A bit surprised no one got me Blue Jay stuff this year. I avoided buying any just in case.

I got a few baseball related gifts:

The Boys of Summer and Beyond the Boys of Summer (Roger Kahn)
The Summer Game (Roger Angell)
A blue jays mug (I do't drink coffee, but it looks very nice!)
A home-made blue jay ornament from my PEI-residing grandmother (I never knew the blue jay was the provincial bird of PEI)

My library is sorely lacking books from the two Rogers, so these will get me through the winter months quite nicely. And now Jope Posnanski's Soul of Baseball has some company on the shelf.

I got the Bell-Moseby-Barfield bobblehead to add to my collection.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I got a T-shirt commemorating Tony Fernandez Day and trading cards of the '97 Blue Jays. I'm almost sure they were both re-gifted, but doesn't matter to me.

I guess I kind of ratcheted-up the enthusiasm during the stretch drive, and even got my oldest very involved and my youngest somewhat involved. They both know who Edwing is now - the best way to get my girls involved in something is to relate it to animals of any kind.. So, I think my wife FINALLY got the hint this year. Alas, the shirts are super small, and I think I've grown, so they'll need to be exchanged for a larger size. Also, there's a Jays keychain (not in the picture) when it looked like I'd be getting a new car instead of fixing up the old one. I told her, well, now I have to get a new car :-)

1) My wife, and in-laws puzzled about the little plastic disc on the sign - it almost looked like miniature cork coasters in a plastic case. Then I turned it over and saw the "Dirt Collage" tag. Looking real close, it IS dirt - I guess it's from Skydome. Not sure if it's from the infield, the mound, home plate, or what..

2) I get Edwing, Joey Bats, and Josh Man-bun-son's images. What's the deal with David Price & puppy (did I miss a story there?), and why does Tulo not have anything unusual (other than no tongue?)? Is him being in the lineup the unusual part? (badum, crash)

David Price (famously?) has a French bulldog named Astro.

Tulowitzki... uh, wears eye black when he plays?

Thanks James. My wife will be happy to know!

my lord i need that sweater.

There have been only 34 major leaguers born on December 28, but you can make a passable team out of them.  For your holiday amusement, the wild and woolly December 28 ballclub:

C-    Einar Diaz
1B-  Ray Knight
2B-  Tony Daniels
SS-  Bill Hall
3B-  Aurelio Rodriguez
LF-  John Milner
CF-  Count Sensenderfer (I kid you not)
RF-  Mel Nieves

Bench: Benny Agbayani, Wattie Holm, Nelson Brubrink, Cal Broughton (we have three catchers and no backup middle infielders because that's what is available- in a pinch, Milner moves to first base, Knight plays third and Aurelio moves over to second base or shortstop)

SP- Ted Lyons
SP- Tommy Bridges
SP- Bill Lee (of course)
SP- Zane Smith
SP- Pete Henning

RP- B.J. Ryan
RP- Carl Willis
RP- Jose Sosa
RP- Steve Lawton
RP- Mel Stottlemyre Jr.

Aurelio Rodriguez was a favourite ballplayer of mine as a kid because his first name had all the vowels.  Good glove, weak bat.  Mel Nieves was a hotshot prospect who didn't develop- in truth, you'd probably be better off with Wattie Holm out there. 

The starting pitching is quite good and would keep this team in most games, but there just isn't enough offence...

That really is a weak lineup. not much power and not much getting on base. I guess Knight would be the best hitter of the lot

The Milner/Agbayani platoon is pretty good-  if not quite Lowenstein/Roenicke. Unfortunately, Ray Knight is not Eddie Murray, Wattie Holm is not Ken Singleton, Tony Daniels is not Rich Dauer, Aurelio Rodriguez is not Doug DeCinces and the Count is not Al Bumbry...

John Lott posted this on twitter about Cleveland's attendance and payroll.  It's a handy reminder:

I got a T-shirt commemorating Tony Fernandez Day

Jeremy, that very t-shirt sits in my chest of drawers, and every so often it has to be defended from my wife's attempts to reduce my space allocation.  I will have to double-check when I get home to make sure it didn't end up under your tree...

