Halladay- capable of 20 wins, will probably get 16-19
Lilly- capable of winning 15, will probably get 11-15
Batista- capable of winning 15 will probably get 11-15
Bush- capable of winning 10-13 (at this point in his career) will probably get 10+

Towers, Chacin (whoever else) Towers has proven he can win 10+ games in the majors and if Chacin's two starts last year are any indication, he could be in the 15 win range in the future

Overall I am very optimistic looking at this staff. I don't think my projections are over confident or too harsh. It has been a while since the Jays had a solid veteran staff like this. I say veteran because 4 out of 5 guys have at least 3 years of MLB experience.

Imagine it:

Thwock. Thwock. Thwock, thwock. Thwock. Thwock, thwock, thwock.

The sound of balls hitting gloves...only 9 days away. Very nice.

Does anyone know if any Jays Spring Training games will be on TV or radio?

I just got my 2005 Jays promo calendar in the mail, I'll open it up in a bit and look for surprises.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=citadel-2_351065_325&prov=citadel&type=lgns
COMN for Scout.com's Jay's preview

Last I heard RSN wasn't going to televise any spring training games.

Kinda ticked me off - I believe there was a comment made about how the new commentating staff will have their first game as the season opener, sans any preparation with the spring training games.

The calendar is amusing -- it has a pair of 3-D glasses in a pocket in the back, 3-D pictures every month and the tagline "Experience a new dimension in baseball".

Promo dates that caught my eye:

Sunday, June 19th: Vernon Wells kids glove

Sunday, July 17th: Roy Halladay bendable doll

Sunday, July 31st: McFarlane SportsPick Cat & Dog 2 Pack - I don't know what in the heck that is, but it sounds like it could be action figures? Is it that McFarlane? Man, if they're giving away Orlando Hudson and Frank Catalanotto action figures that day, I'm so there.

Sunday, August 28th: Ernie Whitt bobblehead

Sunday, October 2nd: Toque Day

Plus, all the regulars are there: sports bag day, magnet schedule day, kids bat day, Ace "Photo Cube" day (okay, I don't know what that is, either). No lunchbox this year, sadly.

http://mcfarlanesportspickguide.com/MLB3inch_photos.html
Okay, so I found out what McFarlane SportsPicks are. Yes, they're action figures. COMN to see two packs of the smaller, 3-inch figures, which is what I'm assuming we'd be getting.

Sunday, October 2nd: Toque Day

Aha!

I asked for a toque with the Fightin' Jays logo on it for Christmas this year, and didn't get it, because apparently it doesn't exist. So if that's what's being given out on Oc 2, I will be there like, as I say, Jack the Bear from Delaware.

Matt E, they sell a black toque with the Jays logo on it at the Bullpen Store AND at bluejays.com -- it's called a "knitted wool hat" or something, though.

I saw 'em last season and wanted one, but forgot to buy it before the season ended.

In that case, my relatives are a bunch of incompetents.

http://www.neweracap.com/us/eshop/eshop_detail.cfm?family_group=1078
Matthew: COMN

In that case, my relatives are a bunch of incompetents.

The correct name for a large grouping of incompetents is a "pack", whereas a large grouping of idiots is known as a "duh".

The puddles of drool produced by the duh of idiots overwhelmed my Swiffer(TM).

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-spyanks0210,0,4055479.story?coll=ny-sports-headlines
Jason Giambi will face the New York media today to address the topic of steroids. COMN.

I believe Randy Johnson will be there to punch photographers for Giambi.

"get out of his face!!"

NY Times Reporter in full police uniform: "Jason, you have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can be used against you in a court of law...."

http://www.rototimes.com/index.php?sport=bsball&type=nate&name=F20050210092848
Great article up at the RotoTimes laying out the issues surrounding the licensing of fantasy baseball in 2005 (COMN). It'd be a damn shame if MLB tries to monopolize the industry, as is speculated.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/050209farnsworth.html
COMN for BA's review of the Farnsworth trade.

It seems that Novoa has decent chance to put up the same numbers as Farnsworth. Interesting also that the Tigers got burned by a couple of toolsy picks, especially their 8th overall pick in the 2002 draft (Moore). Must hurt to see Bush and Adams starting in TO while you give up on your higher pick.

David, I'm holding out hope that MLB or whoever they licensed fantasy baseball rights too will be smart/nice and charge a percentage of whtever each site charges. This way, free fantasy baseball stays free, and they can make a percentage off of the web sites that charge.

But they would charge the free sites, too ... because those are big moneymakers, relatively speaking, for the advertising dollars that come in.

It would be nice if free stayed free thats all. It mkaes people pay attention to baseball, which can't hurt MLB at all.

