Jordan Bastian has twittered changes to the Jays coaching staff for 2010.

Cito Gaston will manage one more year then retire after 2010.

Brad Arnsberg has moved on to the Astros as the new pitching coach and Gene Tenace has retired.

Bruce Walton comes out of the bullpen to be the next pitching coach, his job in the bullpen will be taken by Rick Langford who has been a pitching coach in the minor leagues for many years.  Last season Langford was the pitching rehab instructor.

Brian Butterfield goes back on the field to be third base coach as he switches jobs with Nick Leyva.  This gives Cito one of his old pals on the bench with him.

Dwayne Murphy moves from first base coach to hitting coach.  Murphy is another coach who has spent time in the minor leagues.  And Omar Malave is promoted from Dunedin manager to first base coach.

As Bauxite 92-93 and our John Northey pointed out in a previous thread, the Jays have claimed left-hander Sean Henn off waivers from Baltimore.  To make room, the Jays have designated catcher Michael Barrett for assignment.

Take me away, I don't mind
But you better promise me, I'll be back in time 

He's been reactivated in time for the start of the World Series and he can add this to the list of his accomplishments - a starring role in the Batter's Box POTD!

The Jays announced today that Paul Beeston has been appointed President and CEO for a three year term.

"We are thrilled that we were able to convince Paul Beeston to take on this role," continued Tony Viner. "Paul's background with the club, his credentials in the baseball world and his enthusiasm for this sport will be incredible assets." Paul Beeston will work with newly appointed General Manager, Alex Anthopoulos.

Alex Anthopoulos's first order of duty is to come up with a philosophy for the team.  What is a team philosophy you ask?  Beeston and Anthopoulos stated in their first Saturday press conference that the organization first needs to define a philosophy and from there decisions regarding payroll and free agents and roster composition can be made.   The philosophy covers how the team will compete, it is a baseball equivalent of a business plan.  Alex and Beeston were supposedly meeting over the last couple of weeks to determine the philosophy.  This week they might be presenting it to Rogers.  So we at Batters Box, at no charge to the Blue Jays, will help define what the philosophy should be.

There has been a lot of discussion in other threads about what the Jays should do but a lot of it is based around specific players such as JJ Hardy or Hanley Ramirez that the Jays could target.  However a philosophy cannot be based on what other teams might be willing to do, it has to be more abstract than that, it is what will wo do, in general, to make this team competitive.  Here are three offerings from members of the roster.

Two hits, two walks and two RBI from this man helped extend the American League Championship Series to a sixth game tonight (and hopefully a seventh!) in New York.  He's the focus of our POTD.

Short is a big issue for 2010.  Scutaro cannot be counted on we'd have to assume (the Jays would do full medicals to know a lot better than us I hope) so what do they do?

The man who saved the Los Angeles Angels from a sweep and maybe their season gets today's POTD!

Things are quiet in Blue Jay land.  Alex Anthopoulos continues to work on his plans for league domination.  There have been a few news items recently with AA saying the Jays would like to bring back Marco Scutaro and Rod Barajas and last week AA was on the road inspiring the troops.

This is NOT a repeat. You know the drill ...

First pitch is in a few hours. You know the players and all that's involved. So take a shot here -- who wins? Who stars? Who wears goat horns? What happens?

Wildest and most outlandish prediction (that doesn't involve a cuttlefish) wins a home edition of the coveted Batter's Box No-Prize!

Me? Well ...

The man who'll give Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon plenty of nightmares this off-season gets top billing in our POTD.

First pitch is in a few hours. You know the players and all that's involved. So take a shot here -- who wins? Who stars? Who wears goat horns? What happens?

Wildest and most outlandish prediction (that doesn't involve a cuttlefish) wins a home edition of the coveted Batter's Box No-Prize!

Me? Well ...

If the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to go to the World Series for the first time since 1988, they need this man to be the man and he is featured in our latest installment of POTD.

According to Friend of Batter's Box (FOBB) Jamey Newberg, the Texas Rangers "have announced that hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo has declined a contract offer and will not return to the coaching staff next year. The remainder of the big league coaching staff has been invited to return for the 2010 season."

Rumor has it that the Cubs are looking to seriously overpay Rudy to come fix Alf Soriano and Milton Bradley (both Texas exes he had some success with previously), among others. Here in North Texas, we saw how much effect a single new coach can have when Mike Maddux showed up to turn the Rangers into a model pitching-centric organization, And Rudy is generally seen (around these parts anyway) as one of, if not THE best hitting coaches in the game.

So ... does this matter at all to the makeup of the AL West and possibly the NL Central?

Should the Jays be more like the Twins?

I think they're already way too much like them. In 2009, anyway.