1996 Montreal Expos season

1996 Montreal Expos
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1969)
Eastern Division (since 1969)
Location
Olympic Stadium (since 1977)
Montreal (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	Claude Brochu
General manager(s)	Jim Beattie
Manager(s)	Felipe Alou
Local television	The Sports Network (Dave Van Horne, Ken Singleton) TQS (Michel Villeneuve, Marc Griffin) SRC (Claude Raymond, Camille Dube) RDS Network (Denis Casavant, Alain Chantelois)
Local radio	CKAC (AM) (Dave Van Horne, Ken Singleton, Elliott Price, Mike Stenhouse) CIQC (Jacques Doucet, Rodger Brulotte, Alain Chantelois)
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Offseason

• October 13, 1995: Butch Henry was selected off waivers by the Boston Red Sox from the Montreal Expos.^[1]
• December 1, 1995: Wally Whitehurst was signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.^[2]
• December 4, 1995: Jalal Leach was drafted by the Montreal Expos from the New York Yankees in the 1995 minor league draft.^[3]
• December 15, 1995: Omar Daal was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Montreal Expos for Rick Clelland (minors).^[4]
• December 20, 1995: Andy Stankiewicz signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.^[5]
• March 13, 1996: Rick Schu was signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.^[6]
• March 13, 1996: Sherman Obando was traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the Montreal Expos for Tony Tarasco.^[7]

Regular season

• April 1 – Seven pitches into the first game of the season, at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, home plate umpire John McSherry collapses on the field and dies of a massive heart attack. The game between the Cincinnati Reds and Montréal Expos is postponed, along with the rest of the games scheduled for that day. Reds owner Marge Schott later comes under fire for wanting the game in Cincinnati to continue despite the tragedy (and against the wishes of the players on both teams), saying that she felt "cheated" when it was canceled.

Ultimately, the Expos finished two games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Wild Card,

Opening Day starters

• Moisés Alou
• Rheal Cormier
• Darrin Fletcher
• Mark Grudzielanek
• Mike Lansing
• Henry Rodríguez
• David Segui
• Dave Silvestri
• Rondell White

Season standings

NL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	96	66	0.593	—	56–25	40–41
Montreal Expos	88	74	0.543	8	50–31	38–43
Florida Marlins	80	82	0.494	16	52–29	28–53
New York Mets	71	91	0.438	25	42–39	29–52
Philadelphia Phillies	67	95	0.414	29	35–46	32–49

Record vs. opponents

1996 National League Records Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	7–5	7–5	5–7	6–7	6–6	5–7	10–3	7–6	9–4	9–3	9–4	7–5	9–4
Chicago	5–7	—	5–8	5–7	6–6	5–8	8–5	6–6	7–5	7–6	4–9	6–6	7–5	5–8
Cincinnati	5–7	8–5	—	7–6	3–9	7–6	4–8	3–9	6–6	10–2	5–8	9–3	9–4	5–8
Colorado	7–5	7–5	6–7	—	5–8	8–5	6–7	3–9	7–5	6–6	7–5	8–5	5–8	8–4
Florida	7–6	6–6	9–3	8–5	—	7–5	6–7	5–8	7–6	6–7	5–7	3–9	5–7	6–6
Houston	6–6	8–5	6–7	5–8	5–7	—	6–6	4–9	8–4	10–2	8–5	6–6	8–4	2–11
Los Angeles	7–5	5–8	8–4	7–6	7–6	6–6	—	9–3	8–4	7–6	6–6	5–8	7–6	8–4
Montreal	3–10	6–6	9–3	9–3	8–5	9–4	3–9	—	7–6	6–7	7–5	4–8	9–4	8–4
New York	6–7	5–7	6–6	5–7	6–7	4–8	4–8	6–7	—	7–6	8–5	3–10	6–6	5–7
Philadelphia	4-9	6–7	2–10	6–6	7–6	2–10	6–7	7–6	6–7	—	7–5	4–8	6–6	4–8
Pittsburgh	3–9	9–4	8–5	5–7	7–5	5–8	6–6	5–7	5–8	5–7	—	4–9	8–4	3–10
San Diego	4–9	6–6	3–9	5–8	9–3	6–6	8–5	8–4	10–3	8–4	9–4	—	11–2	4–8
San Francisco	5–7	5–7	4–9	8–5	7–5	4–8	6–7	4–9	6–6	6–6	4–8	2–11	—	7–6
St. Louis	4–9	8–5	8–5	4–8	6–6	11-2	4–8	4–8	7–5	8–4	10–3	8–4	6–7	—

Transactions

• June 4, 1996: Milton Bradley was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 2nd round of the 1996 amateur draft. Player signed July 1, 1996.^[8]
• June 12, 1996: Wally Whitehurst was selected off waivers by the New York Yankees from the Montreal Expos.^[2]
• June 25, 1996: Jon Habyan was signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.^[9]
• July 11, 1996: Jeff Juden was selected off waivers by the Montreal Expos from the San Francisco Giants.^[10]
• July 30, 1996: Kirk Rueter was traded by the Montreal Expos with Tim Scott to the San Francisco Giants for Mark Leiter.^[11]

