Sounds like he deserved the award. He just might be making to the big club sometime during the summer of next year. BA's top 10 prospects for the Jays should be available sometime in the next week as they are currently discussing the AL East. I would be interested in reading the organization review if they ever get around to posting it. The Jays are the last team to theirs posted as it went in alphabetical order.

Im sure Rios will be the BA's #1 prospect for the Jays. Speaking of the Easts organizational lists, the Red Sox have one of the worst systems in baseball. It might be a longshot but Rios just might have a chance to make the big league squad if he tears up spring training like he has winter ball.

Rios making the team out of spring training would pose some interesting problems as there is no way that he would not play everyday. That would just hurt him in the long run. I guess Johnson would lose his starting job, and be forced to alternate between left and right when Rios and Cat got days off.

It was posted on espn.com that we signed Chris Gomez and designated Pete Walker for assignment. Not sure if this has been mentioned elsewhere.

Chris Gomez signed.http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/transactions/today.html

What's our evaluation of Chris Gomez?

I invite you all to refer to my posting from December 31 in the 'Crystal Ball, 2004 Edition' thread:

"Alexis Rios tears up Spring Training, and the Jays have no choice but to give him a starting job. He runs away with rookie-of-the-year."

Gomez is an averagish defensive shortstop, probably about as good as Woodward. He'll turn 34 in June, which is quite old for a shortstop. He's been an average or slightly below average hitter for a shortstop for his entire career.

I view him as insurance for Woody.

And there you have it folks - this is basically the team we'll see in April:

Infielders: Delgado, Hudson, Woodward, Gomez, Hinske, Berg
Outfielders: Wells, Catalanotto, Johnson, 4th outfielder (Werth?)
Catchers: Myers, Cash
DH: Phelps

Starters: Halladay, Batista, Lilly, Hentgen, Towers
Relievers: Lopez, Ligtenberg, Speier, de los Santos, Adams, Kershner, Haines

Robert - I think Haines will be dropped, as he isn't really needed and doesn't have enough potential that the Jays will want to keep him around in spite of that. I would like to see another bat off the bench, though I don't know how that could be done salary-wise. Either way, I think I'd rather see Simon Pond (or a similar minor-leaguer) on the opening day roster than Haines.

Let me rephrase that: I think Haines SHOULD be dropped. It's possible Tosca will insist on 12 pitchers, or even that JP wants 12 pitchers, I don't know. But I don't see why we'd need 7 relievers in April in addition to Towers (who will only start a few times).
(See Coach's post on the Adams thread)

A Chicago radio station is reporting that Cliff Politte is only a physical away from being a member of the White Sox. Sounds a lot like another former Jay right handed reliever who throws hard...

I'd hold off on dropping Haines for the moment. But in the somewhat unlikely event that the entire pen makes it through spring training without injury then he's gonna have a tough time sticking. I'd have to agree that Pond or Clark will likely make the team.

Ryan - you're right, of course, keeping Haines around through spring training is the smart thing to do, and is good as insurance. I just don't think he should make the team unless someone's arm falls off.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1702044
This is probably old news for most of you, but Jeff Cirillo was traded to San Diego. COMN for the story.

Actually, Subscribers got the BA issue already with the Jays.

1- Rios
2- McGowan
3. Quiroz
4. Gross
5. Rosario
6. Hill
7. Bush
8. Perkins
9. Adams
10. League

Eckersley and Molitor on Letterman right now doing the top ten list.

Brian Dabauch was re-aquired by the BoSox yesterday. They signed him to a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training. (Why would he do something like that? Couldn't he find a starting job or at least a place where he'd play in a platoon?)

And the ChiSox-Cliff Politte deal that was talked about before has gone through and, I don't recall anyone throwing a price tag on the rumour, so I'll add that it's worth $800k with a club option for $1.3M in '05 (seems like an awful lot for '05 but '04 is what we all figured he'd get if the Jays were to re-sign him...Does that show a lack of options for Chicago, do they think a change of scenory'll help Cliff get ahold of his game again or is JP still that far ahead of his colleagues when it comes to picking up efficient help?).

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1073517012582&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064
Allan Ryan at the Star (COMN for article) takes a nice jab at JP's ribs close to the end of today's column, which talks about an almost set Jays' roster.

