That is way cool.

I'm not so sure...as I mentioned, I think he's athletic enough to handle the position, especially if he's dropped weight and gotten quicker. Not that I have anything to back it up, but I can't imagine his arm is any worse than Cat's wet noodle or Reed's average-at-best gun.

As for OF defense, Cat is far from stellar, and Reed, although he has great wheels, doesn't ever seem to play with much instinct out there. From what I see, he doesn't ghet great breaks on balls, but makes up for it by throwing his body at the ball. Admirable, yes, but technically sound, no.

All I'm saying is that I can't imagine Shea's defense would be SUBSTANTIALLY worse than those two - in fact I think with a little work, he could be on par. What sets him apart is the stick...I'd rather have it in there every day over Sparky or Frank. I think the disparity between thier offensive numbers makes up for any slight defensive shortcomings.

The Rangers were offering outfielder Kevin Mench to the Blue Jays for starting pitcher/reliever Miguel Batista and second baseman Orlando Hudson.

If true, that may help explain why there's no deal for Brad Wilkerson forthcoming. Personally, I wouldn't have dealt either of those guys for Mench, let alone both.

Adams/Hill
Catalanotto/Johnson
Overbay
Wells
Koskie
Hillenbrand
Zaun
Hudson
Rios

Adding Reggie Sanders to that lineup would definitely give it a substantial boost. And I keep coming back to Mike Green's suggestion of putting Russ Adams in left field, with Johnson spelling him against the toughest lefties. Adams' skill set isn't that much different from Catalanotto's (who himself started his career as a middle infielder).

That would set Hill/Hudson as the DP combo, free up Cat for a potential spring training trade, and put the best possible defence in the middle infield. Bat Adams and Hill 1-2, and Bob's your uncle. Unlikely, but it could happen.

Adams/Johnson
Hill
Overbay
Wells
Sanders
Koskie
Hillenbrand
Zaun
Hudson

I'm not saying I disagree with your position. I just think it runs contrary to the organization's current stance.

As for the Braves, how much credit can be given to their organizational philosophy of trusting young players versus (a) their newfound cheapness and (b) the stinkiness of the veterans being bypassed (Mondesi and Jordan)? I'm not trying to be a smartass and say I know, I'm just saying that there may have been mitigating factors.

Not presuming to speak for anyone, I believe the statement that precipitated your response reflects the unspoken assumption that a new DH bat is yet to be added to the team.

If not, then I agree with you.

If the new bat is meant to replace Rios in RF, then removing Hinske eliminates the body surplus, unless the intention is to make both Hill and Adams starters, which I don't think is the case.

"If" he's an everyday player? No guarantees... It seems as if Russ is going to have to have a good spring training.

So what you're saying is Rios should be having a talk with his pharmacist?

Geez, that sounds an awful lot like what happened to John Olerud before he left town. Jays coaching staff wanted him to pull the ball more and it messed him up.

Rios has a fair amount of power when he gets his arms extended, so perhaps they should just let him relax and hit the ball wherever he wants?

Psst!

Overbay - 17 GIDP

Hillenbrand - 22 GIDP

Wells - 13 GIDP

Koskie - 10 GIDP (2/3 season)

I'd say were quite used to our hearts being broken.

That's funny HH. I thought NFH took that same picture you're talking about too and I searched *forever* in the archives to try and find it. The thing that really threw me off was that Aaron was sitting in the section next to where the picture was taken.

I'm not entirely sure who took that picture; it seems like you can find it on a Google Image Search--the only problem is that it doesn't come big enough and makes any desktop look blurry.

Get that camera ready for April 4th, 2006, NFH. There has yet to be a person to capture the atmosphere and electricity of a full Bluejays crowd. I think you should be the first :)

I wouldn't say they're all THAT tough really...

Player AB   xH  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS  OPS+
A      907  71  273  321  390  711  84
B      983  65  276  323  379  702  102
C      900  70  277  325  411  736  100
D      739  65  275  369  409  778  103
E      865  55  275  342  363  705  95
F     1032  77  280  324  401  725  92 

Player Years AB   xH  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS  OPS+
B      2     244  8   205  248  250  408  43
C      9    3765  293 271  320  405  725  100
D*     8    4426  400 301  365  444  809  109
E      12   4591  319 291  351  402  753  110
F*     2    1085  103 299  345  456  801  113

2006: $9.750
2007: $13.250
2008: $14.250

Yikes. 12.4 MM per season for the next three years. That's Abreu expensive. The 6 year, 50 million dollar contract he signed after the 2002 season bought out his arbitration years, so it is heavily backloaded.

The Jays can't take on this contract unless they get some serious salary relief. Batista and Hinske alone only combine for 14 MM over the next two years. The Phillies have an inexperienced guy at 1B and an expensive free agent bust at 3B (David Bell), so they really could use an experienced corner guy on their roster. Hinske, Koskie, and Hillenbrand all fit the bill.

This contract reminds me quite a bit of the Hinske deal, but on a much larger scale. Burrell signed the deal after his 37 HR, 116 RBI sophomore season. Since then, he's been a bit of a disappointment in the eyes of the Phillies.

He would certainly be a useful addition for the Jays, but considering they are already over budget, he might be a little too expensive.

Teams can trade money as well as players so it's not as simple as saying he's too expensive. He's only too expensive if the Phillies wouldn't be willing to include cash in the deal. But the Phils already tossed in $20+ million to trade Thome so it's not an impossibility.

BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
0.260	0.359	0.463	0.822
0.258	0.346	0.469	0.815
0.282	0.376	0.544	0.920
0.209	0.309	0.404	0.713
0.257	0.365	0.455	0.820
0.281	0.389	0.504	0.893

2006: $9.750
2007: $13.250
2008: $14.250

Hinske and Batista together will make $9 million in 2006 and $10.3 million in 2007. A straight two-for-one swap, without money changing hands, would give the Jays three years of Burrell at about $18M more than their current budget, most of it in '08. That's probably twice what the Jays can realistically afford.

So the Phillies would have to pick up half that amount to make financial sense for Toronto, and with Ryan Howard at 1B, they would have to use Hinske as a 3B. I don't see that deal making Philadelphia a better team, so they'd want extra talent, probably of the Hill or Hudson variety, to make it worth their while. And as noted above, Burrell is far from a sure thing. I doubt there's a fit.

A crappy team has become slightly less crappy. A tree falls in a forest. Does it make a sound? Can Rob Neyer hear it?

So the Phillies would have to pick up half that amount to make financial sense for Toronto, and with Ryan Howard at 1B, they would have to use Hinske as a 3B. I don't see that deal making Philadelphia a better team, so they'd want extra talent, probably of the Hill or Hudson variety, to make it worth their while. And as noted above, Burrell is far from a sure thing. I doubt there's a fit.

Batista's contract is up after 2006, so adding Burrell and subtracting Hinske/Batista is an extra 23 MM, not 18MM. This is a realistic statement because I imagine that Batista will end up getting replaced by one of the Jays arms from the farm in 2007.

We're also forgetting that Burrell and Abreu both had tremendous home numbers playing in Citizen's Bank Park last year, which had a park factor of 108. Their road numbers were pretty ordinary.

So yeah, Burrell is too expensive, both in a money sense and in the sense that Philly would demand too much in return for him (i.e. his perceived value is a lot higher than his actual value).

I realize such articles on the Jays are a rarity but I'd like if this site had a feed of Jays in the news — local and/or global news. And if there's any need for help in coding this or any other features for the site, let me know.

The Cuban team is scheduled to play its first-round games in Puerto Rico. Is there a chance that any of their games might be transferred to Toronto's Rogers Centre as a way around any political objections from the U.S. right?

The Cuban team is scheduled to play its first-round games in Puerto Rico. Is there a chance that any of their games might be transferred to Toronto's Rogers Centre as a way around any political objections from the U.S. right?

That loud screaming sound you're hearing is coming from the guy in charge of stitching names onto Kansas City's uniforms. :-)

Just took a look at Paul White's article on the Blue Jays on the USA Today web site. Apparently, the Jays had at least one scout at every single one of A.J. Burnett's starts last year. Whoa.

Looking at Burnett's and Washburn's numbers, I can understand that Burnett is worth another year and $17 million. But one common trait between the two guys irks me: the contract year performance. The only time either pitcher had a full season with an ERA under 3.5? Their contract years, 2002 and 2005. Thankfully (as a Jay fan), Burnett's difference is less pronounced than Washburn's and, provided his injury woes should allow his 2003 & 2004 performance to be glossed over (much like Roy's 2004), is still poised to progress to an elite level.

You hope a pitcher is a guy like Roy who works hard, with a purpose, and makes the most of every opportunity and not just the ones that mean more dollars. But how many cases look like this? More often than not it seems to me. Any in-depth studies about it on the net?

Woodward is married to a Canadian girl( and may even have an off-season residence here), thus the potential Canadian moniker.

Frankly I'm a bit surprised at the lack of Bauxite interest in this tournament. I think once it gets rolling people will be pleasantly surprised.

Huh. The byline in the story is Craig's, but on the THT site, it says "Craig Burley and Thomas Ayers give an update on the latest World Baseball Classic developments."

Well, we've had comments about copy editors and uniform name stitchers, so let me just add that Jeff Davanon would be a *terrible* addition to the KCR roster from the obvious "win the player name All-Scrabble tournament" perspective they've obviously adopted. All those one-point tiles, next to Mark Grudzielanek and Doug Mientkiewicz and Zack Greinke (put THAT on a truple word score, buster!) ...

Craig and I both wrote the piece, but since I don't write for the site ever they just gave Craig the byline but mentioned the fact that I was involved with it. I've just been giving Craig a hand with some of the WBC stuff.

As for Woodward, he married a Canadian and, when he played for the Jays at least, had a residence up here (he split time between Toronto and California in the offseason). He applied for Canadian citizenship in the fall. I presume it was partially motivated by the chance to play in the tournament and partially because of his wife's background. I don't know what the status of his request is or if it is likely to be processed in time for the tournament.

Hinske: .258 .335 .430

Wilson: .268 .363 .488

Wilson was plagued by injuries: tore tissue off the middle knuckle of his left hand while hitting a double in early May, returned two months later, played for a week before being hit by a pitch that broke a bone in his left hand, returned late August and battle a sore knee the rest of the way.

For those who don't recall, the Jays traded Wilson and 5 other unnoteworthy players to the Pirates for their salary dump of Orlando Merced, Carlos Garcia, and the great Dan Plesac.

The Pirates seem to be less thrifty than in the past and look to be getting ready to push for the present. But for some reason they traded Mackowiak for Damaso Marte and gave up on Bobby Hill (who was the only thing they had to show for trading away Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton to the Cubs two years ago -- worst trade in the last five years?), so it looks like the Pirates could use some infield depth, and likely wouldn't want to part with their promising young arms to do it if possible.

Since Wilson swipes a couple bags every year (and plays some outfield), I presume he's at least as speedy as Flash Hinske, plus he can catch in a pinch.