I woke up at 6 a.m. also, and when I went outside there was snow up to my knees!

Opening Day is in 3 weeks? Thank goodness for SkyDome!

http://www.borowitzreport.com/archive_rpt.asp?rec=820
In other news, MLB is making steroids manadtory for the Detroit Tigers. COMN

Craig Burley, Mick Doherty, John Neary, and Spicol are leaving the Batter's Box to start a new blog called Talkin' 'bout our Rays.

They're talkin'...
Rays-ball
Crawford and Baldelli
Talkin'...
Rays-ball
Sweet Lou and big Aubrey

It's a British band. I know this because in England they call gasoline petrol. They also call a trunk a boot, a hood a bonnet, tires boots, an elevator a lift, a truck a lorry and a woman a bird.

But I don't know the song. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go bum a fag.

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigaretes
Cuddling a warm girl and smelling her stale perfume
A hot summers day and sticky black tarmac
Feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away

http://mothershipconnection.blogspot.com/
Williams coming back to the Yankees so soon? Now...That's entertainment!

(sorry, I had no other way to segue into it. I'll shut up now.)

Keeping Haines - I don't think it will have cost the Jays very much to keep him. His short comings were well known to his original club and he is not a young prospect anymore. My guess is Tampa kept the $25,000 that they would have been required to give back to the Jays if he had been returned to them. I think all Rule V players have to clear waivers when being offered back to their original team as well so the fact that no one claimed him would also suggest lesser consideration being required to keep him.

I woke up with morning wood so i beat it

They're talkin'...
Rays-ball
Crawford and Baldelli
Talkin'...
Rays-ball
Sweet Lou and big Aubrey

Cruz Junior and his famous dropped ball
Josh Hamilton's mysterious fall
We're talkin' Zimmer... Brook and Toby Hall

Mike, I certainly did watch the Flames last night. I'm not much of a hockey fan anymore, defensive minded coaching has taken most of the creativity out of the game.The Flames with the third least amount of goals allowed in the NHL are certainly proponents of this style. Still its nice to win. Usually goaltenders on defensive minded teams get far too many accolades for being good, in Calgary's case I'll make an exception, Kiprusoff is even better than his numbers indicate.

Who is Noah Hall? What position does he play? I have never heard his name before Spring training but he seems to be playing all the time.

Ricardo Zuniga, writer for El Diario, shares some revealing info from his discussion with Delgado. The Google translator does a nice job with this one, once you copy/paste the text. Having said that, I'd take Jabonoso's translation any day! (Just to make the reading easier: "Thin" = Delgado; "Tiles" = Blue Jays...)

Hey Eddie,

Put down that spanner before you hurt yourself.

I watched my Canadiens against the Avalanche last night. It was an exciting game, as almost all of Montreal's contests have been in recent weeks. A new favourite player has emerged this season: Mike Ribeiro - just watch him ooze creativity.

They're talkin'...
Rays-ball
Crawford and Baldelli
Talkin'...
Rays-ball
Sweet Lou and big Aubrey

Cruz Junior and his famous dropped ball
Josh Hamilton's mysterious fall
We're talkin' Zimmer... Brook and Toby Hall

Prologue - First Verse

Nobody came to see 'em
In their St. Pete's mausoleum
And Bud Selig threatened to flip the contraction switch.
Though they had Toronto's number
Very few could swing the lumber
And they signed a high school coach who couldn't pitch.

To Refrain...

http://economics.about.com
Mike, I certainly did watch the Flames last night. I'm not much of a hockey fan anymore, defensive minded coaching has taken most of the creativity out of the game.The Flames with the third least amount of goals allowed in the NHL are certainly proponents of this style.

Yeah, I'd like to see more end-to-end hockey as well. The sport is in real trouble.

I would say that the Flames don't have the typical defensive style. They're not a trapping team in the New Jersey-Minnesota sense. They play typical Sutter hockey: direct the opposing forwards toward the boards, then beat the crap out of them. Not the most aesthetically pleasing hockey, but it's better than the stuff the Wild play, and I'll be thrilled if they make the playoffs.

Kiprusoff has been amazing. I keep waiting for the bubble to burst, but it hasn't. It's not just the D making him look good; the blueliners play the same way for Turek and he still gives up 4 goals a game.

