Meet the 2016 Expos: The leftover free agents actually can fill a full roster

It's late January, typically the moment for the greedy, the stragglers, the dregs and those who got poor advice to finally figure out where they'll be playing baseball for the rest of the year, and look at what we've got: a whole team, ripe for the picking.

And by a whole team, I mean an entire roster's worth of legitimate major league players who, if assembled, certainly wouldn't be the worst in MLB this season. Which is crazy if you think about it, because one month from today, pitchers and catchers will have reported to all but five camps, and a week after that, every player will be in uniform.

Perhaps someone blinks in this game of chicken and the supply glut that has ballplayers right next to oil barrels in the commodity game starts to rebalance. In the meantime, though, it only seemed right to assemble this 31st team – to show how in this offseason of record spending, a large swath of worthy players remain homeless.

Certainly this team has its flaws. For one, I'm its general manager. And also, there's that whole matter of it not existing in real life. Though that does allow me to think wishfully in naming it.

So let's call them the Montreal Expos.

These Expos have a good lineup, an iffy rotation and a patchwork bullpen. They don't take enough walks, don't strike out enough hitters and don't have a manager. They do have a Canadian, however, so that papers over at least some of the flaws.

To give a sense of how good this team was last season – and how good it might be this season – I used the Wins Above Replacement metric from FanGraphs. No matter its flaws, it's a useful tool to illustrate around how good a team full of orphans might be. A team of replacement-level players would theoretically win about 29 percent of its games or about 48 wins. My 25-man roster combined for 27 WAR last season, putting it at around a 75-win team, give or take five wins on each side.

While this year's Expos are projected to combine for just 20.5 WAR by FanGraphs' Steamer projections, this isn't a team by which Montreal would be embarrassed. So tidy up, Olympic Stadium, and get that costume to the dry cleaner, Youppi!

Here are your 2016 Montreal Expos.

1B: Justin Morneau
2015 WAR: 0.5
2016 WAR: 0.4
Why? Because the return of the Expos needs a face, and Morneau is one of the five best hitters ever to come from Canada. More than that, when the vagaries of concussions aren't sidelining him for months at a time, he still swings a potent bat. He's not the MVP he once was, not at 34 years old, but he's the sort of hitter few teams would be embarrassed to slot into the middle of their order.

2B: Howie Kendrick
2015 WAR: 2.1
2016 WAR: 1.8
Why? Because there aren't many hitters as consistent as Kendrick, and at least you know what you're getting from an important position. Over the past five seasons, Kendrick finished with a batting average between .285 and .295, an on-base percentage between .325 and .347, and a slugging percentage between .397 and .464. He doesn't walk, and at 32, he could fall off a cliff. Of course, this is a fake team, so we don't have to worry about that, let alone giving up a draft pick to sign him.

SS:

Ian Desmond
2015 WAR: 1.7
2016 WAR: 1.5
Why? Because outside of his first half last year, he has been one of the best shortstops in baseball since 2012. Desmond picked a bad time to struggle, and it may end with him taking a cheap pillow deal and hitting free agency again next year. The best part: Desmond was drafted in 2004 by … the Montreal Expos. Welcome home, Ian.

3B: David Freese
2015 WAR: 2.2
2016 WAR: 1.2
Why? Because we're going to the playoffs and need clutch hits. Or because the third-base supply isn't exactly overflowing. Or because Freese is a perfectly solid major league third baseman. Like Kendrick, he's sneaky old at 32, and he's nobody's long-term solution, but for a fake team trying to win for one season, he'll more than do.

LF: Yoenis Cespedes
2015 WAR: 6.7
2016 WAR: 2.9
Why? Because he's the best free agent left on the market. Cespedes continues to hold out for a deal in the six-year range, and one friend believes he still wants $150 million. That's $30 million more than the entire Expos franchise sold for in 2002. Almost certainly Cespedes isn't going to put up another seven-win season – Steamer is dubious on him, and defensive numbers that accounted for a fair bit of his value don't match up with his career figures – but if you're making a team of leftover free agents, he's the easy top pick.

CF: Austin Jackson
2015 WAR: 2.2
2016 WAR: 1.0
Why? Because he's got a really good glove in center field, and with a staff of flyball pitchers, I need guys who can cover ground. Once upon a time, Jackson's bat was a useful asset, too, and at just 29 this season, he's still young enough to rescue it.

RF: Dexter Fowler
2015 WAR: 3.2
2016 WAR: 1.6
Why? Because the Expos need on-base skills, and Fowler's make him an easy top-of-the-lineup choice. Slotting him in right field, a position he never has played, isn't ideal, but he's not as good a center fielder as Jackson, and Cespedes has balked at playing right, even if his arm is perfect for it. By May, Felipe – as in Alou, our manager, because who else would it be? – should have Cespedes in right and Fowler in left.

C: Wilin Rosario
2015 WAR: -0.9
2016 WAR: 0.0
Why? Because the one position that sold out early in the winter was catching, and even though Rosario is a dreadful receiver whose arm can't compensate for his other deficiencies, he's the best of the lot. All of which is to say: I need to call up the Red Sox and see what they want for Christian Vasquez.

DH:

Pedro Alvarez
2015 WAR: 0.2
2016 WAR: 0.5
Why? Because home runs are great, and he led the National League in them in 2013. Alvarez hit 27 more and slugged .469 last season, and his WAR is a disaster only because that's the kindest way to describe his glove at first base. So we'll pretend like the Expos are an American League team, slot him in at DH and tell him to rake.

