And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

Yesterday in Part One, I reviewed 2003 and gave the organization two thumbs up. Tomorrow, don't miss Part Three, Jordan's look at the system's best prospects. Now, let's meet your 2004 Fighting Jays.

Here's where I could have done some research, crunched the ZiPS numbers, factored PECOTA and invented a longevity quotient. It's more fun for me to rely on my eyes and my baseball instincts. However, I have refined my tried-and-true WAG (wild-ass guess) method — you know, the nonsensical approach that appraised Doc at 22-7 last March and foolishly predicted a career year for a 37-year-old backup catcher — into the COACH system, an acronym for Completely Optimistic, Analysis-free hunCH.

Don't laugh; I use the same unscientific style in fantasy ball, where I'm usually a contender and have won a league or two. I've loved baseball stats for more than 40 years, and Bill James and his disciples have greatly increased my understanding and even appreciation of the game, but I'm also from the Stengel-Berra school — if you know where to look, you still can observe a lot by watching.

Drifting, falling.
Floating weightless
Calling, calling home...

While I was unsuccessful in getting lots of cities involved, this weekend will be a great one for those of you in London, Ontario or the Toronto area. Rogers Sportsnet is showing the spring-training game featuring the Blue Jays vs. the Astros on March 27th at 1:00PM EST. The Batter's Box and the Blue Jays Cheer Club would like to meet as many of you as possible, get together to watch the game, have some wings, and generally just have a good time.

Many thanks to all my colleagues for their entertaining, informative work on this series, which would have wrapped up today if I had been more concise. This was quite an ambitious project for Batter's Box, and I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out.

Warning: unlike my thesis on the Cardinals, this one is really l-o-n-g, so it's being presented in three parts, beginning with this gaze into the rear-view mirror. The player "analysis" (my sabrmetrician friends may smile at my use of the term, or just shake their heads) comprises Part Two, which will be posted tomorrow. On Friday, most of Part Three will be devoted to Jordan Furlong's assessment of the Top 40 Prospects in the Toronto organization. I'm very grateful for that contribution, and to Craig Burley for allowing me to follow up on his remarkably accurate first impressions of Carlos Tosca.

Batter's Box regulars, so familiar with the Jays, may not learn much from this. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

I can listen to you
It keeps me stable for days

I awoke this morning to find that my newspaper was not, as I am accustomed, on my front step.

I look through my window so bright
I see the stars come out tonight
I see the bright and hollow sky
Over the city's ripped backsides
And everything looks good tonight

USA Today ran a story today showing the total salary obligations that each team has from 2005 - 2010. Once you get past all of the sensationalistic Seligian headlines (Baseball has $2.8 BILLION in debt!!) it's really interesting to look at.

If angst were apples, the Boston Red Sox would be an orchard. If the franchise were a movie production, it’d be Heaven’s Gate multiplied by Apocalypse Now. If it was a car, it’d be a 12-cylinder super-charged luxury SUV doing twice the speed limit yet convinced the wheels are coming off and the driver is lost. This franchise is wound tight with so much anxiety, frustration, disillusionment and self-esteem issues that it could keep every shrink in New England in Guccis and silk ties for years.

I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality

As Steve Z. alerted us in the Saturday Roundup thread, the National Post ran one of John Lott's typically fine articles, entitled Doc's Breakfast Club. For reasons best known to the Post, only the first paragraph is available on their Web site, unless you register with them. However, after an e-mail exchange with Mr. Z., Mr. Lott has given us permission to reprint it here. Thanks very much, gentlemen.

Going around the Spring Training horn:

The latest from Florida and beyond.

"And the storm blows up in her eyes
She will...
Suffer the needle chill
She's running to stand...
Still." - U2.

It seems like a different age. Believe it or not, the Orioles were the last team not being currently ignored by Robert Dudek to win the AL East.

The 1997 edition of the Birds won 98 games and made it to the ALCS. But after the season, Davey Johnson was replaced by Ray Miller; since then, they have never won more than 79.