Merry anti-Xmas. Yanks get Aroldis Chapman for a pair of 2nd tier prospects, and 2 more prospects that weren't top 30.

a favourite ballplayer of mine as a kid because his first name had all the vowels.

Were you a bit of a nerd when you were a kid? Just a little?

"Merry anti-Xmas. Yanks get Aroldis Chapman for a pair of 2nd tier prospects, and 2 more prospects that weren't top 30."

I wouldn't want Chapman on the team. I don't care if players are not the best people but I do care if they are (alleged) scumbags. This is not Chapman's first issue either. The Yankees got him for cheap because very few teams wanted him and he is almost certainly going to be suspended for a lot of next year.

Who ends up looking bad in all this is the Reds. Instead of trading Frazier and Chapman during the season last year and getting a ton of top prospects, they waited too long and got much worse players.

Even from a purely baseball perspective, I don't understand the Chapman trade. The Yankees had a perfectly good closer, need starting pitching, and have a starting lineup older than many rock formations. Why trade for more relief pitching?

Chapman, if not suspended, will be moved to the closer role, which will likely make Miller unhappy.

I think it's a great move for the Yankees from a baseball standpoint. They didn't trade any of their top prospects, and if Chapman is suspended for a certain amount of days he'll be controllable for an additional year. The caveat with him is his personal issues, and if that gets in the way of his performance, then it will greatly diminish his value. However, they got a 2.5 WAR reliever for nothing of real consequence, and they can get a draft pick for him after the season (if he's a FA).

The Yankees will now have Chapman (15.74 K/9, 2.5 WAR), Betances (14.04 K/9, 2.4 WAR), and Miller (14.59 K/9, 2.0 WAR) to finish games. Scary.

This way the Yankees starters only need 6 innings to secure a win.

I don't agree that they need starting pitching.
They have Tanaka, Pineda, Severino, Eovaldi, Nova and Sabathia. They can either throw harder or pace themselves to avoid  injury because of the amazing bullpen.

McCann is 31. Gregorius is 25. Headley is 31. Ackley is 27. Ellesbury is 32. Gardner is 32. Refsnyder is 24.

A-Rod is 40 and Teixeira is 35, but Bird is 23 and can cover for both of these guys.

It's not looking good, folks.

"McCann is 31. Gregorius is 25. Headley is 31. Ackley is 27. Ellesbury is 32. Gardner is 32. Refsnyder is 24.

A-Rod is 40 and Teixeira is 35, but Bird is 23 and can cover for both of these guys"

Or, to put it in a less rosy way. Their best offensive players last season were ARod (40), Teixera (35), Beltran (39), Gardner (32), Young (gone), and McCann (31). I would be very heavily against that group performing at the near same level next season.

Cleveland record:
2002 74-88 3rd
2003 68-94 4th
2004 80-82 3rd
2005 93-69 2rd
2006 78-84 4th
2007 96-66 1st
2008 81-81 3rd
2009 65-97 4th
2010 69-93 4th
2011 80-82 2nd
2012 68-94 4th
2013 92-70 2nd
2014 85-77 3rd
2015 80-81 3rd

Even when they win 90 games the attendance doesn't rise.
What should that remind us of?

Their best offensive players last season were ARod (40), Teixera (35), Beltran (39), Gardner (32), Young (gone), and McCann (31).

You can say the same about Bautista, Encarnation, Tulo and Martin.

They cannot replace their aging stars on the tail end of their contracts.
But they got young guys to replace them if they do down.
They got another outfielder and they will probably be better at second base than last year.
And there's always the defense/offense trade off.

We'll see the results soon enough but we probably won't be happy about it.

The Yankees were going the Moneyball route by finding the new market inefficiency: players that other teams don't want for ethical reasons.

Meanwhile the Yankees are trying to live down to their nickname.

Yep, Magpie, I will cop to being a bit of a nerd, then and now. I was maybe a 2 on the scale- no Meccano or Lego, no Commodore 64 or Atari, too busy listening to Traffic and Ry Cooder to be involved in a high school math club...

