There's really not a whole lot happening...
...but I'll try to be informative anyhow.
Dirty Deeds (Done Reasonably Cheap?)
Perhaps what I'm personally most excited about baseball-wise during these doldrum days is that the Toronto Blue Jays will have that all dirt infield in their home stadium starting in... well whenever the heck the first home game is. The Bluebirds have played twenty-seven seasons in the SkyDome/Rogers Center/The Cool Round Thing Next To The CN Tower Which You Can Only Get A Good View Of If You're On Ward's Island. For all of those 27 seasons in The Dome(freelance TM) the home team has used cookie cutter-like circles of dirt around the bases while the rest of the field has been turf. This "cookie cutter" design is one you'd find often in multi-purpose stadiums that hosted major league baseball in the 70s or 80s, like where the Reds or Pirates or even the Cardinals used to play. It makes sense that Toronto would have this, considering The Dome was opened in 1989 when those types of parks were still extremely common.
But it's been 27 years. Heck, even the Tampa Bay Rays have an all dirt infield, and they play in the Second Saddest Stadium in MLB. Anyway, I'm getting on a "thing" here and I apologize but the aesthetic difference will more than make up for Tulowitzki and Goins bobbling weird bounces off this strange new dirt. Eventually. It's gonna look sweet as sugar. Or at least, sweet as artificial sweetener.
For more on this, the excellent John Lott has some great further insight into what this entails -- https://sports.vice.com/ca/article/inside-the-blue-jays-switch-to-a-dirt-infield -- (please forgive my link making inability. It's a 2016 resolution, I swear)
Dark Side of The Mound
The most notable bit of transaction news lately around this team has been the signing of pitcher Gavin Floyd. It's a major league deal so Floyd is guaranteed at least a million bucks for his trouble, and we are talking about a guy who has pitched 82 innings since the end of 2012, but I kinda like it. It's only a million bucks with some incentives and it's not like his shoulder is quite at the point of Johan Santana (held together by duct tape and prayers. Good times). Relying on Floyd to win a rotation spot and run with it is pretty nuts, but as a cheap bullpen option I can get behind it. Sure beats throwing multiple years and forty times as much money at Yovani Gallardo.
Speaking of Gallardo...
Those Who Remain
Still some interesting FA names out there. Maybe not necessarily for the Blue Jays (obviously Ian Desmond is exactly what this team needs) but some guys likely to be useful big leaguers, like Desmond, Gallardo, Dexter Fowler or Pedro Alvarez among others. So, um... moving on!
Soon My Pretties...
Pitchers and catchers report later this week! Meaning that... we get to wait another week until they actually start playing games... and those games are Spring Training games so not really the best to watch... but who cares! Baseball!
Also a heads up: if any of you are wondering what happened to the annual Batters Box Report Card, usually done in October by the fine Immortal Magpie, fret not. It is debuting quite soon (ideally before the new season starts, cause that'll be just weird) with a bonus addition/format as well. So stay tuned.
Anything else happenin'?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20160216004641964