Whether you buy into the stories or not, Hinske is looking like he's in some mighty fine shape.

And it's nice to see this old Jay hasn't lost his feathers.

Former Toronto Blue Jays Cy Young award winner Pat Hentgen throws in batting practice at the team's spring training camp Monday, Feb. 20, 2006 in Dunedin, Fla. Hentgen is a special instructor at the camp. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy)

The Rangers have announced the signing of 1B/DH Erubiel Durazo to a non-roster deal with an invite to big league camp. Durazo had Tommy John surgery in July, but when healthy, the 31-year-old can be one of the more productive left-handed bats in the league.

Come on, you'd have us think that once you make the top prospect list, your baseball future was secured.

For those truly concerned with who isn't or is on this list, I looked up the list of two years ago and found Alex Rios at #15 and Quiroz at #17, Mcgowan at #23, David Bush #39, Gabe Gross #40, Russ Adams #42, and the great former Jay Chad Gaudin got an honourable mention.

Don't believe me? Of course I'll let you see for yourself

These lists are just a dumb way to pass time. I'm sure Halladay would have been really high on these lists and then dropped right off in his younger days because of this, that or another thing.

Corey Patterson used to get a lot of love, now he gets none. Here's a look at the top 8 BP prospects of five years ago. Nick Johnson, Rick Ankiel, Pat Burrell, Sean Burroughs, Vernon Wells, Rafael Furcal, Ruben Mateo, and Ben Petrick.

I could go on, but I think my point of 'crapshoot' has been made. These things just don't matter that much. It's like looking at a detailed weather forecast for next year. In closing, Go Hinske Go!

There aren't a whole lot of issues facing the Blue Jays right now. No sudden injuries have popped up and the Major League roster looks pretty set.

And this is what happens.

And I can tell I'm in the great minority here, but I really liked what I saw from McDonald with the Jays last year and was disappointed to see him go (even though he was promised to return). I understand his stats with the Jays compared to his career reflect that he greatly overachieved here, but if he continued from where he left off I don't see why folks here want to avoid him like the Zosky plague.

After the trade Young hit very well for the Rangers AA club, and with 189 solid AAA at-bats under his belt in 2001 he made his big league debut at 24 years of age. Whereupon he was an offensive zero. And again in 2002. At this point you had a 26 year-old with a career line of .257 / .305 / .390 in 959 AB. Gord Ash wasn't exactly lying awake at night fraught with regret over the trade.

But then came 2003, Young's age 26 season and a gigantic step forward. And another big one at age 27. And yet another at age 28. To be precise:

Age   AVG  OBP  SLG  Rate Increases
25   .262 .308 .382   
26   .306 .339 .446  .044 .031 .064
27   .313 .353 .483  .007 .014 .037
28   .331 .385 .513  .018 .032 .030

Another way to put it: How upset would Toronto fans be if the Jays traded Curtis Thigpen for a league average right fielder today? Thigpen, a young 22-year-old playing a premium defensive position in a severe pitcher's park at AA, put up a line of .284 / .340 / .426 in 141 AB in 2005. That is, the exact same OBP and SLG as our late lamented Michael Young put up as an old 23-year-old in AA.

Cut the writers some slack -- all the "normal" people in this country are watching Olympic hockey anyways.

Now there are several hours of my life I want back.

Considering that all three newspapers and the website have written over 10 articles in the last two days, it doesn't seem like much of a holiday. Whatver though, this isn't a big deal. It's just odd that even as of now, no local writers have even mentioned it.

I envision a strict platoon will determine who starts in right--Rios against lefties and Hinske against righties. In addition I think we'll see Rios as a defensive replacement late in the game for Hinske. With there being more righties than lefties, Rios stealing some of Hinske's late inning at bats will give them both players roughly equal playing time.

I could go for that, but how much would we have to pay him when he smacks one million homers in 2011?

