I'm trying to do this without looking it up... did Almanzar go in the Williams/Hamilton trade? In the Plesac/Batista-Frascatore trade? Curses. [after looking it up] I was right the first time; he and Williams and Peter Tucci were traded for Joey Hamilton.

Man, I hated Almanzar. I don't think I saw him pitch well once. They kept bringing him in and he kept getting gonged. I was so relieved when he and his gas can were traded.

Doc didn't allow a ball out of the infield, and threw just 31 pitches (21 for strikes) in three perfect innings. Jays' starters haven't allowed a run in 11 IP so far. Lidle goes tomorrow, and we'll see how the Jays fare against a tough lefty, C. C. Sabathia.

It would hurt to give Dubois back. I hope J.P. works out a deal so he can go to AA.

Give that man a no-prize! I remember that trade all too well, but even though it was a mitigated disaster (it became an unmitigated disaster when Gord signed Hamilton to an extension before he'd thrown one pitch in a Toronto uniform), honesty requires me to say I thought it was a good trade at the time. Had I been a little wiser back then, I would have noticed that in his last season with the Padres before the deal, Hamilton posted a putrid 106/147 BB/K ratio in 218 innings. Urgh.

http://economics.about.com
Perhaps this deserves another thread, but I was wondering who you felt should be on the 25 man. Not who *will* be on the 25 man, but if you were J.P., who would you want on the roster?

Mine is as follows:

Regulars
1B Deglado (L)
2B Hudson (S)
SS Woodward (R)
3B Hinske (L)
DH Phelps (R)
C Myers (L)
LF Stewart (R)
CF Wells (R)
RF Cat (L)

Bench
C/1B Wilson (R)
IF Berg (R)
IF Bordick (R)
OF Ryan (L)
OF Dubois (R)

Starters
Halladay (R)
Lidle (R)
Sturtze (R)
Hendrickson (L)
Walker (R)

Long Relief
Linton (R) or T. Miller (L)
Majewski (R)

Short Relief
Creek (L)
Lopez (R)
Politte (R)
Tam (R)

Under this arrangement Huckaby and Justin Miller are sent to AAA, but you could put J. Miller in the 5 spot, bump Walker to long relief, and demote Linton/T. Miller.

I'd send Escobar away for some shiny trinkets, but that's just me. If you wanted, you could replace him with Linton/T. Miller and go with only one lefty (and one long reliever). Often the early 1990s Expos had no lefties in the bullpen (and they had some amazing bullpens) so I don't think you necessarily have to have two.

I like having all 3 Rule Vers on the roster because they can all be useful players for the Jays and it would be a shame to have to send them back. Having Ryan as the backup OF puts another lefty bat on the bench, which it sure could use.

We're already the "beasts of the east(?)" on the mlb.com front page!

So much for Howie Clark's slim chances of making the club. He had recent shoulder surgery and is out for the entire spring training, a revelation that seemed to have passed beneath the radar screen. These and other notes, in addition to an article about Halladay's midseason form are provided by Spencer Fordin.

People, people, people. It's SPRING TRAINING. Cool your jets.

That said, I could have used that Dave Berg stolen base in my fantasy league last year. Yes, I had him on my very deep AL-only league, and I finished a point away from winning. The point which would have been mine if I had that Berg steal!

"After all, the Jays have a lot riding on Halladay's right arm. He's already been marked down as the team's Opening Day starter, and he's starting to earn some preseason praise as a possible Cy Young contender."

HaHa. That said, the Jays have got to be the favourites right now to win the East, The ALCS, even the World Series! See you all in October!