Gomez, 32, signed for $750,000 (just $250,000 less than Robby Alomar will earn in Arizona) and, while getting into just 58 games and hitting .251 for the Twins last season, goes back to the 1993 Tigers where be broke in behind both Alan Trammell at short and second baseman Lou Whitaker.

Ryan infers one of two things, either the Jays got ripped off paying $750k for Gomez or they should have looked at Robbie Alomar's $1 million price tag because it's a substantially larger step up in terms of value...I'd say Ryan's over simplifying the whole thing because I'm guessing you couldn't convince JP he wants a character like Alomar in the clubhouse and you couldn't convince Almoar he wants to be in Toronto.

I'd say Ryan's over simplifying the whole thing because I'm guessing you couldn't convince JP he wants a character like Alomar in the clubhouse and you couldn't convince Almoar he wants to be in Toronto.

And more importantly, Gomez is a shortstop, if a mediocre one, and Alomar ain't.

With the deterioration of Alomar's defence, I'm not sure he's even a second baseman at this point.

John Sickels previews Dustin McGowan in his Down on the Farm column. What did I learn? McGowan was selected with a compensation pick we received for losing Graeme Lloyd.

http://www.signvlad.com/
With the Orioles getting closer and closer to signing Vlad Guerrero I believe it's every Jays fan's duty to sign the following petition (COMN).

I did not know that McGowan was a high-school basketball star. Too bad that Lurch is gone...there might have been some ad material there.

A - I think 800,000 is a good price for Politte. Unless JP has some radical information we don't have, (which actually isn't that unlikely, now that I think about it) releasing Politte was a risky move. He still could turn out to be an excellent setup guy once his injury problems are behind him.

I sometimes wish JP were more patient with players. I think it's one of his only flaws as a GM, I think - it seems like once he decides he doesn't like a guy, that guy is gone, no matter what. It has a positive side, because he's very decisive and quick to act, but I think sometimes he could benefit from a deep breath and a power nap.

Unfortunately the Mets look like a longshot for Vlad. Though there are rumours he may pull a Pudge and sign a one year deal at high dollars. But still...is there a team other than the Orioles who could afford that type of deal? If he's not in Baltimore then it will be for reasons other than money.

You have to like what is said about McGowan though I'm not sure how likely it is for him to make the majors this year. The Jays won't be in a rush to get him up unless it looks like his presence might make the difference in a playoff race a la Dontrelle Willis. 95 mph with sink? That's harder than the sinkers of both Halladay and Escobar. Scary considering he appears to have decent command of it. Let's hope he stays healthy.

I agree with you SK. I don't see how bringing Politte back for around $800K would not have been a decent move. Other than putting the Jays over budget if they ended up signing Adams still.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=1703428
John Valentin's performance in the Puerto Rican Winter League (as a teammate of Rios) landed him a minor league contract with the Astros. COMN.

I've been poking around on Orioles fan message boards a bit, and it's quite amusing how they seem to think that their team is almost a lock for third place if not higher. One of the things that gets mentioned a lot is the strength of their minor league pitching. Does Baltimore in fact have strong arms on the farm?

Does Baltimore in fact have strong arms on the farm?

John Sickels only had 2 O's minor league pitchers in his top 50 pitchers. (FWIW - the Jays had 3)

it's quite amusing how they seem to think that their team is almost a lock for third place if not higher

They think they're going to finish higher than the Yankees?

I'm just curious which message boards you're viewing. I'm in the mood to be amused.

Not sure if someone else has posted this already, but BA's review of their pick of Jays' top 10 prospects is up.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/03_teamwrap_tor.html
Hrm, looks like I didn't do the link properly, apologies all around.
COMN for the link....

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/6989803
COMN for more info on the O's. Apparently, they are very close to signing Raffy and making progress with Vlad. Still no help on the mound, which is a good thing ;-)

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1703597
The Mariners have signed Rich Aurilia for 1 year, $3.5M, and traded Carlos Guillen to Detroit for Ramon Santiago and minor league SS Juan Gonzalez. COMN.

making progress with Vlad
This evening I saw an interview with Expos' President Traverez (first name escapes me at the moment). He talked extensively and bitterly (it was his tone, not so much the words) about Vlad, claiming the offers he was getting elsewhere have been almost identitical to those made by the Expos.

