With great sadness, we report that we've just learned that Bobby Mattick, the symbol and soul of the Blue Jays franchise, passed away last night at the age of 89.

For those who might not fully appreciate the role Bobby has played in the Blue Jays' franchise, consider these quotes:

"He means what the Blue Jays stand for since 1976." - Paul Godfrey
"I don't know where this organization would be without him." - Paul Beeston

Bobby, who filled virtually every important position on this ballclub from the day he joined it as an expansion team, spent 71 of his 89 years in baseball as a player, scout, manager and executive. The Jays have named their top minor-league awards and their spring-training facility in his honour. Gabe Paul once called him the finest judge of free agent talent ever. The list of players he recruited, signed and developed includes Frank Robinson, Curt Flood, Vida Pinson, Rusty Staub, Don Baylor, Tommy Harper, Bobby Grich and Dave Stieb.

We extend our deepest condolences to Bobby's family, friends and colleagues throughout baseball and especially with the Blue Jays, and our appreciation for all he has done for our favourite team. Please share your memories and appreciation of Bobby Mattick in this thread.

You know the drill.

Pedro to the Mets. Tim Hudson to Atlanta. Troy Glaus to Anaheim, Adrian Beltre to the Mariners, Corey Koskie to the Blue Jays. Maybe even the Big Unit to the Bronx. It's been a pretty amazing off-season already, and we still haven't seen where the likes of Carlos Beltran will end up. We'll ask this question later again this winter, but for now:

QOTD: Which trade acquisition or free-agent signing will be considered the best investment by the end of the 2005 season, taking into account salary, length of contract, and player and team performance? Which will be considered the worst?

You know that NFH is a poor substitute for the regular Rounduppers when he makes you do all the work yourself.

You may've seen the crawl on ESPNews or even read it in another thread a few minutes ago, but New York Newsday is reporting the Yankees have finally acquired Hall of Fame lefty Randy Johnson in a bizarre three-way deal.

The Yankees send Javy Vazquez and the last vestiges of the Yankee farm system in catcher Dioner Navarro and third baseman Eric Duncan to the Dodgers, with L.A. flipping pitchers Brad Penny and Yhency Brazoban and former Jay Shawn Green to Arizona.

That's right, Tim Hudson traded today and it's not the top pitching storyline in the news. Thoughts on the deal? Discuss.

Update by Joe: The deal is not as "done" as some were reporting.

Okay, if you don't watch Charmed, you don't get the headline reference. No big deal. Anyway, with Edgar Renteria signing with the Red Sox for approximately seven billion dollars over thirty-five years, it brings to mind the fact that not long ago, there was a clear and obvious "Holy Trinity" of shortstops -- A-Rod, Nomar and Jeter, probably in that order. With that no longer the case, here's today's ...

Question of the Day: What is the current top trio of shortstops? Without regard to a limiting number like three, who are the best shortstops in the game today, and in what order? What will the new top trio be in 2008? At that time, what, if any, new names will we need to add to Mike Green's Hall Watch: The Shortstops feature?

Spencer Fordin of MLB.com has reported that the Jays have signed Scott Downs to a minor league deal. Expos fans will remember Downs as the guy they got from the Cubs in the Rondell White trade.

Downs will likely be a candidate for the #5 spot in the rotation.

Remember the old, time-honoured tradition of slowly building a team up, from bad to less bad to mediocre to pretty good to great? Remember the Success Cycle, and how every team eventually finds itself on a wheel that spins from good to bad and back (hopefully, anyway) to good again? That tradition might always have been as much myth as reality in the free-agent era. But over the last couple of off-seasons, a few teams have been doing their level best to blow the entire legend to smithereens.

Sexson and Beltre to the Mariners? Pedro to the Mets? Gizzi to the Expos? (Hey, it could happen in an insane world, which we apparently inhabit, baseball-wise.) Millions and millions and millions of guaranteed dollars? What in tarnation? OK, the Mariners will be better next year, but good enough to topple the Angels? Or the A's? Or even the Rangers?

These topics, and other free agent phenomena, have been discussed on various threads, and here is yet one more various thread to ... erm ... discuss them. So ... ahem ... discuss.

Espn.com reports that Tom (Nasty) Mastny was sent to Cleveland to complete the trade for John McDonald.

It's a minor trade- a 23 year old pitcher who has just completed a successful year in the Sally League for a good glove, no hit shortstop. Digging a little deeper though, the trade seems to suggest to me that the Moneyball label does not always belong on these Jays, and sometimes could equally well be placed on the Indians.

Post 'em if you got 'em!

So Jays fans, in your memories, will you always have Parris? (The spelling's a bit off, true.) Does Cleveland rock? Do you enjoy a Boston marathon? Fly South to see Lima? Does Houston have a problem? Many ballplayers have or had place names as first or last names. Which leads to today's ....

Question of the Day: Who can we get to fill out the roster of an All-Geography Hall of Names team? Alternate spellings are fine, but see if you can't somehow fill out a separate team for first and last names. Here are some starter suggestions ...

When frequent Box reader and occasional poster Dan Julien mentioned this paper in the Roundup the other day, I asked him to share it. Part of a research project in his Quantitative Analysis course at Brock University, it considers the effect of a free agent’s departure on fan attendance, specifically Carlos Delgado from Toronto.

Coach had a great idea earlier, leading to today's ...

Question/Challenge of the Day: Create an ad campaign or a single commercial -- print, TV, online, don't matter, just tell us which -- for the 2005 Blue Jays featuring Corey Koskie. Canadian Hot Corner Star.

Finally, someone let me out of my cage
Now, time for me is nothing, 'cause I'm counting no age
Now I couldn't be there
Now you shouldn't be scared
I'm good at repairs
And I'm under each snare
Intangible

So long, Anaheim. Hello, Rogers Skydome and press conference to introduce Corey Koskie this afternoon. Paging Matt Clement....