, only 8 relievers had 45+ IP, ERA<=4.00 for any 8 years from 2000-2011. Even if you raise the ERA bar to 4.50, you add only another 5 relievers

And, of course, only one reliever has had 45+ IP, ERA<=4.00 for more than 10 years in that time (bet you can guess who).

If Downs pitches another 5-6 years, he deserves the title of the last Expo.

********************

5+ consecutive years 2000-2011, RP with 45+ IP, ERA<=4.00
Armando Benitez 5
Keith Foulke 5
Tim Worrell 5
Jamie Walker 5
Joe Beimel 5
Takashi Saito 5
Heath Bell 5
Eddie Guardado 6
Braden Looper 6
Damaso Marte 6
Darren Oliver 6
Jonathan Papelbon 6
Joe Nathan 7
Huston Street 7
Francisco Rodriguez 9
Francisco Cordero 10
Mariano Rivera 12

Any 8+ years 2000-2011, RP with 45+ IP, ERA<=4.00
Brian Fuentes 8
LaTroy Hawkins 9
Trevor Hoffman 9
David Weathers 9
Billy Wagner 9
Francisco Rodriguez 9
Francisco Cordero 10
Mariano Rivera 12

Any 8+ years 2000-2011, RP with 45+ IP, ERA<=4.50
Jason Isringhausen 8
Mike Timlin 8
Octavio Dotel 8
Brian Fuentes 8
Scott Linebrink 8
Dan Wheeler 8
LaTroy Hawkins 9
Billy Wagner 9
Francisco Rodriguez 9
Trevor Hoffman 10
David Weathers 10
Francisco Cordero 10
Mariano Rivera 12
jivas21
4/05
A 1-day contract for Tim Raines would re-start his 5 year wait to be Hall of Fame eligible, I assume. Might not be a bad thing - some of the new blood may have voting privileges by the (Keith Law et al.), while some of the older BBWAA folks may ... no longer be voting.
DavidK44
4/07
How about doing this exercise but limiting it to people who had "meaningful" experiences with the Expos?

You can define "meaningful" however you want, but I would define it as 100 GP as a hitter or 50 IP as a pitcher - in other words, not quite a full season. It's entirely arbitrary, but this exercise doesn't have to be perfectly scientific.

The only one of your final four who qualifies is Scott Downs. He definitely had "meaningful" experience - he had cups of coffee with Montreal in 2000 and 2003, before 63 innings of pedestrian relief work in 2004, good enough for a whopping .2 WARP. Nevertheless, it was a full season in Montreal so he's probably the best bet to be the Final Expo amongst those who actually had "meaningful" time with the Expos.