I wanted to provide some supplementary information to Rob's piece yesterday on AL closers... ah, hell. I just wanted to make a Data Table. Get your Analytical Fix right here!

I am once again running the Scouting Report project. The Jays ballots were one of the most-filled last year, and I'm sure it's in no small part due to the Batter's Box readers. If you can take a few minutes, I'd appreciate it.

Talk. My comments are below...

Bauxites: Tampa, Boo!, Terry Who?

Well, the two most recent Batter's Box Interactive Magazine polls have gone off the beaten path a bit, with the first demonstrating the Box's disapproval of all things Devil Ray and the second surprisingly raising the specter of cartoon question mark balloons over most people's heads at the mention of singer/songwriter Terry Cashman.

Over at BTF, there was a little disagreement, at which point the author of the linked piece said: You love the DIPS, the PECOTA, the whatever. I don't. I am concerned with wins, losses, what guys hit with RISP, and the amount of times guys strike out with men on third and less than two out.

This fortnight will belong to Miguel Batista. Comments on Batista's pitching approach, delivery, stuff and command will be welcome. Of course, any other comments on the bullpen and John Gibbons' trigger decisions have a home here too.

I'm 100% pro-union, but I'm with Selig on this one. Somewhat.

Jordan Furlong postulated the following in the April 27 Game Thread:

Hey, here's a project for anyone interested in doing the legwork -- rank the Blue Jays' best and worst 5th starters in franchise history...I'll bet you'll find Josh Towers has been one of the best the Jays have sent out there.

Legwork and pitchers in the same sentence? A rapier-like wit, this one. Let’s get right to it.

Back in 1993, the New York Yankees ended a very un-Bronx-like skein of four straight losing seasons to burst back onto the scene of baseball's winning franchises with an 88-74 mark, good for second place just seven games behind the eventual World Champion Blue Jays.

It had also been 12 years since a playoff appearance for the pinstriped crew, but that year the torch was passed from Toronto and after a cruising to a division-best 70-43 mark in the strike-shortened 1994 season, the Yanks have been in the playoffs each season since, capturing six pennants and four titles.

For this session, I will be paying particular attention to Jason Frasor and Brandon League. Your comments on how they look, and any other bullpen topic, would be welcome here.

The season has started, and we need your input on the Jay bullpen during the game. Who looks fresh and who looks tired, who warmed up 3 innings in a row before coming in, and who was left in a batter too long.

To get us started, here's a question: will Schoeneweis be a true LOOGY, or will he go at least an inning most of the time?

I've been going to different baseball websites to see what they predict for the Toronto Blue Jays for 2005. This is what I've found so far:

That's J.P. Ricciardi's winning percentage since he came on board according to The St Pete. Times. Have we reached a point in the newspaper game where the easiest of all fact-checking goes by the wayside? If you follow baseball, you know that it takes a special team to play .333 for one year. But for 3 years? In their chart right above, they show when J.P. became GM. That's 3 years and counting. 3 years is about 486 games. The W-L record they show is 131-254 (or 385 games). So, there's around 100 games unaccounted for, and we all know that it's darn near impossible to play .340 for 3 years under the radar. The biggest disappointment will be if someone actually quotes these numbers as fact. Let's wait and see...

Spring training is the time of year where you hear a ton of projections on what will happen in the upcoming season. Will Bonds hit 50 home runs? Can the Red Sox repeat? Is this the year the Braves won't win the NL East? These projections are all over the place: In fantasy baseball magazines, websites such as ESPN.com and Baseball Prospectus, and newspapers such as USA Today. Often the most accurate predictions come from gambling lines. We look at over/under lines for 2005 team wins and discuss which teams we think Vegas is overrating, and which teams aren't getting enough credit from the gambling community.

Baseball, as they say, is a talkin' sport. That's how sites like this one become popular. Baseball is also, however, a countin' sport.

The "magic numbers," even as they change for era adjustments, are a familiar part of the rhythm of the game. You all know the value of "a 20-game winner," and more recently, "a 40-save guy." Our own recent Chasing 300 article and ensuing discussion demonatrates that the numbers reach to career plateaus -- 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts, someday not far off, 500 saves.

And don't think it's all about pitching -- the hitting stats are even more familiar. A free Hall pass for 500 homers? Or is it 600 now? Then there's 3,000 hits, 500 steals, 1500 or perhaps coming soon, 2000 RBI.

It has not always been thus.