...Irresponsible Metropolitans, where are you??

I'm just curious which message boards you're viewing. I'm in the mood to be amused.

The Jays and Orioles Official Sites message boards, mostly. There are a few message boards to hit when you want to find out what the average fan-on-the-street thinks of a particular baseball issue - the Official Sites, the comments feature at TSN.ca, the alt.sports.baseball groups, and, to a lesser extent, FanHome. You get smart people in all these places, no question, but you also get a lot of bozons and yipyops sounding off in their various ways.

Blue Jay Way had some kind of reciprocity deal going on for a while last season with an Orioles fansite; I'll have to find that again and see what they have to say about 2004.

Regarding the Politte signing, apparently the White Sox just don't have quite enough ex-Jay pitchers who throw hard but somehow don't quite live up to their potential. Maybe Billy Koch just needed someone he could relate to. I mean, Politte could be good but I just don't know about the White Sox's track record of these kinds of projects.

Case in point: The White Sox change pitching coaches 2 years ago. Keith Foulke then struggles through a horrible year and loses his closer's role. The next year, he is traded for Billy Koch, who is coming off an excellent year. They completely flop roles, with Koch seeming to come apart at the seams (and of course, losing his closer's role as well), while Foulke has a very good year and winds up turning it into quite the decent contract from Boston. I couldn't believe that I actually read people in lesser forums credit Oakland's staff for turning these average pitchers into great closers and not look at it the other way. Even more mind-bogglingly, the White Sox retain their pitching coaches. Prospects like Jon Garland are floundering while mediocre prospects like Rocky Biddle seem to pitch much better after leaving Chicago.

I should also point out the the White Sox wouldn't need Politte next year had their GM not traded Royce Ring to rent a broken-down Roberto Alomar.

Case in point: The White Sox change pitching coaches 2 years ago. Keith Foulke then struggles through a horrible year and loses his closer's role.

Foulke's stats, 2002:

77.2 IP
65 H
7 HR
13 BB
58 K
2.90 ERA
159 ERA+
2 W, 4 L, 11 SV

"Horrible year," indeed.

bozons and yipyops

LOL. OK, I am going to try to work the term "bozons and yipyops" into at least one covnersation for the rest of the day.

Baltimore really has only 2 what I would consider top prospect arsm on the farm and thats John Maine and Adam Loewen. Eric Bedard when healthy could be a top prospect again but alot of the Orioles other prospects are guys with "electric" stuff but poor mechanics and command (Bautista).Richard Stahl and Chris Smith are former first round picks that seem like lost causes due to injuries now so I dont think they can match up with the Blue Jays system. Matt Riley and Kurt Ainsworth might be 2 guys to help next year on the big club.

The Orioles aren't in bad shape on the pitching front in the minors though it may take another couple of years for all these guys to come together at the big league level. By that time the same should have happened for the Jays.

On the ESPN boards (mostly St. Louis), they are talking about a Rob Dibble statement on ESPN radio regarding an Orlando Hudson for Journell and Simontacchi trade. This looks like fiction to me but the link below is to the original article.

http://thestlcardinals.homestead.com/

Check this out for a laugh. I haven't read the article yet but it has the most sexually suggestive baseball headline I have seen.

Oh my god! Baseball writers are perverts. Check out this headline as well.

The Mariners have designated the next unit Ryan Anderson for assignment. I wonder if anyone will take a chance on him and pick him up off waivers?

http://bbfl.scottlucas.com
Brett Tomko singed with the Giants. As I am a Ranger fan and not a Brett Tomko fan, this pleases me.

1 and $1.5, plus $2.5 or a $300k buyout in 2005. In other words, it's a one year, $1.8 million contract.

ESPN Wire service has a report of Shawn Green taking infield practice at first base yesterday afternoon during the Dodgers first day of Winter Workouts. Management is quoted as saying his position change is a possibility and Shawn is being a team player about it.

Winter baseball notes:

Carlos Lugo has a nice piece at BP Premium about the Dominican Winter League.

Caguas finally lost a playoff game last night; Alexis Rios went 0 for 3 and is down to .292 in the playoffs.

