In the "Who-Saw-This-Coming" Department, Cliff Lee has signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

This isn't a trivia question; it's just something I've wondered about. Is it possible to select two baseball teams such that nobody on Team A was ever teammates with anybody on Team B? Were there any such pairs of teams in 2010? (I don't know if we should count players who were teammates in the minors or not.) I leave it as an exercise for the reader.

What else is going on that we want to talk about?

Brad Emaus was taken in the Rule 5 draft by the New York Mets a few minutes ago. The 24 year old (turns 25 in March) hit .298/.395/.495 in AAA this past year in 364 plate appearances, and .257/.351/.388 in 751 AA plate appearances. Emaus was Batter's Box's number 20 prospect in 2010, number 24 in 2009, and number 18 in 2008, but the team evidently never thought as highly of him, as despite playing second and third base (a current position of need for the club) he was not put on the 40 Man Roster despite the team having space. Hopefully Brad will catch on with the Mets, but if not he could still be returned to the Jays. Full list of draftees here.

Update: Anthopoulos explains his reasoning here.

Update: Miguel Olivo signs with the Mariners. Hello compensatory pick!

Read on for more news, including Carl H. Crawford signing with the Sawx.

Frequently-maligned Jay OF Vernon Wells is 32 today. According to the greatness that is BaseballReference.com, VW's "Most Similar" player through the age of 31 has been one Andre Nolan "Hawk" Dawson.

Not to paint TOO rosy of a picture, but the Hawk's age-32 season was 1987 -- that was his 49-homer NL MVP year. Just sayin' ...

Ah, to post, perchance to dream ...

As we learned here yesterday, former Jay Overlord Pat Gillick is a Hall of Famer. Bauxites expressed surprise that Marvin Miller was not yet selected for induction, though that seems inevitable after he fell just one vote short this year.

The only other candidate to receive even 50 percent of the vote was ex-Big Red Machine shortstop Dave Concepcion, who probably never gets in (though I admit it, I grew up in Ohio in the BRM days and personally would love to see Davey Shortstop in the HOF).

Who else deserves what? Here's my take ....

• Shocked he didn't get in overwhelmingly this year: George Steinbrenner
• Nice career, probably doesn't belong: Ted Simmons, Vida Blue, Steve Garvey, Al Oliver
• Probably belongs, probably gets in eventually: Billy Martin,
• Probably belongs, probably never gets in: Tommy John
• Probably doesn't belong, but watch out for the "New York Bump": Ron Guidry, Rusty Staub

Your thoughts, valued Bauxites?

I figured we could do with a Winter Meetings catch-all.  I don't know about you but aside from Opening Day, the Winter Meetings may just be my favourite time on the calendar.  Today's day one and the hot stove is pre-heating with some Jays content.

 

The first person who was primarily known for his work in Toronto has been elected. Congrats to Pat Gillick.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, the Jays organization has shipped veteran right-hander Shaun Marcum to the Milwaukee Brewers. Top prospect Brett Lawrie, a Canadian second baseman, is rumored to be the return for the veteran hurler.

Try the Boston Red Sox, gumshoes!   As noted in a previous thread, the Padres have traded first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox for three prospects - pitcher Casey Kelly, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and outfielder Reymond Fuentes.  The Red Sox will also send a PTBNL San Diego's way.

Update Dec 5 @ 5:40 pm:  The San Diego Union Tribune says the deal is not done yet.  It's believed Gonzalez and the Red Sox are not seeing eye to eye on a proposed contract extension.

Update Dec 7:  Now it looks to be done!  Seven years, $154-million bucks.



Meantime, the Blue Jays are hoping to make a big move of their own in acquiring a Cy Young Award winner.  The Toronto Sun's Bob Elliott reports the Jays are targetting Kansas City ace Zack Greinke and it's believed the asking price will at least be Kyle Drabek and Travis Snider for starters.

Baseball lost one of its greats yesterday, as former Cub All-Star hot cornerman Ron Santo passed on to the next plane.

I really like the way the inimitable Sean Forman of BasseballReferebce.com termed it: "Baseball lost a Hall of Famer (at least he is in my book) and a lifelong Cub yesterday. Our condolences to his family and to his fans."

Rest well, "other Mr. Cub."

The most surprising move in the Jays minor league managerial shuffle involved the recently retired Mike Redmond being named the new manager of the Lansing Lugnuts.  The 13-year major league veteran replaces fellow former major league backstop Sal Fasano, who moves up to Double-A with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.



Mike Redmond in the Indians bullpen prior to a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Energy Field May 5th.

Update III: The Blue Jays have acquired Carlos Villanueva, a reliever, from the Brewers for a player to be named to later, according to the Brewers twitter page. He is eligible for arbitration for the first time this season after putting up a 4.61 ERA in 50 relief appearances last year, while striking out 67 batters in 52.2 innings. He is not the enemy.

Update II: Some of the more notable players non-tendered: Jeremy Accardo, Willy Aybar, Taylor Buchholz, Jack Cust, Ryan Church, Edwin Encarnacion, Scott Hairston, JP Howell, Bobby Jenks, Fred Lewis, Russell Martin, Lastings Milledge, Dioner Navarro, Hideki Ojakima and Joel Peralta.

Fox Sports is reporting that Brian Tallet has been signed by the St. Louis Cardinals.  In addition tonight is the deadline for free agents who have been offered arbitration to accept or reject the offer.

A recent episode of CBC's Quirks and Quarks featured a segment on curveballs. Despite a right-off-the-bat gaffe (Bob McDonald equates "breaking ball" with "curve ball"), it's an interesting segment that is unlike anything I've read in the online research community. Wanna hear about it?

Toronto's AFL affiliate, the Peoria Javelinas, played in the championship game on Saturday and lost 3-2 to Scottsdale. Let's finish up our AFL coverage by looking at how the Jays representatives performed over the month-and-a-half-long season.