Roster

1996 Montreal Expos
Roster
Pitchers 48 Tavo Álvarez 66 Derek Aucoin 37 Rheal Cormier 47 Omar Daal 39 Mike Dyer 13 Jeff Fassero 14,28 Jeff Juden 52 Dave Leiper 31 Mark Leiter 44 Barry Manuel 45 Pedro Martínez 26 Alex Pacheco 36 José Paniagua 51 Mel Rojas 42 Kirk Rueter 54 Tim Scott 41 Ugueth Urbina 43 Dave Veres		Catchers 12 Raúl Chávez 24 Darrin Fletcher  2 Tim Spehr 25 Lenny Webster Infielders 11 Shane Andrews  4 Mark Grudzielanek  3 Mike Lansing 16 Rick Schu 21 David Segui  9 Dave Silvestri  5 Andy Stankiewicz		Outfielders 18 Moisés Alou 15 Yamil Benítez 30 Cliff Floyd 27 Vladimir Guerrero 29 Sherman Obando 40 Henry Rodríguez  7 F. P. Santangelo 22 Rondell White Other batters 46 Tony Barron 16 Rob Lukachyk		Manager 17 Felipe Alou Coaches 67 Pierre Arsenault (bullpen) 21 Tommy Harper (hitting) 32 Joe Kerrigan (pitching)  6 Jerry Manuel (third base) 55 Luis Pujols (first base) 23 Jim Tracy (bench)

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In; Avg. = Batting Average; SB = Stolen Bases

= Indicates team leader

Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	SB
Darrin Fletcher	127	394	41	105	12	57	.266	0
David Segui	115	416	69	119	11	58	.286	4
Mike Lansing	159	641	99	183	11	53	.285	23
Shane Andrews	127	375	43	85	19	64	.227	3
Mark Grudzielanek	153	657	99	201	6	49	.306	33
Henry Rodríguez	145	532	81	147	36	103	.276	2
Rondell White	88	334	35	98	6	41	.293	14
Moisés Alou	143	540	87	152	21	96	.281	9

^[12]

Other batters

Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	SB
F.P. Santangelo	152	393	54	109	7	56	.277	5
Cliff Floyd	117	227	29	55	6	26	.242	7
Sherman Obando	89	178	30	44	8	22	.247	2
Lenny Webster	78	174	18	40	2	17	.230	0
Dave Silvestri	86	162	16	33	1	17	.204	2
Andy Stankiewicz	64	77	12	22	0	9	.286	1
Tim Spehr	63	44	4	4	1	3	.091	1
Vladimir Guerrero	9	27	2	5	1	1	.185	0
Yamil Benitez	11	12	0	2	0	2	.167	0
Raul Chavez	4	5	1	1	0	0	.200	1
Rick Schu	1	4	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Rob Luckachyk	2	2	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Tony Barron	1	1	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Jeff Fassero	34	64	5	6	0	4	.094	1
Pedro Martínez	33	64	5	6	0	4	.094	0
Rheal Cormier	33	43	2	8	0	4	.186	0
Ugueth Urbina	33	29	3	3	0	1	.103	0

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO	BB
Jeff Fassero	34	231.7	15	11	3.30	222	55
Pedro Martínez	33	216.7	13	10	3.70	222	70
Rheal Cormier	33	159.7	7	10	4.17	100	41
Ugueth Urbina	33	114.0	10	5	3.71	108	44
Kirk Rueter	16	78.7	5	6	4.58	30	22
Mark Leiter	12	69.7	4	2	4.39	46	19
José Paniagua	13	51.0	2	4	3.53	27	23

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO	BB
Jeff Juden	22	32.7	1	0	2.20	26	14
Tavo Álvarez	11	21.0	2	1	3.00	9	12
Alex Pacheco	5	5.7	0	0	11.12	7	1
Dave Leiper	7	4.0	0	1	11.25	3	2
Derek Aucoin	2	2.7	0	1	3.38	1	1

Relief pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO	BB
Mel Rojas	74	81.0	7	4	36	3.22	92	28
Mike Dyer	70	75.7	5	5	2	4.40	51	34
Dave Veres	68	77.7	6	3	4	4.17	81	32
Omar Daal	64	87.3	4	5	0	4.02	82	37
Barry Manuel	53	86.0	4	1	0	3.24	62	26
Tim Scott	45	46.3	3	5	1	3.11	37	21

Award winners

• Jeff Fassero, National League Pitcher of the Month, June
• Jeff Fassero, National League Pitcher of the Month, July

1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Ottawa Lynx	International League	Pete Mackanin
AA	Harrisburg Senators	Eastern League	Pat Kelly
A	West Palm Beach Expos	Florida State League	Rick Sofield
A	Delmarva Shorebirds	South Atlantic League	Doug Sisson
A-Short Season	Vermont Expos	New York–Penn League	Kevin Higgins
Rookie	GCL Expos	Gulf Coast League	Jim Gabella

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Harrisburg, Vermont^[13]

References

1. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/henrybu01.shtml
2. "Wally Whitehurst Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
3. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/leachja01.shtml
4. "Omar Daal Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
5. "Andy Stankiewicz Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
6. "Rick Schu Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
7. "Sherman Obando Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
8. "Milton Bradley Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
9. "John Habyan Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
10. "Jeff Juden Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
11. "Kirk Rueter Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
12. "1996 Montreal Expos Statistics and Roster – Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 28, 2008.
13. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

• 1996 Montreal Expos team at Baseball-Reference
• 1996 Montreal Expos team page at www.baseball-almanac.com