In a follow-up to yesterday's post I decided to look at the strength of each AL division from 1994 (the first year of the 3-division setup) to present. Below the cut is the data.

This website was born at around the time the Blue Jays introduced new General Manager J.P. Ricciardi. Most of us remember the dark times of the Ash regime, particularly how the team spun its wheels with overpaid veterans and mostly disappointing young players. J.P.'s arrival from the Oakland Athletics front office lifted our hopes. We believed that J.P. would rebuild the organisation utilizing "sabermetric"-inspired ideas, as his mentor Billy Beane had done in Oakland. The immediate future would be a tough transition due to budget cuts, but the following years would be glorious.

Today's poll got me thinking about young outfields -- not individual outfielders, but entire outfields. So here's a question ... who had the very best?

Strict parameters: all three starters aged 25 or younger and at least two (preferably three) starting-quality backups under the age of 30.

Simple enough? I have done absolutely zero research on this, relying entirely on my memory, so am probably missing several obvious candidates. Anyway, my top candidate, as much as I hate to admit it, is easily ...

There's an old adage in sports that a team is never as good as it looks when it's winning and never as bad as it looks when it's losing.  Not, that I'm finding much comfort in that this morning.

Well, that sucks.

"He may be here in a few days."
- John Gibbons, before yesterday's game

Lind didn't start yesterday's game against Pawtucket. He delivered a pinch hit single in the 7th and was hit by a pitch in the 9th.

The Jays lose another close-ish game in Tampa as the Rays complete the three game sweep, running Toronto's losing streak to four. In, uh, more positive news, the Raptors won, so Toronto ended the night 1-1 against the state of Florida.

Adam Lind has a .987 OPS at Syracuse and appears to be perfectly healthy. He is hitting .355 with a .581 slugging percentage. The Blue Jays are struggling offensively and starting bench players at DH and the corner outfield positions. Why?

It used to be a big deal.

So the Jays release Frank Thomas over the weekend. Naturally, you'd think that would open up a spot for an excellent propsect, who already had a taste of the big leagues, is left handed on a RH heavy team, can play the OF so Stairs can DH more, and is hitting .379/.431/.621 in AAA.

I realize Lind had a stiff neck over the weekend but he's played 2 games now, going 4-8, and is seemingly good to go. What am I missing here? I expect he'll be called up, but I would have expected that yesterday too and the Jays don't always appear to be the most rational bunch.

Yeah, I'm retired from Batter's Box.

Yeah, I posted something a couple of weeks ago.

Don't get used to it.

Last night, long time Bauxite Robert Dudek said this:

"It's very likely that Frank Thomas still has something left in the tank. I'll wager even money up to $100 that he exceeds a .260 GPA this season."

Some of us remember the last time that Robert and I made a bet about a decision that the Jays brass made. Is it time for a second round?

After two successful seasons the Toronto Bauxite Baseball League is preparing for a third season this summer and is looking for new players. If you are interested in playing hardball during the summer in the Toronto area, see the message after the jump from Mike Kolaric, one of the League's co-conveners and most active members. As a former and future participant currently on the DL, I highly recommend the league if you can make the time commitment.

If you ask me, the Jays are giving us a lot to be happy about.

The Arizona Diamondbacks surprised a lot of people with their first place finish in the NL West last year.  This season they should again be in good position to take the division over the Dodgers and the Padres.