The whole thing seems to be a mess right now. I have no idea how the legal challenge will play out, but offhand I figure the "baseball stats as free public information" side would win. What this means for 2005 is unclear. It certainly seems to have backfired on MLB as I doubt many current fantasy players would switch over to whatever they are offering if Yahoo, ESPN, CBSSportsline, CNN/SI all get shut out.

As Ben Affleck's character says in Chasing Amy:
"Can I explain the audience principle to you? If you insult and accost them, then we have no audience."

I for one know I wouldn't pay to play with MLB, for what it's worth. And I also know that my interest in the game has increased like 10-fold since I started playing fantasy baseball 4 years ago. Somebody in MLB ought to figure this out quick and prevent any further negative backlash. The NFL realized a long time ago that while they couldn't make money off the gambling industry, but by facilitating its existence with accurate injury reports and such made people want to follow their league even more.

ESPN does not offer any free teams, so the only effect would be that their prices would rise. They may lose a few customers, but overall they won't take a huge hit. But the free ones who also offer those "premium" leagues (e.g. Yahoo), yeah, they'll suffer.

What's surprising is that people are surprised by MLB's short-sightedness. It's not like the collective geniuses who run the sport -- and that includes owners and the MLBPA, along with the usual Bud Selig types -- haven't had PR disasters before.

But Gitz, did you read the article? They're saying that MLB is trying to squeeze the bigger players out.

In what appears to be little more than a public relations ploy, MLB Advanced Media has offered license agreements to several small companies. However, the terms of the offer reveal their true intentions. Several of the so-called "mom-and-pop" companies have been offered some variation of the following deal: If they have fewer than 5,000 customers, they can have a license for $10,000 for the 2005 season. If they have more than 5,000 customers, the price jumps to $500,000. Multiple industry sources confirmed for Rototimes.com that this offer has been distributed. As one industry observer said "customer number 5,001 is awfully expensive." The smaller companies certainly can't afford the $500,000 figure, and it does not appear that the larger companies have received the same offer. Brian Matthews, co-founder of CDM, said that the offer was not presented to CDM. The obvious intent is to fence in smaller competitors by punishing a customer base beyond 5,000, a number that MLB Advanced Media likely deems as inconsequential competition. By doing this, it can try to shut down its larger competitors without looking like it is trying to shut out all competition.

So actually, the effect at ESPN would be no more fantasy baseball.

Hmmm. Thanks for pointing that out, Aaron. Me thinks I should actually read things before commenting on them.

The difficult thing from my perspective is that fantasy sports is a fragile business model right now, and that's being charitable. A lot of companies have decided to charge users to reflect the reality that they are paying full time staff to maintain web pages, formulate analysis, and direct other promotional resources to it. I have no idea what bandwidth costs, but certainly there's a significant expense related to maintaining the information and having a fast enough connection to get it out to people.

By trying to extract as much as possible from the industry players, MLB may cut the proverbial knees out from under the industry just as it's finding out how to turn a profit. If the industry takes a large step back this year it can only be bad for baseball in general.

My biggest question is how this exclusive fantasy license MLB obtained relates to simply providing box scores and other information. All the sports sites such as ESPN pay something to get this information streamed live to them, but I guess it's not parcelled with the right to use it for fantasy purposes. Perhaps this is the crux of the legal argument.

At any rate, it sucks. We should start a campaign to free fantasy baseball, just like Chip Cannon!

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I began planting some seeds. We called one team to try to get a player. I think we laid the groundwork for another deal that we may have through later. These may not be the kind of moves you can make until June or July." -- GM J.P. Ricciardi.

Where'd you find that one, Jorge?

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/king_koala/album?.dir=7714&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/king_koala/my_photos
I still can't get over how the Tigers got Farnsworth for next to nothing!



Just to hijack things for a second... I shot my first Raptors game last night at the ACC. COMN for some of the pictures. It was a pretty cool game and the Raps were leading right up until the last five minutes. Rafer Alston had a great game and controlled the ball most of the night. I started off the night on the floor, just to the left of the Raptors' first half basket and right beside the Raptors' bench. Then I spent the other half of the game almost directly under the Raptors' basket at the other end of the court, which - I think - was quite possibly the best seat in the house... and it was free! The poor people in the seats right behind me paid upwards of $600! It was a pretty cool experience... I had to fiddle with my camera a fair bit to get proper settings to freeze the action. Hoepfully next time the pics will turn out even better.

I'm sure Yahoo and ESPN make way more than $500,000 off fantasy baseball, I think they will have no problems paying this rights fee and continue to make gabs of money off of it.

DeMarco, did you read the article? The big guys have NOT been offered that option, only the little guys.

Oh? Sorry missed that.