Cheers,

Rovert, its good to see another habs-jays fan on the board. The Habs have really come through this year, making a lot of "experts" look pretty dumb when they picked the habs to finish last place this year. Didn't watch the game yesterday, but i can hardly wait till saturday to see if the habs can move past the devils.

I think it's interesting that the Jays have a couple of roster spots open now with Haines and Hanson being outrighted to the minors. There's only a couple of weeks left until opening day so it looks like a couple of the non-roster players might get a spot on the team, unless this is in preparation to possibly bring in some players in a trade.

http://economics.about.com
I think it's interesting that the Jays have a couple of roster spots open now with Haines and Hanson being outrighted to the minors. There's only a couple of weeks left until opening day so it looks like a couple of the non-roster players might get a spot on the team, unless this is in preparation to possibly bring in some players in a trade.

There's also a possibility they'll pick up a guy or two on waivers, and there's going to be a lot of them floating around.

Here's the Jays NRIs:

63 Juan Campos R/R 6-0 200 03/28/80
39 Bruce Chen L/L 6-2 210 06/19/77
54 Jayson Durocher R/R 6-3 230 08/18/74
59 Josue Matos R/R 6-4 190 03/15/78
60 Dave Maurer R/L 6-2 205 02/23/75
16 Paul Chiaffredo R/R 6-2 215 05/30/76
64 Noah Hall R/R 5-11 200 06/09/77
62 Chad Hermansen R/R 6-2 190 09/10/77

Who from that list would you move onto the 40 man roster? Noah Hall has gotten quite a few ABs, and Matos has pitched in 5 games. Might it be them?

Cheers,

Mike

A new favourite player has emerged this season: Mike Ribeiro - just watch him ooze creativity.

Also a Habs fan, also a Ribeiro booster, always have been, since he was a junior. I was overjoyed he wound up in Montreal.

They're Talkin
Rays-Ball
We used to have Toe Nash,
Rays-Ball,
He enjoyed smoking hash,
With his old lady in an old grey shack,
Let's hope he isn't smoking crack,
We're talking Toe Nash, jail but no more mash.

Love the hockey talk. Unfortunately my Sabres are in the hardest division (Northeast) in hockey, as my/our Jays are in the hardest in baseball. I just can't catch a break! Although I realize divisions don't matter for playoffs in hockey (except the top 3), it's just upsetting to see a .500 team in last place.

Wow, fellow Flames fans at the Batters Box! April could be an amazing month, with NHL playoffs and the start of the Jays season. One silver lining to the NHL's economic woes - if the game returns to being more reliant on gate receipts, the Canadian franchises will be among the most stable in the league.

The Jays-Rays are soon getting underway. The Rays' feed is available via Gameday Audio at mlb.com (subscribers only).

Mike Wilner will be doing top-of-the-hour live game updates on The FAN as usual, and word is that he'll be a guest on Gord Stellick's show this afternoon for a little Jays talk. Sometime around 2:20 is a good guess; I'm not sure if it will be a phone-in segment.

It will mean quite a bit more in the regular season -- they really need to handle the D-Rays -- but Lurch got the start today against his old mates, holding them scoreless in the first. It's now 2-0 Jays in the second.

The game can be heard for free on www.620wdae.com/listenlive.html

Just in case anyone one cares for a summary on Delgado's interview:
-No home discount. Toronto is first choice ceateris paribus, better offer supercedes that.It does not matter to him if that implies playing in China ( quite an strecht :)
-No market adjustment on his negotiation starting point, i.e. he is looking for same money, same amount of years as when he sat with Ash, four years ago.
-No DH option. If his knees ache he will seat alltogether.
JP reiterates that he loves him: Best bat to be in the center of his young teammates lineup...
Tosca just confirms thst is a very difficult task to seat such a player.

My commentary: I am sad to wave goodbye to one of his kind.

Nice catch, thanks Scott :-)

Yes, thanks very much, Scott. Miguel Batista has allowed just one hit, a bloop single, in 3.2 IP.

Maybe this wasn't on the Waymoresports site when Mike was compiling his links, but Richard Griffin contrasts Simon Pond and Justin Morneau, both potential Olympians for Canada.

"Don't get me wrong, but the majors is the dream of every young baseball player," Pond said.

"I would be honoured to play in the Olympics, but I want to make (the Jays roster)."

You might expect a guy who has spent 10 years in pro ball, without a big league cup of coffee, to put the majors ahead of the national team, which has always ignored him anyway. Morneau, just 22 and one of the best prospects in the sport, doesn't feel the same urgency to make the Twins this year, and sounds like he's looking forward to Athens.