I can't resist quoting Google's translation:

They face the Creoles its first misfortune

Caguas - the Creoles of Caguas last night underwent their first stumbles of the series all against all when they were defeated decisively by the Senators of San Juan 9-0 in party celebrated in the stage Yldefonso Solá Moral of this city...

San Juan obtained his first race in the high part of second when Omar Garci'a stuck doublet. After which Oreste Marrero ponchara, Lou Lucca shot simple to the power station to impel the return.

The Senators added two in the villa combining an unstoppable one of Javier Cardona more, bases by balls of Jason McDonald, an error of Alex Cintrón and a simple impulsador of two races of Raul González...

While the bats of Caguas (5-1) were neutralized totally by the shipments of Jenks...

The party was been present at by near 2.500 fanatics.

My baseball-reference sponsorships came through!

Carlisle Littlejohn
Barrett
Arnie Stone
Greg Myers
Denis Boucher
Jason Kershner
Jay Tibbs
Frank O'Rourke
John Doyle
Elmer Flick.

ESPN's reporting the Marlins may have "jumped to the front of the line" in the Vlad sweepstakes. Florida may be willing to offer him something around $10M for one year. Though the spoiled superstar has indicated he would prefer to play in Florida, it's also reported that he would want in the neighbourhood of $13M-$14M for a single year deal.

http://economics.about.com
Though the spoiled superstar has indicated he would prefer to play in Florida

Yet if he just played where he was offered the most money, he'd be considered greedy like A-Rod. Pretty tough standard. :)

Cheers,

Mike

Craig, it's great that the Box sponsors BR pages. It's an invaluable resource for baseball fans. Well done.

Raffy signs with the Orioles. Nice offence they have but whose going to pitch?

http://bbfl.scottlucas.com
Here's a link to the Raffy signing. 1 and $4 with an option. He doesn't have a lot of gas left in the tank but should earn his more modest salary. FWIW, he was posturing for 3 years and $21 million to re-up with Texas.

Mike, this makes no difference. If he wants to play with Florida, fine. But trying to hold out for 13-14 when he's being offered 10 to play where he apparently wants to seems rediculous to this working student.

http://economics.about.com
Mike, this makes no difference. If he wants to play with Florida, fine. But trying to hold out for 13-14 when he's being offered 10 to play where he apparently wants to seems rediculous to this working student.

I suppose. Like many people I've held out on jobs I wanted for a few extra thousand dollars that I probably didn't need while a significant fraction of the world earns less than a dollar a day. I don't consider myself "spoiled", just incredibly lucky. It's all a matter of scale.

Cheers,

Mike

The Score reports Vladdie has signed for 5 years and 70 million with......the Anaheim Angels. How's that for a surprise?!?!?!?

Vlad is apparently on the verge of signing a mega deal with the Anaheim Angels. If it comes to pass then the plus is that Vlad stays out of the AL East; the downside is the Jays' compensation from Anaheim now gets pushed from the third round down to the fourth round (around 114th overall). It would also mean the Angels have Guerrero, Anderson, Erstand, and Guillen in the outfield.

Oops...Vlad was never offered arbitration so there will be no effect on the Jays' compensation. Still a third rounder.

Still makes for one powerful Anaheim Outfield too :-(

too = though ;-)

http://bbfl.scottlucas.com
The most recent article on the Vlad signing for you night owls.

A bold move. The Angels want to play ball. Rotoworld opines that Anderson or Erstad might be available presuming Guerrero is signed. Anderson is by far the more tradable player given his talent and cheaper contract.

The article also has a lengthy take on the competition in the AL West, if you're interested.

I was in LA over the holidays and there were several Letters to the Editor in the LA Times essentially complaining--"who cares about Colon and Escobar; all we really wanted was Vlad". I guess Moreno was listening

Good for Angels fans that Arte Moreno is willing to invest $150 million or so on Guerrero, Colon, Escobar and Guillen. It may pay off with a division title, and it's certainly made the Jays' wild card row that much harder to hoe. On the other hand, Anaheim needs Guillen to repeat his out-of-the-blue career year, Escobar to finally produce the way his tantalizing promise has always suggested he could, and the two big guns to remain healthy, or they could be an expensive disappointment.

I agree that Stoneman might be in trade mode now, and with the rest of his bullpen so strong, he might be shopping Troy Percival in addition to an outfielder.

