Stan "the Man"  Musial, one of baseball's greatest (and arguably, most under-appreciated) hitters and a Hall of Famer with the St. Louis Cardinals for more than two decades, died Saturday. He was 92.

Musial won seven National League batting titles, was a three-time MVP and helped the Cardinals capture three World Series championships in the 1940s. Read the full story here in ESPN.com.

Read more from Batter's Box's finest veteran, Dan "Magpie" McIlroy ... The Man

A pinch hit from earlweaver fan.....appropriate.

Every reader of Battersbox old enough to follow baseball in the sixties through eighties will have their own reasons for honouring Earl Weaver, one of the most wonderful personalities in baseball and among the most successful. Here are my personal top ten reasons:

Yesterday I received a package from an anonymous tipster familiar with the Darren Oliver situation. In it were copies of a large number of faxes purportedly from Jeff Frye to Blue Jays brass. I was stunned -- I mean, who faxes stuff in 2013? I was also surprised at how many of the alternate compensation packages didn't make it into the press.

In no particular order, here are some of the unpublished compensation suggestions put forward by Jeff Frye on behalf of Darren Oliver:

Now that everyone who qualifies for arbitration has been signed we have a solid idea of 2012's payroll.  Who is getting what and what positions are the pricey ones?

After unveiling its new logo nearly two months ago, the Buffalo Bisons completed its makeover today with a brand new home, road and alternate uniform during its annual Hot Stove luncheon.

The Buffalo Bisons new uniforms for 2013, commemorating the career of former Bison Ollie Carnegie — the International League's all-time leader in home runs with 258 and runs batted in with 1,044.

Darren Oliver is coming back.  Here is the Blue Jays announcement:

LHP DARREN OLIVER will return to the TORONTO BLUE JAYS for a 20th Major League season and second in a Blue Jays uniform after his US $3.0 million was exercised for the 2013 season.

OLIVER, 42, posted the lowest ERA of his career in 2012 with a 2.06 mark, which was the 3rd lowest mark in the AL with a minimum of 50 innings pitched. The Kansas City, Missouri native has now held opponents to a .237 average over his past seven seasons to go with a 2.86 ERA over that span. The left-hander has not posted a single season ERA above 3.00 since the 2007 season. The former 3rd round pick of the Texas Rangers in 1988, Oliver has played for nine teams in his career, including Texas on three separate occasions. In 716 career games, including 229 starts, the 19-year veteran has posted a 115-94 record with a 4.53 ERA

Yeah, it is a quiet time right now.  Colby Rasmus signs for another year, avoiding arbitration.  Adam Loewen signs up for another tour of the Jays minor leagues. 

The stars have aligned and Anders, Alex, Thomas, and I all happen to be around at the same time. So we recorded a Boxcast! We talked about what's wrong with the HOF voting process and a little bit about how to fix it, and then some Jays stuff: Dickey, personalities on the team, bullpen. The whole thing runs about 35 minutes.

Subscribe here. Listen here.

No one made it, just like 1996 except this time it wasn't due to a lack of talented players.

The Jays have a full staff in the minors again with a few names we have heard of before.  From Tim Raines to Stubby Clapp.

From inimitable Friend of Batter's Box Jamey Newberg's Newberg Report:

"The Rangers have signed free agent righthander Jason Frasor to a one-year deal, reported by Jon Heyman (CBS Sports) to be worth a mere $1.5 million....

 

Ohhkay .... so it's been an awfully long time since we created and published a Hall oF Names team here on Batter's Box. It's about time we changed that, hey? And no better reason to change up than to notice the adoration and adulation bestowed upon the greatness of a former Blue Jay second baseman in the recent Top Seasons In Jays History thread.

So now, all-Alomar ... no, wait, that wouldn't really work. There have only been three Alomars to play big league ball, all part of the same family (two generations), Roberto and the two Sandys ... so we'd cover the middle infield and behind the plate, often the toughest positions to fill on the field, but the rest of the diamond would be bare.  So let's honor Robbie Alomar instead with an All-Roberto Hall of Names team.  There have been two Hall of Famers (including Alomar himself, of course) and five additional All-Stars, so talent should be pretty ample.  Let's see ....

Now that we are deep into the offseason and dreaming of the future, lets see how the Jays have done at various positions in the past and who has had the most amazing season by various measures.  Also do any of our new players have a shot at breaking these records?

In honour of the Christmas gifts bestowed upon us by the front office of the Toronto Blue Jays, enjoy this brand new photograph from your pal NFH:

Here's the original image on Instagram.

That's a 1993 Back To Back AL East Champions mug. The subsequent 19 years worth of washes has faded it slightly. Here's hoping that next Christmas I'll have a new one.

Four times in franchise history, the Blue Jays have had the best starting pitching in the American League. I propose to look at those four starting rotations.