The Chapman acquisition is interesting. I guess it is a healthy sign that his value plummeted after the domestic violence.

Yankees age is wayyyy overblown. 32 is not old. And they have a sweet crop of underrated youth knocking on the door, too.

the yanks' only issue is that they don't have anyone they can count on to be more than a solid 3war player. But their roster doesn't have any holes, either.

And the yanks don't need starting pitching. They have Tanaka, Pineda, Eovaldi, Severino and then CC and Nova battling for the #5 spot. They don't need hitting unless it's an impact bat as they are 9 deep in solid starters with a good crop of kids behind them.

after trading warren their bullpen actually looked barren other than the 2 big guns. not any more.

On paper, it's hard to pick the better team out of the Yanks, Jays and Sox, but at this point I think we are more likely playing for the wildcard than for the division. 

That Yankee pen is pretty unique - 3 elite arms and a bunch of fungible young pitchers.  Interesting to see them drafting relievers and developing them as relievers - Lindgren, Rumblelow and Pazos will pitch out of the big league pen at some point this year - all rank in their top 30 prospects and they have one combined pro start between them.  I think  this model might be very effective.

They have some $65 million coming off the books after this season, and $40 the next, with a lot of solid position prospects ready to replace the aging vets and the money to sign a top free agent or two.  Cashman looks to have done a pretty good job retooling this team without needing to rebuild. 

The Chapman acquisition is interesting. I guess it is a healthy sign that his value plummeted after the domestic violence.

Quite healthy I'd say.

They have some $65 million coming off the books after this season, and $40 the next, with a lot of solid position prospects ready to replace the aging vets and the money to sign a top free agent or two.

Replacing a top bat at 1B/DH should not be too hard. Those are the perfect spots for aging All-Stars.
They might go for a mid-season trade of an ace that can extended because the free agent market for pitching won't be as good next year.

With that all said, I'm expecting the Jays bullpen to rebound next year. I just don't see how the rotation will last the year.

Meanwhile the Yankees are trying to live down to their nickname.

The Bronks Bombers? I don't get it.

The Pinstripes? Nah. Orange is the new black now.

Of course the Yankees' age is a big issue. Old teams are more likely to have things go wrong (injuries, massive dropoffs in performance) The Jays' is also an issue but not to the same extent. The Yankees have one regular player under 32. That is old. That's an entire team in the decline phases of their careers or maybe at the end of their peaks for one or two. Arod and Teixera had their best offensive seasons in about five years. How likely is that to be repeated? Beltran was awful two years ago and pretty good last year. At 39, which is more likely this season? They could win because the American League is more balanced than any time I remember, but I think the Jays have a better team right now.

It's going to be a dog fight in all likelyhood, but the Jays still have a strong chance of winning the division, IMO.

2 nicknames that I found while googling (and which I had heard of before), one of which might have been intended:
-the evil empire
-the bronx zoo

Beltran was almost as bad defensively as he was good offensively.  He ranked 9th in WAR among their position players. The outfield was all Gardner/Ellesbury/Young. They'll just use a platoon with Ackley to replace Beltran.

Bird had 0.9 WAR in 46 games, so the Yankees improves if Arod or Teixeira are injured.
Refsnyder had 0.3 WAR in 16 games. If he hits like that again they'll have no problem winning games.

Texeira's glove is good enough that I like him as a combo with Bird - same with Beltran in the OF, they have enough young OFs that if they work the defensive substitutes and pinchrunners they should be able to cover for the declining performance of a lot of their stars.  They might even be able to extend the bench and get away with a 6 man pen at times now that they have Chapman. 

Interested to see if Ackley can bounce back for them - he could be a poor mans Ben Zobrist for them if he does. 

the red sox are going to need some massive bounceback guys if they want to compete with the jays and yanks this year.

mathesond, The Boys of Summer is one of my favourite books. I met Roger Kohn, got a pic with him, and he signed my book a couple of years ago at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Mary's. A highlight for me.