Scott Miller at CBS Sportsline argues that Toronto has had the 2nd best winter in the AL East, behind only the Red Sox. The Yankees are ranked 3rd, but the rankings were released before the news that Aaron Boone may miss the entire 2004 season. Thanks to Batter's Box reader Scott for the Boone link.

When analyzing Peter Bavasi’s time as GM of the Blue Jays, it is wise to remember that Pat Gillick was really pulling most of the baseball strings behind the scenes. Nevertheless, Bavasi got the final say, so here is his catalogue. For good or ill.

Batter’s Box is very pleased to present a monumental piece of work by Leigh Sprague, the Blue Jays All-Time Annotated Trade Catalgoue. We will be posting the catalogue in five parts over the coming week, and eventually the Catalogue will be posted as a single document. We’d like to thank Leigh for allowing us to host this truly monumental piece of work. Links to the five parts can be found below. But first, I'll let Leigh introduce his Catalogue...

Reader BirdWatcher contributes a piece today on his favourite player, legendary Red Sox slugger Jim Rice. Thanks, Herman. Enjoy, everyone!

Here's Part II of the Jays' minor league pitching register. Enjoy!

Hi. Here, finally, is the second part of what I loftily call the Blue Jays Minor League Register. Here is info on every Blue Jays pitching prospect I could think of, and had data for.

As before, I've divided this into two parts to keep Da Box's server from imploding.

Links to Part I: Hitters A-K, Hitters L-Z.

It's not often we post articles from outside North America, but here is one you may be interested in. The Sydney Morning Herald examines the trials and tribulations of the Syracuse Skychiefs' Australian infielder Glenn Williams.

What if Aaron Gleeman wrote a fine piece on the Splendid Splinter, and I decided to link to it here because I thought it was marvelous?

No need to wonder anymore. Anyway, I love it when people write about their favourite players. I heartily recommend you all (yes, each and every one of you - lurkers, posters, authors, hangers-on) go out and write a little piece on your favourite player, and send it to me. We are happy to post Pinch Hits and this sort of stuff makes great reading. Speaking of Pinch Hits, we have a massive and entertaining research project coming next week, about which I am very excited.

I thought I'd see what various Canadian papers are saying about the Roy Halladay deal. The response in Canada has been across a wide spectrum of emotions; from jubilance to Griffin.

At least according to Jeff Blair of the Globe and Mail.

Great deal, if the details reported in Blair's article are accurate. The Globe article reports that Halladay will earn $6 million in 2004, $10.5 million in 2005, and $12.75 million a year in 2006 and 2007. If Halladay can avoid the scalpel of Dr. Frank Jobe, the Jays will do very well for themselves.

Thanks go out to peteski and JackFoley for pointing out the TSN.ca version of the story.

Should Carlos Delgado be signed to a long-term deal? A number of fans have been asking that here on Da Box recently. A lot of the discussion centers around how much Carlos Delgado will be worth at the end of a three- or four-year deal. Since Carlos's value is 90% dependent on his offensive production, the real question is how much we can expect him to hit at the end of such a contract... say, in 2007. So to help answer that, I did a very simple study.

According to this Toronto Star report, Rogers is going to purchase the 20% share of the Jays it doesn't own from former majority owner Intebrew S.A. Given the share values mentioned in the article, it appears that Rogers' 100% share in the club is worth in the neighbourhood of $200-250 million. That seems like an awful lot to me, given that the team has reportedly lost $90 million U.S. over the past two seasons. Might this mean another reduction in payroll for 2005?

According to the always-insightful ATM Reports from Lee Sinins, the Tigers announced approximately seven thousand non-roster invitees to spring training.

It's an interesting list. Is this the next Dombrowski step in rebuilding? Can the Tigers move into 60-win territory? (That's a real question.) What's next? Anyway, here's the list alphabetically by position:

Part of the beauty of baseball is its unpredictability. We need only look as far as the last two World Series winners to demonstrate that. Baseball interviews can be unpredictable, too.

John Sickels had agreed to conduct the interview through e-mail, and he and I had started exchanging some basic information when John threw me a curve. John had visited Da Box, read all of your questions, and decided to answer a number of them himself. I was out of a job! Later that day, John delivered a set of answers, and we then concluded with a discussion about some Blue Jay prospects and his latest books.

So without further ado, here is an interview with the person many consider perhaps the premier minor-league expert of his time. The part of John Sickels is played by himself. The part of BB (the interviewer) is played by many of you -- you know who you are.

Spencer Fordin takes a look at Mike Bordick 2.0 - Chris Gomez.