The Buffalo Bisons have introduced a new logo for 2013 to mark its brand new affiliation with the Blue Jays.

The Bisons have ditched its New York Mets-inspired colors and logo for a red and blue look.

Or so Bob Elliot believes.

Here comes $165,000,000 worth of fish!

Commissioner Bud says that this deal "represents the exercise of plausible baseball judgment on the part of both Clubs, does not violate any express rule of Major League Baseball," such as public exhibition or unauthorized reproduction. Wait, are there other express rules?

It's been a while since the last Boxcast episode, but it's a while since anything was particularly exciting 'round here. Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLBTR dropped by and we talked about the recent moves, the AL East as it stands, and what it's like to cover the GM Meetings as an internet journalist.

Subscribe here. Listen here.

A couple of years ago I came out of my bunker, but I saw my shadow.

The Blue Jays have agreed to sign Melky Cabrera to a two year $16M deal according to ESPN.  Cabrera is coming off two very good seasons and a 50 game drug suspension.  The key question is...what kind of Melky are the Jays getting?

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is reporting the Blue Jays have completed a mega-deal with the Miami Marlins.  Right-hander Josh Johnson, lefty Mark Buehrle and shortstop Jose Reyes are heading to Toronto.  Going the other way are righty Henderson Alvarez, shortstops Yunel Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria and minor league lefty Justin Nicolino, one of the "Big Three" pitching prospects in the minor league system.



Update:  There is more to the deal.  Former Jays catcher John Buck and infielder Emilio Bonifacio are coming to Toronto.  Jays pitching prospect Marcus Stroman says minor league outfielder Jake Marisnick is also heading to the Fish. 



Update 2: Catcher Jeff Mathis and minor league pitcher Anthony DeSclafani are also Marlins.

The semi-official award season kicked off Monday with the naming of the two rookies of the year. The timing of the award announcements has changed this season. Previously awards were announced over a two week period at 2pm. This year the Baseball Writers Association has linked with the MLB Network to have an award show at 6pm. The award winners for both leagues are announced on the same day.

Maicer Izturis. AA signed him today to a 3 year deal plus an option year (he does love having options) for $3 million per year.

Baseball America published their top ten prospects today and it looks a lot like the Batters Box top 10.  In addition the BA guys did an AL East podcast yesterday that had some Blue Jay related discussion.

 

There will also be a subscriber chat at 2pm today.  We will add some commentary here.

The Blue Jays need a manager but if they are conducting a search you would never know it.  There have been many names mentioned as potential managers.  There have been suggestions that the Jays have asked permission to talk to coaches from other teams.  But there has been no confirmation that the Jays have actually interviewed anyone.

John Farrell left the Jays employ a few weeks ago, and it would have been obvious that he was going at least a few weeks prior to that.  The Jays therefore have had a lot of time to consider how and where to find a new manager.  So what explains the inactivity?

The deadline for signing free agents to new teams passes at midnight tonight.  While free agents can sign tomorrow, generally they don't but some do try and sign before the winter meetings in a month.  However this year is different and with the new CBA some of the timelines have changed.  This could speed up the signing of free agents as some of the uncertainty around draft compensation and options has been either removed or advanced in the calendar.  It will be interesting to see if free agents sign any faster this year.  Today is also the last day that clubs have the exclusive right to talk to their own free agents.  But if you believe there are not back conversations taking place with player agents you are perhaps naive.

This year is also the last year of the old TV deal.  A new national US TV deal kicks in next season and that increases the revenue for all teams.  With only 25 or so guys to give the money to, will we see salary numbers that shcok this off-season?  I think we might.  Also the Dodgers and the Cubs have new owners with big wallets.

The Jays have made a trade, see the bottom of the article for details

Snakes and Ladders is a board game from my distant youth;  I use it to identify those teams that improved by 10 games (climbing the ladder) or declined by 10 (slipping down the snakes.)

The ballot for pre-integration (pre 1947) is out as is the Ford Frick award that we push Tom Cheek for.

There were a number of prospects who were named on the Minor League Crew's ballots who didn't make the Top 30 list. And each crew member no doubt considered several more prospects for their personal Top 30s who didn't make the final list.

Here are a few prospects who missed the final list that our minor league correspondents chose to highlight. This list isn't intended as a ranking of the next prospects in order, but is rather a sampling of some intriguing names in the system. Last year's feature included a player who got 111 major league plate appearances this year and a Webster Award winner. Without further ado, here are some prospects to keep an eye on next year, presented in alphabetical order.