If I were to guess I'd say Rios and Hinske would split the PAs 50/50. And what might be the determining factor is who is pitching for the Jays. If Chacin and Lilly are pitching the other team likely will have more lefties in the lineup. If that's the case you'll see more balls hit to LF than RF. With the Jays sending RH pitchers out you may see Rios play against RH pitchers for the opposite reason because of his defensive value (or at least I imagine Rios will have significantly more defensive value than Hinske).

Which is very easy to determine when you're reading typed on the internet.

Anyways, if you like autographs or have an interesting question for Gustavo Chacin or Jason Frasor, come out to the Blue Jays Swing Into Spring Festival on Saturday at 11 a.m at the Eaton's Centre, where both players will be on stage for a Q & A with the fans. Lloyd Moseby is doing a similiar thing at Rogers Video locations around the GTA tomorrow and Saturday as well.

Also, they've been running advertisements in the Toronto Star the last week or so promoting the event and if you take the advertisement to the ticket office on Saturday or Sunday, if you buy a ticket to a game in 2006, you receive a free ticket to the second or third game of the series of equivalent value. This promotion alone is reason to believe the first three games could see attendance totalling 130,000.

While he has this reputation, Catalanotto has been entirely healthy in 2 of his 3 seasons with the Jays. What's more, while he missed a lot of time in 2004 it was all with the same injury (right groin). The 'injury prone' label seems to me more appropriate for a player who suffers a variety of injuries.

Yes and *not* one of those "take your flagpole in the ninth inning with 2 outs and saying that you'll return it after the game but keep you waiting half an hour by gate ten because you forgot" ushers. And also not one of those ushers that belittle fans that don't want to sit on their hands and drink their tea.

I'm sure you'll be fine though :)

It's a good idea, but after a game ends, it's late and people are streaming out of the exits to get to cars, trains and subways. Putting staff at the exits to hand out magnets would create bottlenecks and probably drive fans crazy. There might be no magic bullet.

No. The people throwing the magnets were not just from the entire upper level, but the baselines are of the upper level. Yes, they aren't baseball fans, but the other 45,000 were and they made it quite known after the 5,000 idiots left in the 8th inning when the Dome was absolutely rocking.

The Jays had magnet giveaways at the last two games of the 2005 season and they handed them out after the game at every gate. Not every fan got a magnet, but most did. It was successful and plausible and it's what they will be doing on April 4th.

It was also a nice touch that Rogers gave out complimentary programs to everyone whom attended. This is something I also imagine they'll do away with.

Someone else mentioned a Simpsons episode earlier, so I felt like I had to contribute the episode where Homer attempts to go sober. At a baseball game, he remarks that he never realized how boring baseball was without beer. I don't agree with that assessment, but many people do.

I think that if they do hand out the magnets again, they have to be prepared for what might happen. If this includes getting extra security to stand in different sections and throwing out the first couple of people that throw something, no warning, then do it.

That also happened during a Fisher Cats radio broadcast last April -- they came back from commercial early and I heard something like "...hitting .429 now. Who did they trade for him again? (pause) Peterson? Adam Peterson?"

If it weren't a contract year, he wouldn't "swing powerfully"?

the rest of the lineup can pick up the slack if his bat's limp.

When the plan B's in the outfield are the sorry carcasses of Bernie Williams and Bubba Crosby, Sheffield's significance cannot be understated. An unproductive Sheffield (either due to injury or decline) would be a huge blow to the team.

Whether Sheffield figures to be healthy and productive enough to warrant $13M in 2007 or whether his hissy fit du jour will be a distraction is another matter altogether. I would imagine that his 2007 option will be picked up sooner rather than later, and that the story-hungry media will have to find something else to write about and some other whiner to indulge.

1. Overbay
2. Glaus
3. Hill
4. Wells
5. Catalanotto
6. Hillenbrand
7. Hinske
8. Adams
9. Zaun

Alright? So tell John Gibbons we're going with that. :-)

P.S. I'm proud to announce that I didn't have to copy/paste "Szymborski."