The big guys probably have to negociate their own deal. Usually Yahoo has their site up shortly after Valentines day. It would suck if they didn't have it this year. To me this would be a bigger disappointment than the NHL cancelling the season.

That quote only states that CDM was not offered this deal, however do we know if ESPN or Yahoo are not currently negotiating a deal, or even if they may already have one?

Not sure if it has been posted but according to BA the Jays released Joey Charron, Brad Esarey, Chris Neylan, James Pidutti, Shawn Fagan, Bryan Gale and Travis Thompson, Tim Land, Felix Rincon(?) and Willie Rivera.

Late last month, most of the major fantasy vendors ceased to accept signups for their games and league manager products. The list of companies who took this action includes ESPN, CBS Sportsline and CDM Fantasy Sports. Other companies delayed the launch of their products. Multiple industry sources tell Rototimes.com that these companies were actively negotiating with MLB Advanced Media on sub-licenses similar to the previous agreements with the MLBPA. We've also learned that MLB Advanced Media refused to negotiate with companies who continued to accept signups without a new license.

Sounds to me like they are currently negotiating sub-licenses and it will be business as usual.

Yes, DeMarco, I just put up the summary. The article itself is good reading.

Sounds like the article is contradicting itself with these two comments:

most of the major fantasy vendors ceased to accept signups for their games and league manager products. The list of companies who took this action includes ESPN, CBS Sportsline and CDM Fantasy Sports.

most if not all fantasy companies continued to operate under the assumption that they would secure a sub-license from MLB Advanced Media.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/schedule/promotions.jsp
Promo dates that caught my eye:...

You can actually find pictures of all of these promotions on bluejays.com. COMN.

http://baseball.cdmsports.com/cgi-bin/bbs.asp?board=dc&szUser=&action=index
This is long, but worth reading. I found it on the CDM message board (COMN). What follows are two different resonses from letters people wrote to MLB, one from Jim Gallagher and one from Bob Bowman. I guess the usual caveat applies as with anything found on the Internet, but it seems to be legit. Apologies if this is not appropriate for Batter's Box.

-----------
Thanks for taking the time to write. I respect your observations and feelings and will equally respectfully disagree. We aren't holding any fantasy sites hostage. As you may know, we paid $50 million to the Players Association to buy the fantasy rights. We did that because in the past 10 years fantasy baseball has been on the decline. That's been due in large part to the lack of innovation in the baseball fantasy industry. Our goal is to stimulate a rennaissance in baseball fantasy and have it regain its leadership position in the industry. We've decided to narrow the field if you will because if there are several large providers they will be more willing to invest in the development of new, innovative, fun, challenging, exciting games, less time consuming games for players of all levels, casual, avid and fanatical. It's not going to cost the fantasy player any more than you have paid in the past and you'll have a greater selection. We aren't putting anyone out of business. Everyone has been offered the ability to part of our new program. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to play. As for the fans ignoring MLB, last year more than 73 million of them walked through the turnstiles at the 30 parks, another 40 million attended minor league games. The game has never been healthier and we expect the new fantasy program to restore health to the fantasy industry. And the big winners will be the fans. Once agin, thanks for taking the time to write. Your opinion is important and valuable to us. Jim Gallagher
------------
Dear Sir:

At the risk of encouraging another round of emails, i would ask that you withold your assessment until we have finished launching all of the games with dozens and dozens of web sites. Respectfully, if you are going to rely on the media, and in this case, a newspaper that has its own fantasy game, violating every principle of the first amendment, you may be lead to the wrong conclusion. Your points have validity, of course. One point is worth mentioning upfront, though--we have never stated that statistics are not in the public domain. Provided that an organization is not trying to exhibit a live baseball game, we agree that statistics are in the public domain. I don't know why USAToday suggested that, particularly since they were told just the opposite. And whether you believe it or not, we do appreciate hearing from you. bb

Bob Bowman

http://www.daktronics.com/images/whatsnew/bluejays_500.jpg
COMN for a picture of what the new JumboTron, videoscreens will look like.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2005-02-09-fantasy-legal-battle_x.htm
Here is the USA Today article that is mentioned.

Apologies if this is not appropriate for Batter's Box.

It's totally appropriate. A lot of people here play fantasy baseball. I just took out Bob Bowman's contact info, figured he didn't need any phone calls or spam he wouldn't normally be getting. ;)

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_press_release.jsp?ymd=20050210&content_id=941504&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp
And here's another tidbit (COMN). Opening Day for Fantasy Baseball on MLB.com and whatever partner sites they announce will be February 17th. Sorry to have completely hijacked the discussion with all this.

