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?

According to our good pals over at ESPN.com, there are still 53 free agents left on the market. Should make for a pretty good "All-Free Agent" team, huh? Actually, maybe not so much.

And the real question is, who do you really want from this group? ...

This was intended to be a Hall of Names roster made up of players whose first/given name started with the letter "Y." (See Y is for Yount, Yastrzemski and ... Yan? for the last/family name All-Y team).

However, once we eliminate nicknames (sorry, Yogi) and middle names, it appears that only only 12 players in the history of the Great Game have made the major leagues with such a first/given name; and since five are pitchers and four are catchers, while we might form a fine battery or two, a roster just isn't going to happen.

Perhaps most interestingly ...

Superficially, Tom Glavine seemed to have a ho-hum age 39 season in 2005, 13-13 with a 3.53 ERA in Shea, but 12 homers, 61 walks and 105 strikeouts in 211 innings for a crafty lefty suggests that he might have a surprise season or two left for his forties, as Warren Spahn and Tommy John did.

By Alex Godard, Alex Obal and Anders Whist

This Hall of (Place) Names challenge, as Craig Burley has coined it, has already led to one accidental collaboration, between Matthew Elmslie and Greg Williams, who independently submitted rosters for what became a combined St. Peter's Ballmouth (San Pedro de Macoris) squad.

Now Alex Godard, then just a few hours later the team of Alex Obal and Anders Whist (I guess only GMs whose names start with "A" need apply) traveled the same path, quite literally, as each independently submitted a Santo Domingo (capital city of the Dominican Republic) squad that leads us now to this team, which we dub ...

David Pinto has begun to release his defensive ratings for 2005. These ratings are based on a probabilistic model of range, comparing the number of outs recorded based on zone information with the number that would be expected from league averages and visiting player performance. The Blue Jay middle infielder statistics were very interesting. Thanks to Wildrose for the tip.

The latest player to sign a minor league contract with the Jays is pitcher James Baldwin.