Scant days after celebrating baseball breaking out of the clutches of the Evil Empire that ruled the postseason with an iron grip for years, "Commissioner" Bud Selig pops up and says, "hey, we think dropping a couple of teams is a swell idea," thereby confirming that the rapid expansion that marked the early part of his tenure was a gigantic mistake.

What is unfortunate is that the teams that appear like they're going to pay the price are two that have been around for a while. All speculation centers on the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins as bust up bait.

Why them? Montreal's case is pretty easy to state, given the lack of interest in the team, the unmitigated disaster of their stadium, and the general stupidity of the folks who've run and owned the team over the last decade.

What makes things too bad is that, if the Expos had any sort of stability, they'd be the dynasty people talk about. Imagine a rotation with both Pedro and the Big Unit and an offense with Larry Walker, Moises Alou (at least I think it was that Alou), and Vladi Guerrero.

So while I'll shed a tear at their demise (figuratively, at least), I can understand why they'll go.

The same cannot be said for the Minnesota Twins, who recenly awoke from many years of futility to make a run at the AL Central. The argument for their folding states that they can't turn a sustained profit.

Consider that, in the first year in some time that the team was successful, they did turn a modest profit. Perhaps ensuring future success would ensure future profits? Some lousy teams are profitable (hello Cubs), but for many teams their financial success is in some way related to their playing success. A lesson that many owners either don't want to hear or would prefer to ignore.

There's also the ugly little thought that Carl Polhad, the cold-blooded creature that owns the Twins, would likely get a payout well above the value of the team to close up shop. You may remember this is the same Polhad that jerked Kirby Puckett around during free agency at the height of Puckett's career. If you don't think Polhad would take the money and run, you probably thought the same thing about Robert Irsay, Art Modell, and Bud Adams. Of course, they got money, new stadia, and still got to play.

Especially vexing is the "commissioner"'s apparent collusion in all of this. Not surprising, given that Selig is himself an owner, who would probably see the value of his club increase if there were fewer of them. Not to mention that he'll likely get a decent player out of whatever dispersal draft is held. I'm sure Selig is discharging his duty impartially.

And I almost typed that with a straight face.

Question: why aren't the Florida Marlins, a team that consistently runs a deficit, plays in a football stadium, and has only been marginally competitive since their short term World Series success, an option for folding? Who, outside of a 30 mile radius of Miami (and I'm being generous with the radius) would give a damn if they disappeared?

Of course, for my money, you could also take any team out of a group consisting of Anaheim, Texas, Milwaukee, or Tampa Bay. Or all of them.

We'll have to wait and see where this leads, but I have an uneasy feeling about this. My hope is that this is some grandstand play by the Billionaire Boneheads Club to get a new stadium for one of its own. My fear is that it's not.