It's amazing how dramatically the balance of power continues to tilt in the direction of the AL, with Schilling, Vazquez, Brown, Sheffield, Lopez and now Vlad among those changing leagues. Just the impact on AL fantasy drafts is unbelievable, and the actual competition should be spectacular.

This is where many Toronto fans lament the situation. The reality is, until we fill the Dome again on a regular basis, we can't complain. It is now obvious that at least three AL teams with huge payrolls aren't going to be champions, so even if Rogers had written a nine-figure blank cheque, there would be no guarantees. In a position where he can't afford a single "big ticket" mistake, we should be grateful that J.P. has assembled a competitive, exciting club.

Though I'm not dismissing the Angels' improvement, and wish Vlad was a Met or a Marlin, I think it's better for the Jays that Baltimore had to settle for Palmeiro, leaving Jay Gibbons in RF. Raffy's offence and Gibbons' RF glove are a considerable step down from what Guerrero might have provided in those 19 divisional clashes. Even if the O's sign Pudge to complete the most expensive C/DH combo in history, even if they convince a reluctant Sidney Ponson to return, even if Greg Maddux agrees to change leagues, that's still a fourth-place squad in Maryland.

The one thing I don't understand about that article is the Angels' supposed plan to move Erstad to first base. Does it really make sense to move a gold glove centerfielder to first? Although it might keep him healthier. The Angels might be better off just trading an outfielder along with a reliever for a first base bat.

Texas is bringing The Gambler back home plus one. Kenny Rogers, 2 and $6, and Jeff Nelson, terms not disclosed. Could've had Rogers for less in my opinion.

Texas will have to remove two players from the 40. Travis Hughes and Jason Jones, your numbers might be up.

Sorry the link is a subscription site. It's all I have right now.

MLB.com says that Clemens has called a news conference to announce that he will pitch for the Astros this season.

http://www.slam.ca/Slam040112/mlb_hou-ap.html
Here's a bit more info though not confirmation.

COMN

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1706367
Clemens signs a one and $5 deal according to ESPN. News conference scheduled for Monday afternoon.

COMN

Houston shore is collectin' some arms.

Oswalt, Miller, Pettitte, Clemens and Redding are the rotation with Brandon Duckworth and Carlos Hernandez being shoved to the bullpen. Must be nice. Kirk Saarloos, Chad Qualls and Taylor Buchholz could be the future of the rotation and all are close.

If Duckworth or Hernandez were Jays, we'd be annointing their feet with oil and shoving them in the rotation ahead of Hentgen and Towers, and depending on who you talk to, maybe ahead of Lilly too.

The offense on the other hand is long on 35 and overs, and Jimy Williams is still the manager. The Cubs may be better this year than last, and it may take 100 wins to claim the NL Central crown. I'd feel a lot better about it as an Astros fan if they had a different manager.

Mike Green,
I don't think the N.L. Central winner will have more than 95 wins, let alone 100. In '03, the Cubbies topped off the N.L.C. with 88 wins, followed by the Astros at 87 and the Cards at 85. None of those teams would have made the playoffs in any other division and only Houston has really improved. I expect the Central's threesome to beat up on each other enough to prevent any one team from shooting ahead and reaching the Century mark.

Found this on the web today...apparently San Juan lost to Ponce 22-3...had a little trouble with the translation. anyone out there understand spanish and could you please translate the following sentence for me? THANKS!

Pero, el zurdo de Ponce Adrian Burnside se salió con la suya, pues puso a Omar García a batear un cómodo elevado al "catcher" y ponchó a Lou Lucca para terminar con la amenaza.

The one thing I don't understand about that article is the Angels' supposed plan to move Erstad to first base. Does it really make sense to move a gold glove centerfielder to first?

If you want to achieve 40 years of mostly losing baseball in the second richest markets in America, you have to be crap at running your business too. The Angels have always been one of the worst-run franchises in MLB (they've had some bad luck too), and how they ever won a World Series is totally beyond me. This is par for the course.