Lineup
1. Fowler
2. Morneau
3. Cespedes
4. Alvarez
5. Kendrick
6. Desmond
7. Freese
8. Rosario
9. Jackson

Bench: Steve Pearce
2015 WAR: 0.3
2016 WAR: 0.9
Why? Because of the many, many, many outfielders available – Ryan Raburn, Will Venable, Marlon Byrd, David Murphy, Alex Rios, Travis Snider, Grady Sizemore, David DeJesus, Matt Joyce and Jonny Gomes, to name a few – he is the best. If you want a lefty killer, Raburn is fine, and Murphy mashes right-handed pitching, but Pearce can hit for power and play first, second and corner outfield positions. Considering all three of our starting outfielders can play center, there's no need to waste a bench spot on a glove like that when Pearce's bat and versatility more than warrant a roster spot.

Bench: Domonic Brown
2015 WAR: -0.4
2016 WAR: -0.3
Why? Because I like upside plays, and the 28-year-old Brown is the best change-of-scenery guy left. If he doesn't work, there isn't exactly a shortage of outfielders looking for work.

Bench: Juan Uribe
2015 WAR: 1.9
2016 WAR: 1.3
Why? Because look at this freaking guy! He's the best! Also, he still can play and fills an important utility roll. If you're that worried he'd be a disaster at shortstop, Clint Barmes and Jimmy Rollins are available, too, but you'll pry Uribe off this roster from my cold, dead hands.

Bench: Carlos Corporan
2015 WAR: -0.2
2016 WAR: 0.1
Why? Because he's a switch-hitting backup catcher.

SP: Yovani Gallardo
2015 WAR: 2.5
2016 WAR: 1.8
Why? Because he's the best free agent pitcher left. And while red flags abound – his strikeouts per nine dipping from 9.00 in 2012 to 5.91 last year, his walk rate jumping well above three per nine, his fastball velocity dipping toward 90 – Gallardo still is among the game's best at run prevention. Some guys you just can't explain how they're effective. He has been one of those, even as the signs in the past seemed to indicate he wouldn't keep it up.

SP: Doug Fister
2015 WAR: 0.2
2016 WAR: 1.4
Why? Because I like guys with something to prove, and after coming into last season with legitimate hopes of landing a four- or five-year deal, Fister pitched himself into an incentive-laden one-year deal. Right-handers who throw 86 aren't exactly No. 2 starter types, but Fister lived in the 80s during his best seasons, and he's a bet worth making.

SP:

Tim Lincecum
2015 WAR: 0.3
2016 WAR: 0.7
Why? Because if hip surgery returns him to even 80 percent of what he used to be, Lincecum can be a dynamic force on the mound. Also, it seems like Prime Minister Trudeau needs some help coming through on a campaign promise, and this way we can count on at least one Expo being in his corner.

SP: Mat Latos
2015 WAR: 1.5
2016 WAR: 1.8
Why? Because what could go wrong with a rotation of buy-low pitchers? Everything, you say? Well, major league teams have spent more than $1.3 billion this offseason on pitchers alone, so the pickings here aren't quite as substantive, though teams could do far worse than someone with the upside of Latos as a No. 4.

SP: Aaron Harang
2015 WAR: 0.8
2016 WAR: 0.5
Why? Because we need innings, and if Harang provides anything, it's those. They may not be pretty. They may not be good. But they exist. And if three sentences ever have better described the late-career existence of Aaron Harang, I'd like to read 'em.

CL: Tyler Clippard
2015 WAR: 0.2
2016 WAR: -0.1
Why? Because nobody else out there has ninth-inning experience and nobody without it deserves to pitch the ninth until Clippard proves himself inadequate. The speedy outfield should help with his flyball proneness, and hopefully he reins in the walks that did him in too often last season.

RP: Antonio Bastardo
2015 WAR: 0.6
2016 WAR: 0.2
Why? Because even though he walks way too many hitters and doesn't generate any groundballs, he's left-handed and strikes guys out, and those are two qualities any major league team would love.

RP: Ross Ohlendorf
2015 WAR: -0.1
2016 WAR: 0.1
Why? Because at the end of 2015, he was sitting 96 and touching 98 out of the bullpen. And also, he really brings up our GPA.

RP: Tommy Hunter
2015 WAR: 0.3
2016 WAR: 0.3
Why? Because power arms dominate the late innings of games, and between Hunter's 96-mph fastball and his lack of walks, he's the sort of guy who can slip between the cracks and end up playing a vital role in the seventh inning.

RP: Alfredo Simon
2015 WAR: 1.0
2016 WAR: 0.7
Why? Because every team needs a long man, and if Lincecum isn't back by the beginning of the season, he's another innings eater worth a roster spot. And if that's the case, a high-upside play like Brandon Morrow or Mike Minor fits here.

RP: Ryan Webb
2015 WAR: 0.1
2016 WAR: 0.2
Why? Because groundballs are good, and he generates a lot of them. By all means, this spot could've gone to Matt Belisle, Matt Albers, Franklin Morales, Burke Badenhop, Matt Thornton, Neal Cotts or Joel Peralta.

RP: Randy Choate
2015 WAR: 0.1
2016 WAR: 0.0
Why? Because it wouldn't be a real major league team if it didn't have a left-hander who gets only one out at a time, and nobody in the world embodies that more than the most hocked LOOGY of all, Randy Choate.

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