MONTREAL -- Expos president Tony Tavares and general manager Omar Minaya asked New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to apologize for his criticism of the deal that sent Cliff Floyd to Boston.

Floyd, acquired by Montreal from Florida after the All-Star Game, was traded from the Expos to the Red Sox on Tuesday.

Those are the three teams that received new owners last winter in an unusual shift. Jeffrey Loria sold the Expos to the other 29 teams for and bought the Marlins from John Henry, who headed the group that bought the Red Sox.

The commissioner's office is operating the Expos, and commissioner Bud Selig hired Tavares and Minaya.

''If major league baseball owns Montreal and they get (Floyd) and (three) weeks later they trade him to our biggest competitor, that's hard to believe,'' Steinbrenner was quoted as saying in Thursday's editions of The New York Post.

Steinbrenner wondered why the Red Sox weren't criticized for adding payroll. Earlier in the season, the Yankees were criticized by some when they added Raul Mondesi and Jeff Weaver.

''It's a hell of a deal for the Red Sox, but what's the difference between what they did and what we did?'' Steinbrenner was quoted as saying. ''They still owe a lot on the team. It's a very good move. I don't know how smart it is, but certainly a good deal.''

Tavares and Minaya were unhappy with Steinbrenner's statements.

''We were stunned and disappointed by recent innuendo,'' their statement said. ''While we attribute the motivation of Mr. Steinbrenner's comments to his competitive fire, his statements are uninformed, reckless, inaccurate and harmful to the Montreal Expos.

''A cursory examination of the facts surrounding the trading of Cliff Floyd would reveal that the New York Yankees were given ample and repeated opportunity to consummate a trade with our organization for this player. For reasons known only to the New York Yankees, they chose not to pursue a trade for Cliff Floyd with full knowledge that we intended to trade him to the Boston Red Sox, in absence of a superior offer.

''We certainly hope that, upon reflection, Mr. Steinbrenner will deliver a public apology to the Montreal Expos with the same ease that he found in impugning the integrity of our organization.''