"There are a lot fewer guys with Olympic gold medals than with World Series rings. You make a lot more money winning the World Series, but just to be part of that whole (Olympic) environment, surrounded by other Canadian athletes. That would be great."

Morneau was a key member of the Olympic qualifying team in Panama, which for some reason didn't include Pond. The column is a good read, and the headline writer apparently couldn't think of any cheap shots. It leaves you thinking the Star could do a nice job covering the Jays, if they wanted to.

If you google-translate the El Diario piece (good catch, Steve Z, and thanks for the intepretation, Jabonoso), Carlos Tosca and Carlos Delgado come out as "Coarse Carlos" and "Thin Carlos." I smell new nicknames...

Cash doubled off the wall, Sparky singled him home and it's now 3-0, as Baldelli's throw was off line. Reed, who has only one speed -- all out -- hustled into second.

BP has recently released depth charts for every team in the majors. All except the Florida Marlins chart are Premium content. The Blue Jays chart is interesting, and most of the guesses seem reasonable, but I'll be very surprised if Mike Bordick gets 15% of the starts at short or Pete Walker pitches 60 innings. Oh, and Simon Pond should probably be on there somewhere.

Batista recorded his fourth K to finish the 4th.
Top of 5, Cash leads off with a double off the wall and scored on Johnson's single up the middle. On the throw to the plate Sparky took second but was stranded at third.

3-0 Jays, Spier into pitch, Clark into play 3rd, Noah Hall into LF and Pond moves to first.

Is it just me or is Miguel striking out more guys than usual?

Jabanoso,

I wonder how much of Carlos' statements were a negotiating ploy. I'm still hopeful that the Jays can re-sign him. They will have a window of opportunity before other clubs are able to make offers.

I don't think Carlos will get anything close to what he got in his last deal, because the market for superstars has changed and he's (of course) 4 years older. I suspect he and his agent know this and they'll be willing to come down substantially from that during the negotiations.

Rays get one back on what sounded like some sloppy outfield defense (the I got it, no you got it syndrome).

3-1

John, do you think that BP Premium is worth it?

Robert:
I agree fully with you, but Anahaim and LA will offer a richer contract than us. I'm still dreaming in the home discount and the Rios-Wells-Delgado trifecta to do some damage and get us those rings...

After some kidding with Wilner, Stellick began by asking if the Jays were "tinkering" with Roy Halladay. Mike explained that the addition of a changeup to Doc's arsenal makes him that much better. The interview didn't get much better; Gord isn't a big baseball fan.

Tino Martinez ripped Speier's first pitch off the 380 sign over Reed's outstretched glove, and eventually scored the Rays' first run.

Aquilino Lopez came in for the sixth and was hit fairly hard; a Fick single scored Baldelli to make it 3-2. Pond might have turned two if he fielded an earlier hot shot cleanly, but he was able to get the batter. Lopez then walked Jose Cruz, but got Tino on a slow roller and retired Blum on a popup to escape further damage.

a nickname for Valerio de los Santos?
El Valedor
for short El Vale...
( but he has to earn it: defender and trustworthy are just two translation posibilities )

Ah....so nice to hear some Flames talk! I was beginning to think that Wildrose was the only other Albertan to frequent Da Box.

For the record, I don't think there's any reason why the Flames couldn't be the Anaheim or Carolina of the NHL playoffs this year. They have a hot goalie, a good blueline and hard working depth up front. In the last week, they've beat Colorado 7-1 and Detroit 4-1.
And when they are marching throught the playoffs, I will be there, screaming and yelling from the nosebleed section.

- Warse

P.S. Is there a reason you're a Flames fan Mike? Is this normal for
Londonites?

Paul D., I know your question was directed at the good John Neary, but my name is also John, so I'll offer my thumbs up to BP Premium. Joe Sheehan and Chris Kharl make it worth it on their own, and I also like Will Carroll's UTK, which is not always free. I quibble now and then with some of BP's analysis, but not nearly as much as I would with a Peter Gammons or Jayson Stark puff piece. Plus, BP is fun to read; the same can not always be said of Grandmaster Gammons.

http://economics.about.com
Is there a reason you're a Flames fan Mike?

