Once again, it's been too long since the last Photo of the Week. I'm delaying GregH's pictures from the Larry Walker-Orlando Hudson meet-n-greet at St. Mary's for a few more days, but in the meantime here's a nice desktop of the no-longer-a-Blue-Jay, Orlando Hudson:

Three divisions.
Twenty teams per division.
Twenty-Five players per team.
Twelve statistical categories.
Promotion and relegation.

Welcome to Year Four of the Batters Box Fantasy League.

Believe it or not, the answer is "yes, sort of." Many times we have heard from new members (and even occasionally from someone affiliated with the Blue Jays) wondering what the official "code of conduct" is or was or will be or (insert "to be" tense of your choice here).

And Batter's Box not only has an official "code of conduct" ("What are the ground rules?") published as part of the site's FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, there's also a Privacy Policy on the good ol' Legal page. And yet, believe it or not, Da Box has never made a big deal out of pointing to these pages because 99.64 percent of the time, there is no reason to.

So why bring this up now? Precisely because ..

John Sickels is a long time minor league analyst and in his latest book he has rated over 1,000 prospects.

He recently released his Blue Jay Top 20 Prospect Ranking over at his terrific website and agreed to step into Da Box to discuss the Jays prospects further.

Then there won't be chocolates or cards or any of those other pre-fab presents for Bauxites this February 14. Nope. It will be a book. There are so many good choices.

ESPN.com reports that Shea Hillenbrand has agreed to a 1 year, $5.8 million deal with the Jays to avoid arbirtation.

Update: Pete Walker has also signed a one year contract avoiding arbitration by signing a deal for $650,000 this season.

In case you missed it in yesterday's transactions file:

Baltimore signed pitcher John Halama to a minor league contract.

Halama is much beloved here on Da Box (go ahead, do a search for his name) and the O's embracing their Inner Halama can only mean bad news for the rest of the AL East.

What else is going on today, now that, you know, the Orioles have sewn up the title?

After 2004's epic performance, 2005 was an unhappy epilogue for Curt Schilling. The heroism of the triumph over ankle injury of the 2004 playoffs had as its necessary consequence an injury-riddled struggle in 2005, and a somewhat humiliating trip to the bullpen.

Yesterday the Blue Jays Tony LaCava shared his insights on the draft. Today he talks about the Blue Jays master plan, several current Blue Jays and various other topics.

TSN reports that the deal is official - 1 year, $4.5 million, with a mutual $7.5 million option or a team $500,000 buyout. The AP reported that the $4.5 million Molina is getting this year is broken out into a $1.5 million bonus and a $3 million salary.

Tony LaCava, the Blue Jays Director of Player Personnel, was getting ready to head west on a college scouting trip but, before he did, he graciously agreed to step into Da Box. Most fans could not explain the responsibilities of a Director of Player Personnel, so we will let LaCava explain it to you.

Unusual first initials are in vogue, apparently. When we created the Y or Y Not? Hall of Names team earlier, we noted that fully half (six) of the 12 players in major league history who have borne a first/given name starting with the letter "Y" were active in 2005.

Taking the next step (alphabetically, anyway), we can also note that of the just 14 players in major league history who have borne a first/given name starting with the letter "Z," more than 20 percent (okay, that's just three) were active in 2005. And for the record, that doesn't include the fine young Colorado hurler, Stephen Zachary Day.

And eight of the fourteen are pitchers already, so it's not like we're going to get a full roster, or even a full lineup, from this group anyway. Maybe we could if ...

Yes, that job I was doing that was supposed to finish on January 6th has finally come to its end, nearly a month later. Which means I can finally, finally get back to Photo of the Week.

Bauxite GregH has sent me some fun pictures from O-Dog and Larry Walker's appearance at St. Mary's, but I'm saving them for next week. In the meantime, here's Scott Schoeneweis accepting a return throw:

Recently, one Bauxite mused ...

...the last "notes from nowhere" thread is now almost as ancient as my memory of R. Sierra ever playing for the Jays.

Fine. Here it is. Now ... what's going on? Terry Mulholland is going to camp with the Dodgers, you say? Seventy-eight-year-old Terry Mulholland? That'd be right up there with the Jays extending an invite to 1920's RHRP Howard "Mul" Holland ... 'cept of course, he died 37 years ago, taking 123 fewer wins (and 141 fewer losses) than Terry, so far anyway, into eternity with him.

So seriously ... what are you hearing this fine Groundhog Day?

Mike Mussina again battled injury in 2005. For the second straight year, he was an average pitcher who threw under 180 innings. He turned 37 in December. Is the end of his career near, or do his 47 walks and 142 strikeouts in 179 innings portend glorious sunset years?