This off-season has been the slowest for Blue Jay news that I can remember.  The Navarro signing was months ago and since then there has been nothing.  Last winter AA was putting in a new waiver claim every week, this year just one.  The Tanaka affair seems to be holding up all free agent pitcher signings and we are just five weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting. 

The Tanaka deadline is January 24th so I assume that Tanaka, Jimenez and Santana will all sign between January 24th and January 27th.  I don't see much happening before then. 

2014 is here and the big question for Blue Jay fans is this: Will 2014 be better than 2013? This time last year AA had made some big moves and fans were expecting great things in 2013. This year AA has done little and fans are not as enthused as they were a year ago.

This year Da Box lost Mick Doherty, a long time bauxite. In addition to his Hall of Names threads Mick was known for his Christmas Day post. Here I am reproducing Mick's last Christmas thread from 2011.

We ask this every year as Christmas comes (and if I read my watch right, in Toronto this year, that's in about 20 minutes!) so ...

What'djaget???

It has been very quiet in Blue Jay land.  The expected influx of starting pitchers, second basemen and right hand hitting DH's has not materialised.  Will anything happen between now and the new year?  We can use this thread for the drip, drip, drip of the wait.

There are a couple of small items of news today, Monday.

Baseball America released their annual Blue Jays Top 10 prospect list today.   

The first Blue Jays game I distinctly remember attending took place on September 27th, 1998. It was John Fowler’s birthday and the Tigers were in town. I was 11. I had been to the Skydome before, of course – my grandfather was a baseball nut, and I can remember he and I traversing down Peter Street to get to the Dome, vendors hawking peanuts and, after ‘92, pennants. Or was it after ‘93? Though I must have attended dozens of games with my grandpa Jack, those early memories have a tendency to blend together after a while. So the first Blue Jays game that I can definitely say that I attended was that Sunday afternoon in late September.

It looks like winter outside and the winter meetings are in Orlando where I assume it doesn't look like winter. There was so much activity last week that one has to wonder if this week will be a let-down. It seems the market is still undefined particularly in starting pitching where the Jays are looking.

The signing of Robinson Cano has got my mind back into the wondrous world of wishful thinking...

Quiet for the Jays right now - 2 new catchers and a reliever with a catcher and reliever going away.  Other teams are busy, but AA has been far quieter than normal.  What else is going on and what should AA do from here on out?

This is the last week of activity before the winter meetings begin on the ninth. GM's are seeing if they can get something done before the meetings or if it will have to wait.

Today, Monday, is the non-tender deadline whereby teams have to decide if they are willing to offer arbitration to their eligible players. Some players will be non-tendered but there may not be many decent starting pitchers or catchers among the non-tendered. The Jays biggest decision is whether to offer arbitration to JP Arencibia, I assume they will.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting the Jays have agreed to sign Dioner Navarro on a two year deal.  I believe the reports on him are good bat, less than good defense.  We will see.

New member stemac has written an article analysing the value of RA Dickey when he is not pitching. There has much anecdotal discussion regarding the difference between facing a knuckleball pitcher and a regular pitcher. This discussion is often focused on the relievers who follow the knuckleballer. But in this pinch hit stemac looks at the impact on the next days starter,

While Blockbuster Video is disappearing the Blockbuster trade just showed up. Two big money contracts were just traded for each other, Prince Fielder for Ian Kinsler. The trade makes positional sense for both teams, Texas used Mitch Moreland at first base this season and they had three players for two infield spots. The trade helps them at first base while opening a spot for Jurickson Profar at second.

Detroit lose a first baseman and free up some cash. The rumour is that Miggy Cabrera will move over to first with Kinsler on second. But the big reason for this trade might be to free up some cash to re-sign Max Scherzer.

Another week and a new thread for offseason chatter.

The GM meetings start today. There are usually few deals announced at these meetings but the discussions set the scene for the winter meetings in three weeks. Right around now free agents start narrowing down their suitors and getting into their real options including dollars. Reportedly some free agents will show up at the meetings for some face to face meetings and to apply pressure on the GM's by taking a lot of meetings.

I received a copy of the new Davidi/Lott book this week from the publisher for review.  I read it in three days, in part because it is not a very lengthy read, the book is 180 page of print plus 16 pages of photographs, and in part because it is an easy read.

When I first heard that this book was on its way I wondered what kind of book would it be?  There are those books that are essentially diaries of the season, a day by day or week by week summary of the season that was.  Then there are the books that are about the team, the players and staff, more than they are about the season.  These books rely on interesting characters to provide the backbone of the book.  Finally there are the insider exposes, a tell-all of sorts, as in here is what really happened behind the scenes.

I also wondered whether the authors were able to breach the secretive world of the Anthopoulos front office, would he open up for the sake of history?