For the sixth year in a row, I am once again asking for hardcore baseball fans to participate in the annual Scouting Report project, in which you evaluate the fielding characteristics of players on your team. If you have a few minutes, please drop by and evaluate your team.
http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/

UPDATE: If you entered data between the start of the poll 2 days ago and Aug 20, Wed, 2pm ET, please re-enter your data for this player only: Overbay, Lyle . I apologize for the inconvenience.

This morning’s minor league update turned into an interesting discussion of who the Jays might call up when the rosters expand. With September about two weeks away, I decided to take a look at the issue more closely and see what history might reveal about names we can expect to see in Toronto blue in September.

I was waxing ecstatic about Roy Halladay a while back - it's just something that happens when you follow this team -  and was sufficiently inspired to build a database with every one of his ML starts, just to know how his latest gem compared with the rest.

The Jays waste a fine effort from Jesse Litsch upon his return from purgatory (AAA). The bullpen implodes - let's take a closer look at that.

Per Sportsnet.

Just over six weeks left. The battles for post-season positions are coming and the Blue Jays are right in the thick of it!

After all, they have many games to play against almost all the teams that actually have a legitimate chance to make it...

About once a year, the Toronto Blue Jays take a kid out of the minor leagues and put him right into the starting rotation.

Warning: there is trivia involved!

Ho hum. The Jays beat up on the Athletics with good starting pitching and relieving, great defense and timely hitting. So that's what it's like!
Lets, however, turn our attention to more esoteric pursuits: baseball nicknames.

Who among current active players will end up in the Hall of Fame? Let’s take a quick look-see and dive into the conversation of worthiness. We started with the American League; now let’s move on to the senior circuit …

We've done this before, but with Hall of Fame inductions taking place today (yay Goose!) let's take a look at players today who could someday earn Cooperstown induction.

We'll start with the American League ...

Today, Dave Steib is 51. And Cliff Johnson is exactly a decade older at 61. The two, who were teammates from 1983-85, each had individual reputations (deserved or not is incidental to this point) for, well, surliness might be a strong word, but let's go with that.

So here's a challenge for you -- with the second-greatest SP in Blue Jay history on the mound and the massiveness of Cliff J. either catching or (preferably) at designated hitter, who else fills out the lineup card for the All-Time, All-Jays, All-Surly squad?

 

I ran across a celver joke on the Web earlier today, dealing with Australian Football (Rugby) League teams and thought I'd try to flip it for Major League Baseball. Let's see how we do and, please, feel free to suggest your own!

• NEW YORK YANKEES: JULIA ROBERTS
  Big in the 1990s but what has she done lately?
  

• DETROIT TIGERS: SARAH JESSICA PARKER
  Just when you thought you were finally safe ... she's back.
  

Pitchers are an odd beast. They can have career years at age 20 (Dwight Gooden) or age 45 (Phil Niekro). OK, Phil's age 35 season might have been better.

There is a reason no one claims to predict pitchers with a high degree of accuracy, and why TINSTAAPP. Still, lets see how the Jays are doing vs their careers.

Just for fun, while we have a few days with fixed stats, lets see how various Jays have done vs their lifetime numbers. Also included are a few high level prospects who might be here in 2009.

I've got an idea! Let's create a pitcher!

And let's make him a monster. A dragon...