Yep. Lanny McDonald. That's my reason. There's quite a few people in London who gave up cheering for the Leafs because of how they treated guys like Sittler and McDonald, and growing up in the early 1980's I was influenced by that.

I also met Håkan Loob when I was a kid, and he was an unbelievably nice guy.

Cheers,

Mike

El Valedor
Sounds good to me!

Thanks for the translation, Jabonoso.

John, do you think that BP Premium is worth it?

My name isn't John, but I like it.

In the past couple years I've let all my newspaper and magazine subscriptions run out (although they still deliver the paper...) but I still subscribe to BP. It's a nice break in the day when I get the updates around 2:30. For less than a $ each week it's well worth it to me.

Zumsteg is the only one I don't like reading, mainly because he either complains about the Mariners/Seattle, or writes weird stuff that I think is supposed to be entertaining.

Paul D: If you spend any money at all on baseball "content," I would strongly recommend a BP Premium subscription. It is a much, much better deal than the BP book -- in fact, I'm not really sure why they still publish the book. It's also a better deal than a BA subscription (which I also have), simply because of the amount of stuff they publish.

I'm with Gitz on the reasons for subscribing. Numbers 1, 2, and 3 are Joe Sheehan, who in my mind is the best baseball writer (not analyst, but writer) out there today. Transaction Oracle is also excellent, and it's nice to have access to the PECOTA cards. Many of the other writers are inconsistent, but they all have their high points, and the playoff coverage is excellent. I do miss Rany Jazayerli, though; he was the only other BP writer who I felt to be in Sheehan's league.

John

Baseball America has an article about the best minor league rotations, Syracuse makes the top 5 with the Manchester rotation listed as a dark horse. The article does not require a subscription.

Lanny's still an icon in Calgary, to hockey fans and non-hockey fans alike. Anytime you're in Calgary, for instance, and you see someone with an impressive mustache, you will never hear it described as a "large mustache" or a "bushy mustache." For than likely, it would be referred to simply as "a Lanny."

He's a great guy too. I used to play hockey against his son when I was growing up, and he always friendly and approachable.

- Warse

Gerry:
Seems like we are getting behind in the dept chart bussiness!
when are you planning to put a thread to discuss about it?
regards

http://www.gateway.ualberta.ca/view.php?aid=2619
I was beginning to think that Wildrose was the only other Albertan to frequent Da Box

Don't forget about me. However, I'm still holding out hope that the Oil can squeeze into the playoffs--we're only four points out now. Of course it also helps that Glen Sather gave us Markannen and Nedved for nothing.

COMN for a UofA comic that accurately describes how Oiler fans felt about the Tommy Salo trade.

Hey Moffat - I didn't realize that you grew up in London. What high school?

I went to Saunders. It was horrible. Unless of course, you LIKE arson, overcrowding and gang violence.

Sweet - Gabe Gross with a 2-run shot. 7-4 Jays.

It is a much, much better deal than the BP book -- in fact, I'm not really sure why they still publish the book.

Interesting... are there other yearly books that you'd rather buy, or are you simply saying the premium content on the site makes the book redundant? I'm not an oldtimer, but the book appeals simply for being a book, as opposed to yet another web site.

Transaction Oracle is also excellent

I agree, but T.O. is free and it's a Baseball Primer feature... did you mean something else?

Where did Jazayerli go?

http://economics.about.com
Hey Moffat - I didn't realize that you grew up in London. What high school?

I went to Saunders. It was horrible. Unless of course, you LIKE arson, overcrowding and gang violence.

Most of my friends went to Saunders! That's really cool.

After growing up in the Hamilton Road area of East London, we moved to the other side of town, and I ended going to Oakridge of all places. Talk about culture shock! I can totally relate to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. :)

[For those of you not from London, Oakridge is the rich-kid snob school]

My girlfriend went to Central, and is thus far more well-adjusted than I am.

RE: Lanny. I'd love to grow a 'stache like his, but I just don't have the facial hair for it.

Cheers,

Mike

I understand - I played hockey for a team in the east end (LMHA) and my old man was the branch manager for a bank on Hamilton Road - so I know the area well. He loved it there - still talks to lots of his customers.

I played Lacrosse with some people from Oakridge and come to think of it, I think my brother-in-laws sister is married to an ex-Oakridge gym teacher. Ken something.

http://economics.about.com
Ken something

Ken Van Huizen? He was my geography teacher. Is your brother-in-laws sister a cop? :)

We should continue this off-site, as we're probably boring everyone to tears. If you want, e-mail me at economics.guide@about.com

Cheers,

Mike

Is game over now? Did File pitch at all? Thanks!