Erstad is a worthless first baseman, far worse than Scott Spiezio could ever hope to be. He's a peerless defensive outfielder. What this tells me, though, is who the team player is in that Angel outfield. Or precisely, who it isn't. And I can't say I'm surprised.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/winterhotsheet.html
Rios and Quiroz both hit the BA hot sheet at #1 & #5 respectively. COMN for commentary.

http://me.woot.net
The Official Website has had an overhaul, now reflecting the Fightin' Jays logo and colour scheme. I'm very interested to see what the uniforms next year will be like.

Joe, if the site is an indication of what a Blue Jays uniform might look like, the team should thank their lucky stars I'm not a shallow casual fan who would prefer anything but watching 9 innings of ugly :-)

http://www.dunedinbluejays.com/
For those of you travelling to Dunedin in March, there have been some additions to the spring training schedule (COMN). New home games against the evil empires are on the agenda.

Mapquest is telling me that Dunedin is 1364 miles from my house and a 23 hour drive.

Hmmm...

Spicol, home is, as they say, where the heart is. No map can measure that.

Cheers.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/01/13/sports1625EST0352.DTL
COMN. I don't think it's been reported here yet but it seems that Pete Walker has passed through waivers and has been assigned to Syracuse with an invite to Spring Training.

Also, it appears the Jays have hired a bench coach (something they have been without since Tosca took over) in former Marlins bench coach Joe Breeden.

Some interesting news announced by the Jays today:
- a new bench coach (and a first for Tosca as manager): Joe Breeden
- confirmation of NRIs Noah Hall, Josue Matos, Juan Campos, and David Maurer
- Pete Walker was outrighted to Syracuse and will be invited to ST
- Hill and Chiaffredo will also be invited to ST

(BTW, I'm excited to be back in TO, having arrived yesterday after a great six month study period in Jerusalem... Can't wait until opening day! Who's the farthest away die-hard now?)

Mike Williams signs with the D-Rays - he, Baez and T-Mil add to Carter, Harper and Colome for a pretty decent bullpen

Everything that I have read about Erstad moving to 1st referred to his injuries, with the Angels worried that keeping him in the outfield may be contributing to his frequent stints on the DL. I don't think it was a decision based on what is best for the team; just an attempt to keep Erstad's bat in the lineup.

translation for prb ball fan:
LHP A Burnside got the last two out by getting O Garcia to pop out to catcher and striking out L Lucca to end the threat.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article.jsp?content=20040113_170051_3112
Termel Sledge tests positive for steroids. Sad. (COMN)

Terrmel Sledge tests positive for steroids

Oh, no! It's Craig B's worst nightmare!

If I were to bet, I'd say it was a supplement thing. You never know what you're putting in your body with those things.

If I were to bet, I'd say it was a supplement thing. You never know what you're putting in your body with those things.

Edwin Rodriguez of Hitboricua.com (one of the best sites for Puerto Rico béisbol) provides an excellent scouting report on Alexis Rios. If anyone can come up with a better translation than this one (from l Fish), please share:

"Alexis proclaimed Champion Bat of Liga of the East Double classification To, with a solid average of 352. Selected number 19 of Sorteo de Free Agentes of the 1999 has put two solid seasons consecutive after which its selection was criticized and catalogued like a financial decision and not of talent from the organization of Tiles of Toronto. First round was the only player signed in that that did not grant a millionaire advantage to him. The time has made them shine well.

Strengths: It is a pelotero of 5 tools: batting of average, defense, strength in the arm, speed and although has still not strated to be able of quadrangular its 32 doubles and its Slugging Percentage of 521 is a good sample of which it comes near. He is an agile player still with his stature of 6'5" their movements fast and are coordinated.

Weaknesses:: Still he must improve his discipline in the plate, more patient and selective being, although it is not a great problem but the throwers of great leagues could operate this weakness. He does not strate any other weakness greater than he is not than he must prove that he can stay healthful consistently.

Projection: In Puerto Rico one hopes that it can evolve to newspaper in one of the gardens of the Creoles of Caguas who already count of by himself with three youthful prospectos in Luis Matos (Baltimore), Jorge Padilla (Filadelfia) and Miguel Negrón (Toronto). Matos must be beginning to play in December which locates to Alexis playing in the power station while this Integra. Of December in ahead it will have to be playing in the left the one that will use already of experience that in that same situation will be the next season of Great Leagues with the Tiles of Toronto which they have al well quoted Vernon Wells in the power station. Without a doubt Alexis will be the pelotero more exciting than it will be participating in winter Liga of Puerto Rico.

