The Montreal Expos season began on April 3 in Miami.
The game was scoreless into the 5th despite each team having a few scoring opportunities. Miami had the best opportunity with runners on first and third with one out in the fourth. Vazquez threw out a runner stealing second and Kaprielian got the next batter to pop up.
In the top of the 5th the Expos loaded the bases when the Miami second baseman misplayed a groundball with two outs. Drury then drove in two with a bases loaded double.
Justus added a solo HR in the 7th. Then in the 8th, Tucker drove in two on a double and Vizcaino followed with a run-scoring single.
Kapriellian completed 8 IP with 107 pitches. He allowed 0 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, and 5 K for a game score of 77.
Burdi closed out the 6-0 shutout win with 2 K in 1 IP. An exciting start for the season and the franchise.
The Expos finished the road trip taking 2 of 3 from Miami and 2 of 3 from the Dodgers. This second series was especially encouraging as the Dodgers are by far the best team in the game right now.
Baseball returned to Montreal for the Expos' home opener on April 10 versus Tampa Bay. The Expos throw Montes De Oca against Spencer Moran (26 overall; 5.40 ERA in 108.1 IP last year).
The game got off to a rough start with Tampa scoring two runs before an out was recorded. In the bottom of the first the Expos tied it back up with three straight two out hits, the last a 2 RBI double for Tucker.
Montes De Oca walked the bases loaded to start the second and surrendered two more runs before escaping the jam. Tampa maintained the lead until Vizcaino hit a game-tying two run HR in the bottom of the 4th. The hits kept coming and by the end of the 4th, Montreal had a three run lead.
In the top of the 5th my bullpen took over and sealed the win, giving up only one run over the next five innings. The home opener was a 7-5 win with Lewis recognized as the player of the game (3 AB, 3 H, 2B, 2 1B, HBP, R, 2 RBI).
The Expos went on to sweep the Rays at home. After this series sweep, all but Tanaka cleared waivers and were added to my minor league system. Tanaka refused the demotion and I decided to shop him around and accepted the return of Carlos A. Cortes a young, contact/speed second baseman. This trade made Vizcaino Jr. (3B/UTIL) expendable.
Next, I shopped Vizcaino Jr. around and found two intriguing targets: 1B A.J. Reed (49 HR last year) and 25 year old, switch hitting 2B Michael Massey (4.3 A+ WAR in 2021, 3.8 MLB WAR in 2022). Despite Reed being a better fit for my team needs, he came with a $7 million contract, so I decided to trade Vizcaino Jr. for Massey and to play him at SS where he has a below average 7 rating. As a result of this trade, I demoted Mountcastle to AAA.
This was an unexpected turn of events but adds youth and experience to my middle infield depth. If Massey is able to become a passable SS the trade will be a steal, but I've seen too many one-year wonders to bank on him becoming a star.
The Expos' win streak reached six as they took 2 of 4 from the Mets. They then dropped their first series of the season to the Phillies winning only 1 of 3.
Mendoza went down for 5-6 weeks with an injury and I promoted Kole Enright, a switch-hitting 3B to take his place. I also sent Ceciliani to AAA on a rehab assignment.
The Expos won 2 of 3 versus San Francisco and only 1 of 3 versus Cincinnati. After an off day, Ceciliani was activated to the majors to start in LF and Vizcaino (LF) was demoted to AAA.
The Expos closed out the month of April winning 1 of 3 against Cleveland to finish with a 14-11 record.
Below is a statistical review of the month for my batters and pitchers.
Drury had the most distinguished April of my hitters (.351 AVG, 3 HR). Xu is impressing as a non-prototypical first baseman/leadoff man (13.5 BB%, 14.4 K%, 3 HR, 4 SB).
Most of Massey and Cortes' impressive stat lines were from before I traded for them.
The bullpen is looking strong and the high ERAs for Rivero and Burdi are due to lots of walks and high BABIP. Their low FIPs suggest this is just due to poor luck in a small sample size. Mosqueda (12.5), Tate (11.8), Burdi (12), and Rivero (12) all have excellent K/9 rates.
The rotation is a little bit more mixed, though all have a higher ERA than FIP. This may be due to my team ranking last in the NL in defensive efficiency (a big surprise to me). Montes De Oca (4.5) and Magnifico (5.2) have high BB/9 indicating the expected control issues. Kaprielian (0.6) and Jurado (1.5), on the other hand, have excellent BB/9 rates.
The only starter not holding his own in De Leon. If he struggles for much longer, I may regret getting rid of Tanaka so soon -- especially because I still could have gotten Massey for Vizcaino Jr. without trading Tanaka.
NL East Standings (end of April):
NYM 17-8 -
MON 14-11 3 GB
PHI 13-12 4 GB
PIT 12-13 5 GB
This is clearly a great start for the Expos. Next we will see if they can maintain this performance throughout May...