The Boston Red Sox have reportedly signed shortshop Marco Scutaro to a two year deal with an option according to the Boston Globe.  The deal is pending a physical but the linked story says Scutaro's heel has apparently.......wait for it!...... healed!  Get it?

"Double Photo Day December" continues as we profile this fan favourite in our latest visual veduta known as the Batter's Box POTD.

Which eligible broadcaster should be placed on the final ballot for the 2010 Ford C. Frick Award?

Your chance to answer that question is now available ...

The inaugural Batter's Box POTD for December features back to back shots of a near catch at the wall.

(Yes, yes, inaccurate graphic and all that, but we don't have a logo for "Not yet gone, not yet forgotten" ...)

MLB's current (and historically, perhaps least-beloved) commissioner Bud Selig reaffirmed recently that he'll step down as MLB Commissioner when his contract expires in 2012.

So three questions, posed here without any contextualizing comments, as tempting as those might be:

1. Good news or bad news?
2. Who's the next commissioner? Who SHOULD be?
3. What are your personal memories -- good and bad -- of This Bud's For Baseball?

The ballot for the 2010 Hall of Fame class has been released, and debuting on the list this year are former Blue Jay heroes Pat Hentgen, Roberto Alomar and Fred McGriff. (Projection: No chance, first ballot and probably should, but won't be.) David Segui, a Jay for 95 at-bats in 1999, also appears on the ballot for the first time.

Others premerieng on this year's ballot include Edgar Martinez, Barry Larkin and Andres Galarraga, among others. Ballot holdovers include, again among others, Don Mattingly, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Lee Smith, Alan Trammell and the controversy of Mark McGwire.

(Personally, I'd vote for at least five of those. And you?)

We now have our shortstops for 2010.  Blue Jays ink veteran shortstop Gonzalez (no, not that one, the active one) for $2.75 in 2010 and $2.5 in 2011 (club option) while Blue Jays, McDonald reach a deal for 2 more years for $1.5 per year.

Phat Albert's NL MVP. Unanimously.

Any questions?

Twitter has all the news tonight.  Per Jordan Bastian the Jays are close to signing John McDonald to a one year $1.5m contract.  Jeff Blair tweets that a baseball guy with another organization said he thinks the Jays are 90% likely to trade Lyle Overbay at the winter meetings.  Finally Bastian twitters that the Jays have called on Yorvit Torrealba multiple times and are expected to make an offer.  Blair guesses that there is a 50% chance that Doc could be an ex-Jay after the winter meetings.

It's almost as fun as this game show.  I assure you, this is the last Monty Python reference.  No, it isn't!  Yes it is!  I could be arguing in my spare time!   Anyways, the Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering silmite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that the man known as J.M. was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why he is the MVP.  Sure, you can argue strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of MVP selection and that supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.  However, that's how MLB rolls these days.

Compare and contrast the two images below, if you will!

Okay, I should start by admitting that this piece has absolutely zero research support; everything here is strictly from memory. That's an invitation for you all to interject, disagree, expand -- whatever feels right.

Basically, I started wondering about a question and figured to myself, "Self, this would be a great arguing point for Da Box." So here we go. The question? What team has had the most consistent greatness at a single position in baseball history?

Some examples ...

To nobody's surprise (one hopes), Minnesota backstop Joe Mauer is your 2009 AL MVP. Yankee teammates Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter split the Bronx vote to finish second and third, respectively. Tiger Miguel Cabrera, who finished fourth, received one first-place vote, with all the others going to Joltin' Joe of the Twin Cities. 

This was the first or second book on the Jays that I ever got.

Recent 40-man roster addition Reidier Gonzalez pitched a shutout inning but his Phoenix Desert Dogs lost to the Peoria Javelinas 5-4 in the Arizona Fall League championship game.

The Blue Jays have added right-handed pitcher Reidier Gonzalez to their 40-man roster.  That means the 24 year-old Cuban is protected from being selected by another club in the Rule 5 draft on December 10th.