Should the Jays be more like the Twins?

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

If you've been reading Da Box over the past four or five years, you know one of the sidelight features in Baseball's Hall of Names deals with players who share(d) certain initials. We've assembled teams for every possible double-initial, as well as many other obvious ones like MD, PR, BS and others.

Recently I got to thinking about baseball initials ... you know, the kind you scratch on your scorecard during a game, abbreviations like HR, RBI and HBP. Forget building a roster of these guys -- it'll be hard enough to find representatives for all the obvious baseball abbreviations we can think of. So go ahead, play along ... what initials are missing? And who would be better to fill a role in the existing All-Baseball-Initials roll-call that follows? ...

The man who helped Matt Holliday wear the goat horns for the St. Louis Cardinals appears in today's episode of POTD!

Alex Anthopoulos is moving quickly to put his stamp on the organization.  Today the Jays announced a  number of changes which included relieving Dick Scott and Jon Lalonde of their present duties.  Scott leaves the organization while Lalonde takes on new responsibilities.

To complete the minor league week here on Batters Box let's look at the movement in the top 30 lists from 2008 to 2009.  Five players graduated to the major leagues, replaced by five players who are new to the organization since last season.  Thirteen players dropped off the list from 2008 and thirteen players made it on to the lists despite being overlooked last year.

It's Alison Gordon time again! Seems like it comes earlier every year.

It's 2006 again for our subject in today's POTD.

To complement our top 30 prospects list Dick Scott answered questions for Batters Box, as he does each year at this time.  Here is a link to last year's interview.

Now that the regular season is finally in the books... there was some wild stuff going on. It is my custom, as ever, to subject that stuff to an Intense Scrute. Thereby resulting in... intense scrutiny, what else?

I wouldn't want to be the Detroit Tigers today.  The hero of the American League Central Division one game playoff captures the highly coveted Batter's Box POTD honours..

Here is the final installment of the top thirty prospects.  Unfortunately it is not an inspiring lot but prospect evaluation, and player development, is an uncertain process.  With some luck the Jays top ten listed below will all develop well and be productive.  That is what makes prospect following so enjoyable, you cannot predict the course of human histroy.

Number 30 through 21 are here.  Numbers 20 through 11 are here.

Check back tomorrow for some words from Dick Scott, the Blue Jays farm director. 

The post-season is now upon us, and I have to figure out who I'm going to cheer for....

I suppose there are reasons to cheer for or against everybody, no? I wonder if I can think of them...

We're agreed, are we not, that the first 41 games of the season didn't count - that the team (and the players) rolled up some impressive numbers against the inferior competition in the Al Central and West...

The Minnesota Twins hope this man can light the way to the postseason as they take on the Detroit Tigers in a winner-take-all for the American League Central Division title.  He's the subject of our POTD.

Today we look at the prospects rated at 20 though 11.