So many memories... so many base on balls...

Here's a look at the Vancouver Canadians in a relaxed atmosphere before their series finale against Everett at Nat Bailey Stadium Tuesday.





Pitching coach Jim Czajowksi (#48) holds court with the hurlers, including Turner Lee (#28), Tayler Saucedo (#38) and Michael Kraft. Catcher Kevin Garcia (#30) also listens in.

Here's a look in pictures at the Blue Jays' latest acquisition Ronald Torreyes. I saw him in action as a member of the Fresno Grizzlies during a game against the host Tacoma Rainiers in a Pacific Coast League contest May 3.


Ronald Torreyes — wearing #1 — greets Max Stassi after a solo home run that tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth inning.

The Toronto Blue Jays had a chance to complete a four-game sweep and put another nail in the coffin of the Seattle Mariners playoff hopes on a late Thursday afternoon at The Dome. The game featured a couple of promising performances by a pair of newcomers who will be counted upon in 2015.


Lefty Daniel Norris was given his first major league start in front of the hometown faithful.

Here is a thread to discuss all of the transactions that occur at the Winter Meetings, which are in sunny San Diego from December 7-11. Many GMs are looking to upgraded their teams still through free agency or trade, although the transactions that have occurred already this offseason suggest it may be a quieter winter meetings than usual.

One that won't spill, cost too much or come in a pill! The General Managers meetings are on in Phoenix and will run until Thursday so we'll keep an eye out for what might develop from a Blue Jays perspective.

A look back on the career of Adam Lind.


Adam Lind belts a walk-off homer and is getting ready to be mobbed by his teammates after a 10th inning blast off Seattle's Shawn Kelley September 26, 2009. It was Lind's second homer of the game to help the Jays beat the M's 5-4.

Finally, a break from hockey! The American League Championship Series starts up tonight with the Kansas City Royals visiting the Baltimore Orioles. The National League Championship Series begins tomorrow with the San Francisco Giants at the St. Louis Cardinals.

Baseball is a funny game! R.A. Dickey and Miguel Gonzalez had given up a combined 50 home runs (25 apiece) heading into their final starts of the season. Instead of a home run derby and offensive fireworks, only one run was scored.


Dalton Pompey is greeted by first base coach Tim Leiper after a single to lead off the second inning. Pompey was later picked off at first.

There are a couple of administrative items that I thought I would cover in a separate thread. They concern new member registration and posting challenges.

In case you didn't notice we cut off new member registrations a month or so ago, for the second time. The reason was to stop spam registrations. At Batters Box we have a two step registration process, you fill out a few details and then we can approve you or not. We have always been actively deleting spam registrations so our membership list doesn't get bloated. Over the past few years we would get between 50 and 70 spam applications per day. We would know they are spam usually by the registration name, either it was an incomprehensible mix of letters, numbers and symbols or it fitted a pattern where there is a name followed by say two numbers and we would have ten requests by jim10, jim 12, and so on. This was a pain in the butt but we could manage.

Little help here, Bauxites ... is there a legitmate reason a player's uniform number might be used (after it is "retired") by someone OTHER that that specific retired player?  (In other words, I am not looking for examples of players with retired numbers who came back to uniformed status, presumably either to manage or coach, if perhaps only in Spring Training?

I can think of at least two instances it has actually happened -- indeed, I expect most baseball fans can at least think of the first one I will mention -- but are there others? Read on and let everyone know of any other instances you can recall where this has already happened, or at least a situation (give a specific example if possible) where that legitimately COULD happpen.

The first example, of course ...

As we start the new season here in Da Box we need a few fine men or women.  Our writing schedule has us publishing a series thread for the major league Blue Jays, our regular minor league updates, and other thoughts that our writers feel compelled to make public. 

However, several roster members have allowed the real world to interfere with their Box duties and we could use some help.

As you are aware, the Blue Jays begin their regular season at home this Tuesday night when the Cleveland Indians are in town. If you happen to be in the Vancouver area, the back-to-back Northwest League champion Vancouver Canadians are inviting you to watch the game as they are hosting an Opening Day Bash at Mahony & Sons at 1055 Canada Place, Unit 36, beginning at 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time. You might even win a prize, such as a pair of tickets to see the Jays in Seattle this August.

Otherwise, how are you getting ready for the first game of 81 at the Thunderdome? Do you have a ticket? Will you be watching on TV? Listening on the radio? Checking your cell phone or iPod (that'll be me!)? How are you celebrating the return of the regular season?

This was the scene during last year's home opener. R.A. Dickey will begin the 2013 campaign with his first knuckleball for strike one at 7:07 p.m. Eastern Time.

The WBC is over, the Dominican Republic are "World Champions" and the Jays will have all of their players in camp within a day or two.  The Jays have eleven days of spring games left before they head north for the Tuesday home opener.  There are few decisions left to be made, basically the backup catcher and the long man in the bullpen.   Otherwise the roster is set, the starting pitchers are known, the batting lineup is 90% set with second base the one unknown.

Spring training, up to this point, has had as its objective to get the players in shape, particularly the pitchers arms.  Players returning from injury need to be tested.  And roles and responsibilities need to be defined.

Here’s a thread to discuss all the latest spring training developments from Dunedin and around the majors while we all anxiously await Canada’s opening match in the World Baseball Classic on Friday afternoon.