BURLINGTON, Vermont – With the Montreal Expos opening their 2003 season, the organization has released the rosters for each of their four long-season minor league teams in which former Vermont Expos players may be found spread throughout all the rosters, taking up one-half of all of the roster spots.

Montreal opened its season at the Atlanta Braves on 31 March 2003 with six of its 25 players being former Vermont Expos. All six have previously spent time with Montreal and are pitcher T.J. Tucker, catcher Michael Barrett, and infielders Orlando Cabrera, Jamey Carroll, Jose Macias and Henry Mateo. That does not take into account former Vermont Expos on other major league rosters, like Geoff Blum (Houston), Milton Bradley (Cleveland), Scott Strickland (NY Mets) and Jorge Julio (Baltimore).

2003 marks the first season for Montreal's Triple-AAA team in Edmonton, Alberta, as the Ottawa Lynx is now the Triple-AAA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Trappers will open their season on April 3rd with five Vermont Expos alumni among their 26 players.

Also opening their season on Thursday are the Double-AA Harrisburg Senators with 16 of its 27 players, Single-A Brevard County Manatees with 20 of its 30 players and Single-A Savannah SandGnats with 20 of its 26 players former Vermont Expos. The Expos low-long season Single-A affiliate moves in 2003 from Clinton, Iowa to Savannah, Georgia. The Savannah SandGnats play in the South Atlantic League, while the high-long season Brevard County Manatees play in the Florida State League. Those two rosters combined have 40 former Vermont Expos players out of 56 players total (71.4%), while all four minor league teams have 61 Vermont alumni out of 109 players total (55.9%).

The Vermont Expos roster will take form after the major league draft in early June and will be made up of players currently in extended spring training and 2003 draft picks. Vermont opens its season on June 17th at Oneonta and begins play at Centennial Field on June 20th.

Here are the former Vermont Expos on the minor league rosters:

EDMONTON TRAPPERS (5): Pitchers - Brandon Agamennone and Matt Blank. Infielders - Scott Hodges. Outfielder - Matt Cepicky and Valentino Pascucci.

HARRISBURG SENATORS (16): Pitchers - Chad Bentz, Patrick Collins, Chuck Crumpton, Benji DeQuin, Anthony Ferrari, Luke Lockwood, Darwin Marrero, Troy Mattes, Chris Schroder and Dustin Seale. Infielders - Josh McKinley, Albenis Machado and Talmadge Nunnari. Outfielders - Noah Hall, Jeremy Ware and Brandon Watson.

BREVARD COUNTY MANATEES (20): Pitchers - Rob Caputo, Stockton Davis, Eric Good, Shawn Hill, Gustavo Mata, David Maust, Jason Norderum, Cristobal Rodriguez, Jason Stevenson, Luis Torres and Ben Washburn. Catchers - Drew McMillan. Infielders - Josh Labandeira, Vince Rooi, Greg Thissen, Vince Rooi, and Nick Schnabel. Outfielders- Dominick Ambrosini, Troy Gingrich and Danny Rombley.

SAVANNAH (20): Pitchers - Chris Barlow, Jason Bergmann, Josh Girdley, Michael Hinckley, Nick Long, Pierre-Luc Marceau, Thomas Mitchell, Mike O'Connor, Darrell Rasner, Jose Rodriguez and Danny Rueckel. Catchers - Josh Emmerick and Matt Thede. Infielders - Larry Broadway, Jason Conlisk, Henry Encarnacion and Shawn Norris. Outfielders - Chad Chop, Reggie Fitzpatrick and Matt Swope.

Special to CANADIAN BASEBALL NEWS – 6 April 2003