"Hello, this is Alex Rodgriguez of the New York Yankees. I made something out of my morning, so get up and make something out of your morning too."

Professional athletes. Always wanting more.

Professional athletes. Always wanting more.

That reminds me of this phone line that was all the rage 12 or so years ago. You'd call 1-800-GOLF-TIP and then you'd hear a recording of Robbie Alomar counting to 10 and then it would hang up. In grade school this was almost limitless entertainment. Though when I bring that up to people now, everyone looks at me very oddly. Surely my school could not have been the only people in T.O. to have found that number?

Just set your watch back 2 months and you're all set.

Putting aside the actual value of Overbay v. Glaus, it makes sense that nobody said Overbay, if only for the reason that he doesn't have the numbers that most athletes (if I may be allowed to generalize here) pay attention to. HR, RBI and saves were the only ones mentioned; Overbay's career highs are 19, 87 and, uh, zero. Also, Glaus is a three-time All-Star with a World Series MVP -- definitely a bigger name to a Blue Jay than "a guy who used to be on one of those teams we never play against."

'If Jason Phillips doesn't break camp with the Major League team -- the most likely scenario at this point -- he will have the ability to explore his options with other organizations. Gibbons said that the Minor League contract Phillips signed on Jan. 3 allows for him to decline a Minor League assignment when Spring Training is over.'

This bothers me.

Worst Case: Q is lost on waivers & Phillips declines the assignment & signs with another team.

End of 2006: Molina opts out. Zaun wants a big paycheck & leaves. NO catcher is ready in the minors. J.P goes back to the scrap heap. Suddenly, all that depth the Blue Jay's had at catcher is gone & the future doesn't look all that bright as well.

Carlos Delgado, Dave Stieb, Jeff Kent, John Olerud, David Wells, Jimmy Key, Shawn Green, Vernon Wells, Chris Carpenter, Jesse Barfield...

Heh. Tell that to Gabe Gross...

But if he's good, you get three years of a great Burnett while paying for the three years with the least amount of dollars. Then you've got 12 million dollars to play around with.

How can it not be David Wells? Antics in the early years, antics in his later years, and then wrote a book with section flaming Jays fans.

You can't compete with the book, Roger.

That might be an interesting idea. At least one interleague series being played, all season long.

Ask Mike Sirotka. In otherwords, yes he is :)

So will people be returning to the IRC chat tomorrow?

Yeah, that's exactly what someone with a guaranteed contract of eight figures is likely to do....

Yes, you could ask ol' Sirotka. My favourite to ask would be Mo Vaughn.

As I tried to explain on Burnett, he has no risk. It's not at all like a mutual option. It's a one-way option. If he sees a better situation, he can go. If he sees more money, he can go. If he is unable to throw a ball or see the plate, he can stay and collect another $24 million. The option is entirely his. He's got plenty of power.

Maybe he's on a good Jays team and he can't get more than a couple million elsewhere, so there's little to lure him away: neither cash, nor prizes, nor postseason. But he threatens to walk anyway just to get two more years added to his contract because he can get a new four or five-year deal with the Yankees.

It just sets him up to be a real nasty contract case. Good for him for getting so much power, but I hope the intelligent fans out there don't overlook the amount of power he has. Kiss his feet if you're given the chance.

We could need him to play nice with us. But he's not going to cancel his contract if he isn't living up to it. No matter how much you polish his toes.

I wrote this great article that I think would be perfect for Batter's Box to publish. Who should I send it to?

First of all, thanks! We love receiving material from readers. Our own Named For Hank usually handles the editing of "Pinch Hits" as we usually call them. Send them to him at aaron@battersbox.ca and he should reply within a day or two, less if it's time sensitive (if it is, let him know!) If you don't hear back from him, send him a follow-up e-mail.

Sometimes we just can't post a Pinch Hit, but in most cases we'll work with you until we can.