Jeff Blair gets things going in the Globe and Mail today with a column questioning Cito Gaston.  "Cito should have done better" is the headline.  JP Riccardi has been the target of the scribes up to now but Blair is the first one to take on Gaston.  Blair does credit the blogosphere for discussing this over the last few weeks.

With the Jays touch and go to win 70 games this is likely the first of many such columns. 

And that's 'cause they didn't play.  At least this thing's almost over.

You can keep your Marxist ways, for it's only just a phase...
Money, money, money makes the world go round!

USA Today has published salary data for all 30 major league teams. Read 'em and weep.

They're doing it again...

Many reports have come out that the Jay pitchers are hitting their inning limit.  Lets look at the kids and see where they are against their recent past.  Speculation on who should/will come up to fill in is welcome.

The Blue Jays have until August 17 – one week – to sign players drafted in the 2009 amateur draft. Toronto has 23 players left unsigned from the draft, although 12 of them were selected in the 39th through 50th round. However, the first five selections still remain unsigned, as does the team’s sixth round pick.

How, oh how, did everyone get so carried away?

Remember Spike Lundberg? Spike is quietly retiring and moving into another area of his baseball career -- read on for details.

Lundberg, a one-time Syracuse SkyChief (pictured, left) was a good friend to Batter's Box in his brief run through the Jay organization, even joining us here online in 2004-05 for some Q&A, the cleverly-named Ask Spike and Ask Spike II. He left the Jays after one season (2005) and hooked on with the Dodgers, where Spike was named the Southern League's "Most Outstanding Pitcher" for 2006, as he  went 15-2, 2.27 in 23 starts for the  AA Jacksonville Suns.

Spike pitched professionally across a dozen seasons for 14 teams in four big league organizations -- in order, TEX, PHI, TOR and LAD -- as well as the Mexican League and the independent Atlantic League.

He rang up a career mark of 102-79 in that time, including an 81-62 mark at AA/AAA. He reached double digits in season wins four times, including that career high of 15 in '06.

His Blue Jay career ...

I don't know about you but I've been looking forward to this for a long time.  A majority of the players and coaches from the 1992 and 1993 World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays are in town this weekend to celebrate the glory days.  Oh yeah, the Baltimore Orioles are in town too and let's hope they'll be gracious guests by lying down like dogs for the next three games!

No Texas Ranger has ever won an American League Cy Young Award. Oh, Fergie Jenkins finished a distant second to Catfish Hunter back in 1974, but more usually, even when a guy like Little Ricky Helling won 20 games in 1998, he didn't receive a single vote -- Jay fans may remember that as a Roger Clemens unanimous Cy year.

Well, I am here to tell you that all that is about to change. Not this year (sorry, Kevin Millwood) or even in the next couple of years (calm down, Tommy Hunter), but at some point in the next 5-7 years, and I write this without even a hint of hyperbole intended -- young Neftali Feliz will win 20+ games, strike out 300+ batters, maybe toss a no-hitter or two, and be the first Ranger to haul home a Cy to Arlington, Texas.

Feliz, who is just barely 21 ...

Mike Green, an original Batter's Box roster member and still a regular Bauxite visitor to Canada's best baseball site, is a wonderful writer. So when he asks if he can contribute a "Pinch Hit" feature to the site every now and again, the only concern we have is that readers will want to know why there aren't more frequent Green missives.

Recently Mike and his lovely bride Ellen took a trip to Boston to visit Fenway Park. (Yes, yes, insert your own "Green Monster" pun {here}.) Let's talk a stroll down Yawkey Way and into the Fens with the Greens ...

"The only constant factor to be found in my thinking over the years has been opposition to accepted opinions."
  -  Pierre Trudeau

Bill James, who hasn't had much to say about the subject over the years, offered up some provocative thoughts about how the Steroid Era will look down the road.

Lansing put on a clinic, playing one of the best games of the Jays' minor league season, a couple top prospects had good games, and a rehabber had a not so good game.

After a rough night on Friday the affiliates fought back with five wins. I witnessed the Fisher Cats win 5-2 over Connecticut.

Notes from New Hampshire

* There were over ten scouts at the game, including the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Giants, Angels, Reds and Brewers.
* Most scouts who saw Marcum's start on Thursday were impressed although his fastball was at 85-87.  Pitchers coming back from TJ surgery take a while to get their velocity back
* Scouts were impressed with Casey Janssen, they said he was throwing well at 92 mph and was pitching down around the knees.  Janssen is scheduled to pitch again Sunday.
* Kyle Ginley has had elbow surgery to re-route a nerve
* Zach Dials had gone to Dunedin with shoulder fatigue and was kept there until his arm regained full strength
* The scouts had two questions for me, (1) will Halladay be traded?, and  (2) Will JP be fired?

Robert of Dudek returned to action the other day, and in the course of the ensuing discussion he noted:

91 mph is a below average MLB fastball now (for a righthander). Richmond is a serviceable starter, but it is very unlikely to become an ace.

Now he's probably right about that second sentence, but later for that. It's the notion of an average major league fastball that has caught my attention. Oh look! It's a  Bright and Shiny Object - and away I go. I'm gonna need a Data Table....