In the United States it is the pelotero more complete than the organization of Toronto has in her smaller leagues. A combination of talent from Alexis and economic limitations of the organization can take it to see action in the Great Leagues in next season 2004. Although it is possible to be carried out in the central garden is more probable that they locate it in anyone of the corners next to Vernon Wells presenting/displaying of this form one of the most promising combinations in that position of the Great Leagues."

Payton to San Diego. Two years and $5.5MM.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/features/03top10s/bluejays.html

Rios named Jays top prospect at BA. I guess we all knew it was coming.

ESPN.com's Hot-stove Heaters series is at its third instalment today (after the best-kept secrets and most entertaining players). Although Aquino Lopez was astutely pegged as one of the the league's best-kept secrets (limiting batters to a .212 average), there is surprisingly no mention of the O-Dog (under most entertaining second baseman), nor Gagne (for most entertaining relievers)! And now today, Phil Rogers picks the Rockies, of all teams, as his "Marlins" of 2004.

http://bbfl.scottlucas.com
And now today, Phil Rogers picks the Rockies, of all teams, as his "Marlins" of 2004.

That is a hoot. I'm not sure what kind of glasses you need to see the acquisitions of Jeff Fassero, Vinny Castilla and Royce Clayton in a positive light, but I want a pair.

Colorado is going to have DAMIAN JACKSON (or Aaron Miles) and ROYCE CLAYTON batting 1st and 2nd. They are also taking their most effective starter (Chacon) and cutting his workload by two-thirds in making him a closer.

If the Rox are going to imitate any team, it'll be... the 2003 Rockies.

Thanks Steve Z for the PR winter league link, I've missed it alltogether and happy to have it back.
I guess the translation up there somehow conveys the message. Tiles is Blue jays of course, and if there is something specifically you want to be more clear, let me know.
In the web link there are two other articles about Rios. one of them is telling us that his slugging is the third best in the last fifty years behind only: Willie Mays and Jose Vidro. And he is the ninth in about eighty years to be MVP, Slugging champ and RBI's leader together with Cepeda, Delgado and other notables.

"the throwers of great leagues could operate this weakness"
Great stuff.

SK,
Rios weaknesses are still to be found and exploited by " the throwers of great leagues". It will be a very interesting case story for the ongoing debate about OBP-patience against contact hitter-agresiveness. So far Wells is giving the second stance guys a solid argument for letting a young batter with fast and solid swing the green light. Rios maybe just as good...

There is a scathing letter from Canadian Cubs Great Fergie Jenkins to Pete Rose that is available of foxsports.com now. Sorry, I lack the technical acumen to link.

http://www.foxsports.com/content/view?contentId=2047384
click on my name for the Jenkins letter.

Thanks, Lucas. How is that done?

easy way is to copy and paste the link where it says 'Homepage(optional).' Then tell the reader to 'click on my name.'

Within the body of the comment, you have to use html. If I wanted to link to the Batters Box Fantasy league, I'd do it like so:

(a href="http://bbfl.scottlucas.com")Batters Box Fantasy League(/a), except use "<" and ">" instead of "(" and ")".

So, done correctly: Batters Box Fantasy League

I imagine we'll have a small "how to" section when the new site design goes live.

Lilly signed for two years, 5 million (1.9 M for '04, and 3.1 M for '05). What does the payroll look like for 2003 now?

Scooped by 5 minutes! I thought I had this one... oh well. I'll start up a new thread, complete with payroll picture.

I came here to see what people thought about Lilly. I'l wait for the thread - I assume that the attack is slowing things up...?

The attack... or the fact that I learned quite a bit of HTML as I created that thread. Whatever.

JABONOSO... Thanks for the translation! i appreciate it!!!

I know most of you arent members of SoSH but if you go there is a thread where Curt Schilling discusses pitching and baseball only topics, its absolutly awesome. There is also the opportunity to ask him questions, but he may not respond for a while and there if a waiting list. Still its totally cool.

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned, but former Jays first-rounder Joe Lawrence, now retired from baseball (at age 27), plans to take a shot at college football as a walk-on wide receiver for the BCS national champion LSU. Good luck, Joe!