136 wins, 116 losses. 1,230 runs scored, 1,056 runs allowed, representing a 144-108 pythagorean record. A win in the All Star Game. A four game sweep in the World Series. That is how the American League dominated the National League in 2005. What about 2006?

The Jays and Twins have had some trade talks regarding Corey Koskie, but it doesn't look like anything is going to happen soon.

In a continuing effort to assemble the perfect All-City baseball team (after Bauxites were challenged to try all-state, all-province or all-country ... the showoff!), longtime Batter's Box contributor Craig Burley realized his recent Mobile Homeboys, even with five Hall of Famers, might struggle in the Mean Streets of Flatbush.

You may recall, we recently started up a new chapter in the Hall of Names team-building business, as In All Thy Sons Command delineated a team made up entirely of native Canadians. That was followed by a bit of a challenge:

Now, here's the test ... Visit the BaseballReference.com page that breaks down major league player birth by U.S. state and/or nationality and build yourself your own Hall of Names team, one that's better'n this here Canadian one. Then send it [in] and we'll publish it here at Batter's Box.

Much to absolutely nobody's surprise, longtime Batter's Box contributor Craig Burley was the first to answer the challenge (okay, he was actually first through third, but the other two teams will wait until later this week) ... so it's time to see what sort of Hall of Names squad he was able to, uh, "Mobile-ize" ...

TSN reports that the Jays have signed catcher-first baseman Jason Phillips to a minor league contract.

Over the next couple months, we'll be using the polling station here at the Box to generate collective projections for the 2006 Blue Jays. For hitters, we'll be projecting number of at-bats, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. For pitchers we'll estimate innings pitched and earned run averge. These stats can be used to generate rough estimates of runs created and and runs allowed, respectively. Add these up for an entire team and you come up with the total runs for and against; from this you can calculate a Pythagorean winning percentage; and from this you know precisely how many games the team will win. Okay, maybe not quite precisely. But hopefully it's an entertaining exercise.

For each poll set, the relevant statisical history of the player in question will be included as the first comment in the "AB" or "IP" poll. When in doubt, users are encouraged to refer to these stats before responding. As always, discussion related to the polls is encouraged. Let's begin! What do we think Mr. Roy Halladay will do in 2006?

One of the most common given/first names in the English-speaking world is, of course, Robert. (Our own Dudek's and Pettapiece's ears -- er, eyes -- have certainly perked up at this point.) It's also one of the most common given/first names to not yet have its own Hall of Names roster published here on Batter's Box ... and it's time to take care of THAT little oversight.

Yes, this is (in part, anyway) a team made up entirely of players who appeared in the major leagues with "Robert" (not "Roberto" -- sorry Mr. Alomar, Mr. Bonilla and especially Mr. Clemente) as their first/given name (sorry, Jeffrey Robert Bagwell and Bret Robert Boone, among many others) and who actually went by (Sayonara, Robert Kevin Appier and Robert Britt Burns) some form of that name ...

There are so many little things that pitchers do: fielding the position, holding on runners, throwing the ball where the catcher can catch it with runners on, getting the ground ball with a runner on first. How many runs can these things add up to in a career?

Oh, I'm still on hiatus from Photo of the Week. Am I ever on hiatus. In fact, I don't think I'll be starting work on the new banner until February, so Orlando Hudson will be at the top of the site for another month at least.

But that doesn't mean that we can't talk about who's going up there next...

New Year's Eve, New Year's Day ... warm up the pipes and clear the throats to sing along!

In the Troy Glaus trade the Blue Jays also received Sergio Santos from the Diamondbacks. Where does he fit into the Blue Jay prospects?

According to the information provided by Sean Forman's brilliant BaseballReference.com, there have been more than 200 Canadian-born major league ballplayers, men actually born in The True North Strong and Free.

Before we move on to an international Hall of Names challenge, let's see if we can't build the best possible 25-man roster from this considerable pool of candidates; your arguments and corrections are welcome and invited!

So here we go, let's welcome ...

At Hall Watch, evaluating quality is Job 1. For starting pitchers, it is not easy. There are so many choices. You can start with the components- walks, home runs, strikeouts, ground balls, fly balls and line drives, and work from there. You can start with the runs allowed and work from there. Or you can look at the won-loss record and work from there. You might very well use a different method for career evaluation than you would use for seasonal evaluation.

B.J. Ryan, 5 years $47M. A.J. Burnett, 5 years, $55M. Lyle Overbay for Bush and Jackson and Gross. Troy Glaus for Hudson and Batista. How’s a longsuffering Blue Jay fan feel about all this?

This one feels culture shock.

Did you know that only 11 men in major league history have carried the name of "Troy"?