There are points in the feasibility report that raise unsettling questions about the best-case future of baseball in Montreal. Although the study ranks Montreal as the 15th largest market in North America, there is the suggestion that it would participate in the league with a small market payroll. Coupled with a desire to be in the AL East would put a new Montreal baseball team in precisely the same position as the Expos held near the end of their run — as a feeder system for the richer teams, unable to retain the talent they had developed. Blue Jays fans also know all too well how difficult it is to compete in the same division as the free-spending Red Sox and Yankees.
