The Blue Jays have claimed pitcher Casey Fein off waivers from the Red Sox.  The Sox claimed him from Detroit yesterday.  Meanwhile Scott Richmond has been placed on the 60-day DL.

Baseball is back!  Today the Jays play their first game of the spring and this is shaping up as one of the more interesting spring trainings in a while.  On the pitching side of the roster there are very few guaranteed spots and the competition will be fierce for the next month for those jobs.

All right, let's have a contest. A prediction contest! That's the best kind.

......to reiterate once again that Canada rocks!

This not an official trivia thread, though it may read that way. I stumbled across an odd stat today and am baffled; maybe some younger, clear-headed Bauxite can help me out.

In 1942, Warren Spahn made his first four appearances, including two starts, with the then-Boston Braves. His stats show he had one complete game in those two starts; his win-loss record that season, however, was 0-0. How is this possible? How can a pitcher throw a complete game and not get a decision?

Even if you don't know the answer, feel free to speculate, and to post your own "posers" for the Box community herein.

 

Baseball Think Factory: "According to a source with knowledge of the situation, former Toronto Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi will be joining the cast of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight starting in March ... An official announcement regarding Ricciardi is expected either later this week or early next week."

Additional BBTN newcomers could include Aaron Boone and Nomar Garciaparra. Well, at least the BBTN infield will hit for power!

This North Vancouver native has defied all the odds to make it to the bigs and hopes to strike major league gold again in 2010.

If this pitcher needed a nickname, his name would lend itself to such monikers as "Neon" or "Oil Can".  This Vancouver native is the subject of another Canadian edition of the POTD!

Bauxite dan gordon gets a tip of the Jays toothpaste cap for bringing to our attention the Jays signing of catcher Jose Molina to a one-year contract.  Jordan Bastian of bluejays.com says the veteran backstop gets a guaranteed $400-thousand dollars but could earn $800-thousand if he makes the Opening Day roster.  The deal also includes a club option worth $1.2-million dollars for 2011.  Nice work if you can get it if you know what I'm saying!

The headline above this story is a direct quote from a recent post in another thread by a long-time and well-spoken Bauxite. But its source is hardly the matter -- I could have found 50 or 60 similar sentiments and throwaway phrases posted to Batter's Box by dozens of different people in recent weeks.

"The Jays have no hope of contending this year."

Really? I don't write that to be sarcastic or ironic -- the thought just raises a whole series of pertinent questions, especially here on what is generally a pro-Jays fan site, and I'd genuinely like to hear your answers to each and every one. Like these ...

Alex Anthopoulos first joined us in Da Box last May.  In that interview Alex discussed his job, at that time, how he came to join the Blue Jays, and some specific Jays related issues.  When Alex was promoted to the General manager position I touched base with him but we agreed to wait until 2010 to continue our discussion as Alex was going to be snowed under with his new responsibilities.

So when 2010 rolled around we here at Da Box didn't want to talk about 2010, we know it will be a development year and we assume Alex is optimisitc about all his players.  Alex has laid out a new vision for the Jays and we wanted to drill down on that to get some more details of his longer term plans.  So we discussed the draft, hitter development, evaluating scouts, defensive metrics and statistical analysis.  Alex was his usual honest self.  So in this interview we learn why Alex feels the Jays will do better at hitter development; that the Jays might draft a high school pitcher in the first round; a different angle on what Alex thinks of Vernon's defense; and how the Jays are beefing up their statistical department.

Alex and I started exchanging e-mails a few weeks ago so the Dustin McGowan question looks dated now but it is good to hear that he seems to be continuing to get back to form.

Batters Box thanks Alex for taking some of his valuable time, which is much in demand right now, to answer our questions.

The National Post says right-hander Scott Richmond has a shoulder impingement.  The team says the 30 year-old North Vancouver native will undergo rehab in an effort to return to the mound.

The world's politest fantasy league is back.

The POTD moves to the mound as this Vancouver native hopes to earn his way to the major league podium in 2010.

Tony LaCava has a new job, although his title is still VP Baseball Operations he is now responsible for the farm system, replacing Dick Scott.  I caught up with Tony last week and he graciously gave us some of his time to answer some questions about the farm system.  Tony was a little cautious in our discussion, he was reluctant to get too excited about any player but he did let us know that JP Arencibia just had Lasik surgery.