It is a situation with so many questions and so few answers. It involves a superstar player, pending free agency after the season, the trading deadline a week away, a team owned by Major League Baseball, a team that doesn't even know where it will be playing next season.

	A return to Montreal appears unlikely for Vladimir Guerrero.

The player is 27-year-old Vladimir Guerrero, who is impossibly good, a stunning combination of power and speed. He is one of five players in history to hit .300 with 30 home runs, 100 runs scored and 100 RBI in five straight seasons (Jimmie Foxx, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Frank Thomas are the others). He is one of four players to hit .300 with 30 homers and 100 RBI for three consecutive seasons before turning age 25 (Foxx, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams are the others). From a talent and age standpoint only, the only free agent in history who had more to offer was Alex Rodriguez. If Guerrero were to play right field for the Yankees for the next five seasons, they seemingly would be all but unbeatable. And, it would seem, he could get roughly $75 million for those five years.

But it's not that simple. Guerrero is a simple guy, unsophisticated with the language and very comfortable playing in Montreal, a small market. This is, after all, a guy who was signed by the Expos at age 17 at a tryout camp in the Dominican -- he showed up at the camp on his bike, he was wearing two different shoes. During his rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues last week, he rode the team bus to and from the game. There is no big-league air about him, which is good, but New York might be too big for him (the Mets likely won't be a big player in this anyway as they'll be looking to mainly get pitching).

And then there is Guerrero's back injury this year. There is always a danger about a back problem with a player, especially one such as Guerrero, who tries to do the spectacular on every play, whose swing is so violent. A scout who saw him on his recent rehab assignment said Guerrero wasn't moving very well on the bases or in the outfield. Can a team spend $75 million on a player who has a bad back, who isn't a leader and likely won't do much for the team beyond four at-bats and some great outfield play every night?

That still would be plenty for the Yankees, but would it be enough for other teams?

And what about the Expos? They are owned and operated by Major League Baseball, which means 29 out of 30 owners have a say, however small, in what they should do. The future of the Expos is unclear. No one knows for sure whether they'll be playing next season in Montreal, in Montreal/Puerto Rico, in Washington, D.C. or somewhere else. One Major League Baseball official says a decision on the Expos could come as late as early October, and there will be time to transfer the team to Washington for the 2004 season.

	Minaya

More likely, the Expos will play next season in Montreal, or split the season with Puerto Rico (the Players Association likely will object to such a split because of the travel-related difficulties for the players). With such uncertainty with the franchise, it seems unlikely that Guerrero would want to re-sign with the Expos no matter how comfortable he might be there.

So, with the Expos dropping fast from the playoff race, perhaps it is logical to trade Guerrero before the July 31 deadline. But there appears little or no chance of that (the Expos are not expected to trade two of their other stars, Jose Vidro or Javier Vazquez). Since so few teams will be capable financially of signing Guerrero, no team would give up three players for a one player who likely will be going to free agency in November.

Omar Minaya, the Expos' general manager, is in a very difficult spot given the confusion of the situation. He has never been ordered by Major League Baseball to trade or acquire a player. All he will say is, "Vlad is on our club. We hope he'll be a Montreal Expo forever.''

Chances are, that won't happen. Chances are, he will remain an Expo through this season, Major League Baseball will announce in October, if not earlier, that the Expos will play in Montreal next year and Guerrero will sign a long-term deal with some team other than the Expos sometime this winter. Nothing is certain about this situation except Guerrero is a fabulous player, and he soon is going to make a lot of money. The rest is anyone's guess.

Tim Kurkjian is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and a regular contributor to Baseball Tonight. E-mail tim.kurkjian@espnmag.com.