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.

I accidentally created the same entry twice, so why not change one into a new hijack central? I mean, the old Hijack Central was created 5 whole days ago!

My question of the day: What will the Jays have to do to win back the hearts and minds of Torontonians? The Leafs are king, and the Raptors have a sizeable audience, particularly with the under 30 crowd. Is there anything the Jays can do to get a million more butts in the seats?

Roy Halladay, with today's signing of Justin Speier, is now the only player without a contract next year for the Jays. Assuming a $7 million deal for this year for Halladay, the Jays' payroll will be right at $50 million projected budget for 2003

The Jays agreed to one year contract with newly acquired reliever Justin Speier for $1.6 million.

Thanks to Steve Z for pointing this out in the latest hijack central.

Just trying my hand at being a Toronto Star headline writer...

Phil Rogers summarizes each of the 30 Major League teams chances of making the playoffs in 2004. The Jays are classified as "Sleepers", along with the Giants, White Sox, Cardinals, and Rockies.

Although the Angels have turned a lot of heads lately, the AL East has not been lost in the shuffle. ESPN's Sean McAdam takes a look at the off-season moves of the Jays and Orioles:

"They may be two of the most improved teams in the game this winter. They have made trades, spent money and showed a commitment.

But there are no guarantees for the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles."

In Friday's Ask BA, Jim Callis links to a piece he wrote about John Olerud back in 1989. Although I don't have any particular comments to make about it, I thought it was a very good article; besides, it's been a rather slow weekend around the Box, so why not start a thread?

Truth be told, I'm not all that big on these projection systems. For instance, I buy Baseball Prospectus' book every year and read it cover-to-cover, but I rarely even look at more than a couple dozen of their player projections. For some reason it just doesn't do it for me.

I did, however, read BPro's recent article on their PECOTA projection system and how it compared to, among other systems, Baseball Primer's ZiPS. After reading the BPro article, I looked at some of the ZiPS projections for this year and then thought "hey, this could be my first ever entry at the Batter's Box!"

So here it is...

Nice little break from all the talk about money and contracts and stupid statements by Griffin, the Globe has Gary Sheffield visiting the Original Maple Bat Co in Ottawa. This business founded in a garage 7 years ago now churns out 17,000 bats a year employs 9 people and equips Barry Bonds as well as Sheffield and 160 odd other Big Leaguers.

Today, Bud Selig announced that he is for sale.

No, wait. Chairman of the Board of Directors Wendy Selig-Prieb announced the Milwaukee Brewers are for sale. While not as famously troubled as the Expos, Milwaukee's situation does not inspire confidence. The new owner faces a litany of problems to overcome, including but not limited to:

Eleven consecutive years of losing baseball, declining fan support, allegations of deliberate failure to field a competitive team, questions about who owns the team's $110 million debt, and the team's previous acquiescence to an independent audit (a real one, not the flimflam offered in Congressional hearings in 2001).

So, with all that in mind, what would be YOUR first order of business if you'd just purchased the Milwaukee Brewers? Moving the team to a larger market is not an option. As quoted from the main story linked above, "the Brewers' 30-year lease at Miller Park, which opened in 2001, prevents new owners from moving the franchise."

Good luck.

In the latest installment of ESPN's Hot Stove Heater series, Eric Karabell gives a run-down of the top 50 fantasy players. No surprises in the top 5: A-Rod, Soriano, Pujols, Vlad, Helton. I wouldn't personally rank Randy Johnson as high as #10, but the only name on the list that really stands out to me is Jose Reyes at #48. 69 games in the majors batting .307/.334/.434 and he's one of the top 50 fantasy players? Wow. The Toronto big three all make the list: Doc is #22, Delgado #27, and Vernon #40.

But this ain't the real world, so let's see what this list tells us about the upcoming BBFL season...

Fun for a bitterly cold afternoon ...

This simulation reflects free agent signings and trades through Tuesday, January 13th (up to and including Jay Payton to the Padres). In his recent file release, Dan Szymborski created starting lineups and assigned some of the pitching roles for each team, which I have tweaked and updated. As in the first edition, I created manager profiles for all the (NL) teams, including playing time for backups and utility players. The number of simulated seasons was increased to 25 and the "no injuries" setting was used. The following results are based on average (not median) performance.

With the previous HC pushed off the main page and approaching the mystical 116-post mark, it's time for a new thread. Potential topics for discussion:

The likelihood of Pudge Rodriguez signing with the Tigers and his impact on the franchise.

The likelihood of Sidney Ponson, he of the career 99 ERA+, earning his contract.

The Dodgers’ mortal embarrassment at being upstaged repeatedly by their brethren in Anaheim, and the possibility that their offense might be even worse in 2004.

Baseball Headline Writing 101: Mixed Metaphors

Jessica Simpson’s potential role in the upcoming David Clyde movie.

Baseball America has published their top ten Blue Jay prospects on their web site. Numbers two through ten are only available to subscribers. John Manuel will be taking your questions about the list at 3 pm ET this afternoon (changed from 2 pm). John also has nice things to say about the Jays farm system. BA rates it as #1 in the AL East and we have seen in BA recently that it is one of the top five in the league.

Top ten are:

1. Alexis Rios
2. Dustin McGowan
3. Quillermo Quiroz
4. Gabe Gross
5. Francisco Rosario
6. Aaron Hill
7. David Bush
8. Vince Perkins
9. Russ Adams
10. Brandon League