File picked up the save with a scoreless ninth.

Thank you!

>It is a much, much better deal than the BP book -- in fact, I'm not
>really sure why they still publish the book.

Interesting... are there other yearly books that you'd rather buy, or are you simply saying the premium content on the site makes the book redundant? I'm not an oldtimer, but the book appeals simply for being a book, as opposed to yet another web site.

I don't buy a lot of annual books, although I have bought BP the last three years. I think the quality of the analysis on the website is in general much better than that in the book -- too many of the player comments come down to "this guy doesn't walk enough for our liking," and the team essays are similar.

>Transaction Oracle is also excellent

I agree, but T.O. is free and it's a Baseball Primer feature... did you mean something else?

Sorry, I meant Transaction Analysis. I do like Transaction Oracle as well, but I prefer TA, although the updates are pretty erratic.

Where did Jazayerli go?

He's still there; he just doesn't write nearly as much as he used to.

The official site has the new Baseball North ads up. Watch... and discuss!

I like the slogan quite a bit but the commercials are terrible. Last year's were far better because they had some humour worth laughing at. When you're trying to attract women, telling them they're one dimentional probably isn't going to be positive...especially when you join that with the idea that they aren't even worth the price of admission in another ad. Very flawed. Incredibly disappointed.

I'm dissapointed in all the buffering. For the love of god, cant they just let people download the full commercial so they can watch it at their leisure??

The one with Hinske is actually almost the exact same as one with Mark Mulder on the A's site. I liked the Jays ones but I have to give it up to the A's, their's are way funnier.

Impressed with the ads, I think they have a better reach than last year's ads, especially for American fans and for those who were either ignorant of or offended by the Canadian stereotype ads. I like the direction that they're pushing now going for the youthful vitality of the team as its central focus rather than it's geographic location.

Which leads me to wondering. Have you ever seen Delgado in ads from either year? Whassup with that? And think they'll still run a few of last year's ads? They're still pretty fresh imo.

As for the ads themselves, great stuff sans "Ticket". Skipper and Blender are definitely great stuff, although shredding a Yankee hat would have been even better (although the bird poop didn't go over so well last time). As for "Ticket," that's the only one I've yet to see yet on TV, and if it makes it to air, I guarentee it won't last 2 weeks. At least "Ladies Day" is appealing to the youthful athleticism of the team as a form of entertainment; "ticket" was just sad and demeaning.

Memo to the ad people:
Being able to oggle the guys like guys do to women at mud wrestling = good idea. Being an object to be sold for a pair of tickets = bad idea.

I'm dissapointed in all the buffering. For the love of god, cant they just let people download the full commercial so they can watch it at their leisure??

Sweat, I'm sorry to pick on you, but I think that this post is a good example of my new theory, which is that if there really is a non-negative cosmological constant, then over the sum history of the universe someone will complain about every single thing or action that ever exists.

I thought the ads were decent. I liked Doc's and ODogs, but I was left feeling like "that's all?" Average I'd say.

Ben, I agree with you. Oakland's were great. Even the one that infers the appeal to women is better done because it doesn't show a section of women explicitly cheering. Plus they're all significantly more creative than the Jays' too.

Well I think the A's ads actually have creative writing and better directing behind them. There's a coherent "story" and payoff in each ad. For some reason the Jays have always gone for very simple and obvious humour with little or no writing. I'm a fan who actually goes to games and these ads don't stir me or spark me so how are they going to affect an indifferent observer? If you're trying to relate to non-hardcore fans then your ads have to be clever in and of themselves.

Instead of having Roy walking down the beach in uniform for some reason and flicking a rock at random, how about having some kids who are having their own rock skipping contest and Roy decides to give it a spin with the kids watching. Then he sinks the ship with everyone looking on in shock as Roy spins around and quickly walks away with a guilty grimace. I mean that's much more coherent and it doesn't cost any extra except maybe a couple of kid extras and two or three camera shots instead of one.

Wow, an American produced entertainment product is far superior to that of the one produced in Canada (regardless if Bloom, an American is the one driving them), where's the story here?

There's lots of superior Canadian entertainment products, you just have to know where to look.

what's with the ugly new Jays logo?