The last stop on our minor league organization tour is with the relievers and there are a lot of them.  By my count there are at least 65 relievers in minor league camp plus a few more already assigned to extended spring training.  With smaller roster sizes in some minor league stops there are probably 40 jobs available plus I assume about 10 DL spots.  That's 50 places for 65+ guys.  The other change we see is a very large number of imports, whether by signing or claiming, that could fill the AAA and AA bullpens.  Where is the room for home grown guys like Sean Stidfole, Mike MacDonald, Zach Dials, Daryl Harang and Seth Overbey?

Now that we have all the position players allocated it is time to look at pitchers and there are a lot of them.  Today we will look at starting pitchers and tomorrow we will finish with relievers.

Thirty-six guys come to camp fighting for approximately thirty spots throughout the organization.  Where will they all go?  I hope you don't expect me to know.

TGIF.  Friday is the end of the working week and it must be time for us to look at the cornerstones, the third basemen.

The venerable Sporting News, which has become a better magazine recently with its move to a more feature-oriented bi-weekly publication schedule, has in its latest issue its annual MLB preview, including "Offseason Grades" for each big league club. Just four major league teams received a "D" -- the Twins, Astros, Padres and Pirates -- for their offseason work. There were all sorts of Bs, a few C's, some A's -- even an A+ for the Yankees.

Oh wait,. There was one "F" ... ladies and gentlemen, your Toronto Blue Jays!

Here's the entire Jays preview, brief but pointed ...

In today's news, as most of you have probably already heard, Ken Griffey Jr. has elected to re-sign with his original club, the Seattle Mariners.

No links here to the many (many, many) news stories, or the love-fest published by the Seatlle Post-Intelligencer. Just a question for today -- a Question of the Day, if you will -- how's this gonna work out? For Da Kid? For the M's?

Feel free to link to any of those many, many stories yourself, of course, with your considered (or snide and funny) commentary attached, of course.

If today is Thursday then it is middle-infield day in our organizational look-ahead to the 2009 season.

We continue on our tour around the bases though the spring training lens.  Today the first basemen take centre stage.

Yesterday we looked at the 200 players coming to Florida for spring training and we promised a position by position look at the rosters.  Today we start with the catchers.

Spring training is here at last and finally we can try to forget about steroids and perjury and the impact of the economy on team budgets.  2009 is the year of Obama and the Jays battle cry should be "yes we can".  If Obama can deliver the improbable then why not the Jays?  On a more practical note this spring training sees about 200 Jays players arrive in Florida ready to battle for about 150 roster spots on six teams from the big leaguers to the extended spring training team.  Over the next week and a half we will look at each position and assess the depth of the Jays system.

Got to thinking - what should we expect in the Jays rotation and bullpen in 2009?  We have been assuming Cito will go with a 7 man bullpen but will he push for a 6 man?

Every year as spring training approaches, we take a look at some of the statistical milestones that are likely (or in some cases, unlikely) to be broached in the coming season.

After what I admit is just a cursory scan of the active leaderboards on the greatness that is BaseballReference.com, focusing solely on round numbers (that is, numbers like "500" rather than the famous-but-uneven like "755" and "5714"), I found about 40 such numbers. I undoubtedly missed some, so speak up ... take a look at the table after the link and chime in ...

Intrepid correspondent Brent Steinacker takes on the thorny task of ranking general managers. Help him out!

Gosh, it's been another four days since we had a new thread? Again, apologies for our suckitude. And a lot has happened!

• John Smoltz to the Red Sox? Really? That seems wrong.
• Trevor Hoffman is a Brewer? That seems even wronger!
• Jason Giambi is back in Oakland. There's something right about that, anyway.
• Carl Pavano to the Indians? Why?
  
• The Red Sox also signed Rocco Baldelli -- good for him (and them)!
• What else is in the news? (Provide links, please!)
  

Question of the Day: With the latest HOF class being announced on Monday, ESPN.com has hosted recent chats debating the Hall of Fame worthiness of both Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven. I say yes to both, but I'm a "big Hall" guy. What say you?

Okay, as I write this, we are mere minutes away from it being Jan. 5 in Toronto, and your faithful Batter's Box roster has yet to post a new thread this entire (four-day-old!) new year. We suck. Yeah, we get that. So, um, here's one. And a few discussion starters ...

1. The "big news" on the hot stove lately has been Mark DeRosa being traded from the Cubs to the Indians and the Angels "replacing" Francisco Rodriguez with Brian Fuentes. What else are we missing? Provide links!
2. You'll note that the headline above is cleverly and mysteriously void of actual content. Travel back in time, oh, two minutes and tell us ... what headline would you most hope to see here upon coming to Da Box for the first time today? What headline would, alternatively, horrify you the most?
3. Manager Pool '09 ... who will be the first manager fired in 2009? How long will it take?
4. That poll there to the left, the Teixeira poll -- it's getting kinda old and hasn't generated much interest. And we haven't changed it in a week (as noted, we suck). So, suggest a poll topic including a question and at least four options to choose from as answers. Be prepared -- we might actually use your idea! (And we might not. See the Complaints department if you must. Oh, we don't have one? Another thing to complain about!)
5. Yes, the grand old default -- it's open mike time (and not just for those named Michael, like I am) ... what's on your mind? What should be on everyone else's mind?
6. And finally, what is the answer to life, the universe and everything? (Warning: there is a correct answer to this question, as fans of British comedy will assure you.)

That's enough for now. Over to you, Bauxites!