It's been awhile since we built an all-birthday team here on Da Box, but if we were ever going to get back into it, today would be tthe day. You see, perhaps the most influential shared birthday in MLB history is today, Jan. 31.

How so? Well ...

With two weeks to go to pitchers and catchers reporting we need some baseball to satisfy our needs until the 2011 season gets underway.  So in that light I have some video, some pictures and some notes to divert your attention until things really get going.

First the notes.  I touched base with a few of my Blue Jay front office connections this week and here are a few of the things I heard:

Today, we look at the two players who wore #30 for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2010.  No matter what a couple of the pictures tell you, they really did wear Justin Speier's former digits!  Seriously!  It's not a lie and I know it's the truth!  ;D

Lefty Dana Eveland fires away against the Chicago White Sox at the Dome April 15.

The Blue Jays and reliever Jason Frasor have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one year deal worth $3.5 million with a club option for $3.75 million.

Jason Frasor pitches a scoreless inning against Tampa Bay during the Jays 17-11 win at the Dome August 7.   He compiled a 3-4 record with a 3.68 earned run average and four saves in 2010.  Frasor also struck out 65 batters and had a WHIP of 1.382 in 63 2/3 innings.

I feel some trivia coming on!

Here's a Pinch Hit from intrepid correspondent Ron.

KLaw has released his organisational rankings behind the insider wall at ESPN and has the Jays system ranked an impressive fourth behind Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting on Twitter that the Jays have traded Mike Napoli to the Rangers for Frank Francisco. Thanks to Bauxite chocolatethunder for the heads-up.

          So many questions
          Still left unanswered
          So much I've never broken through......

I don't know much
But I know I love you
That may be
All there is to know

Over the weekend, with the freezing weather in Ontario, I took the opportunity to clean out some old files while finding time to look at my newly arrived Baseball Forecaster.  Some of the stories and clippings I looked at reminded me of how little we know about baseball performance, one of the reasons the game appeals to us.

At this time last year there were people calling for Jose Bautista to be traded, and expecting that Randy Ruiz would  be on the bright spots for the 2010 Jays.  Aaron Hill and Adam Lind were going to carry the Blue Jay offense and Brett Wallace was waiting in the wings.

The POTD pays tribute to the three-time All-Star and Gold Glove Winner.

Vernon Wells featured on JaysVision during the pre-game introductions.

Well, the original trade thread filled up faster than the Skydome on a Tuesday in August. Wait...

Anyway, here's a new one for your AA venerating pleasure.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Jays have traded for Angels catcher Mike Napoli. Details to be updated as they come out.

The deal appears to be Napoli and Juan Rivera for Vernon Wells, as reported by Rosenthal and confirmed by Mike Wilner. We still don't know how much cash the Jays are sending over.

Mike Napoli steps to the plate against the Jays at the Dome August 21, 2009.  He would homer later in the game against Casey Janssen but the Jays would prevail over the Angels 5-4.  Interestingly enough, Vernon Wells also went deep in the same contest.

...is a new Jay.

Several times through the past few years, dating back to Batter’s Box Year 1 (!) we have played around with the idea of anagramatics … word-play using people's names to find full anagrams that describe them (or, more commonly, don't describe them, but in a funny way). For example, my personal anagramatic is Michael Doherty = Hey, I'm a Tech Lord. (Not!) You can see from that example that we can add in punctuation – apostrophes, whatever – wherever necessary.

Given all that, let’s meet some of the newest Blue Jays … several have many options!

For example, Octavio Dotel splits nicely into the unfortunate anagramatic …

 

The first manager in Toronto Blue Jays history has passed away at his Atlanta-area home.  He was 85.

Roy Hartsfield's 1978 baseball card capturing his time as a Boston Braves player and Blue Jays manager.