"As you may know, we paid $50 million to the Players Association to buy the fantasy rights. We did that because in the past 10 years fantasy baseball has been on the decline."

What? How do they figure? Or was I dreaming when I read all those stories in the media over the last few years about the explosion in the popularity of fantasy baseball? The options for fans have been quite comprehensive, even if you want to play for free. Heck, I've even gotten my co-workers, who are casual fans at best, to play in leagues. I just hope they don't screw it up, because it's not like MLB has a track record for idiocy or anything...

That comment had me laughing out loud too Rob. Either MLB is out to lunch, or that's their official company line regarding the shake-up they are inflicting on the industry. "Fantasy baseball has been on the decline, so these changes were implemented to rejuvenate the industry." It'll be interesting to see how things have changed come February 17th. Fingers crossed Yahoo is still involved and doesn't tinker too much with their new interface from last season.

You can actually find pictures of all of these promotions on bluejays.com

if only i were 14 or under... :(

Slight tangent here...

Did ESPN get rid of ESPN lite?

I don't really want to put up with flash ads and other crap when I visit their site, so I liked it, but those links don't appear to be working any more.

COMN for a picture of what the new JumboTron, videoscreens will look like.

They look nice.
They'd look even nicer if we could get some close replays shown while we're at the game, but I know I'm banging my head against a wall wishing for that to ever happen.

Grand Funk out.

I got the JP Riccardi quote from the Blue Jays team site on www.sportsline.com

ESPN lite was also a nice loophole way to get the insider articles for fre...hehe.

....which may be why they got rid of it.

Err...for free*

I forgot to preview.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/jacob_luft/02/10/al.rotationsii/index.html
COMN for CNN/SI review of AL pitching staffs. It's a little light, but Bluejays come in at 6th, just behind the Los Angeles Harem of Angelical Angels of the Angels of Anaheim and just ahead of the new looking A's of Oakland.

if only i were 14 or under... :(

Thankfully, I have a seven week old child who'll be able to score those promos. ;)

Thanks for the pic of the new 'Trons, VBF. I agree, they look great. I can't wait to see what they look like, with all the home games being broadcast in HD I'd hope that we'd get HD feeds going to the giant screens. That would be stunning to look at.

Someone alert Bob Bowman, Snarky Media Guy, that "conflict of interest" does not, in fact, violate any part of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It sucks to do it, sure, but it has nothing to do with "first amendment rights," Bob.

Cry wolf too often, and when some Pravda-like entity takes hold of the U.S. media, including the Web, you'll have no idea what to claim. Which is okay because "they" will be happy to tell you.

The first amendment says:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Bob Bowman says:

"Respectfully, if you are going to rely on the media, and in this case, a newspaper that has its own fantasy game, violating every principle of the first amendment, you may be lead to the wrong conclusion."

Tyler says:

"Why wasn't this guy in my US constitutional law class? He would have shifted the curve, bigtime, resulting in a better outcome for me. Bastard."

Now, to be fair to Bob, he doesn't say that he's talking about amendments to the constitution of the United States of America. He could be talking about the first amendment to the menu at Taco Palace for all we know.

Hey, so am I the only person totally jazzed about the McFarlane figure giveaway? The idea of having a miniature Hudson and Catalanotto in the same scale as the silly toy cars I have really tickles me. I'm picturing Frank and O-Dog getting into a fight over who gets to drive James Bond's white Lotus.

Maybe I'll have to make an internet short film.

I'm also excited about the Mcfarlane giveaway!!
The only thing is they've called it
- Dog Day/Cat & Dog McFarlane Toy Figurines. Sponsored by IAMS.

Do you know if it's actually going to be Hudson & Cat figurines.
I'm thinking there giving away a figurines of a Cat & Dog litterally.
Anyway we can get info about this???

Well, the calendar specifically calls it a " McFarlane SportsPick Cat & Dog 2 Pack", and SportsPick is McFarlane's line of player figures, hockey, baseball, football and so on. I'm pretty sure that it'll be player figures -- there's no promo value to giving out figures of dogs and cats that are unlike anything else that McFarlane makes.

"I began planting some seeds. We called one team to try to get a player. I think we laid the groundwork for another deal that we may have through later. These may not be the kind of moves you can make until June or July." -- GM J.P. Ricciardi.

Hi Jorge, yeah I read that quote too when it came out.

I've been hoping that turns into Aubrey Huff.

They look nice.
They'd look even nicer if we could get some close replays shown while we're at the game, but I know I'm banging my head against a wall wishing for that to ever happen.

Listen, I'm usually the first guy to jump on the umps when their wrong, but this will never happen , and justifiably so. I believe several years ago when a stadium operator re-played an incorrect call, the umps in unison, walked off the field.

Frankly ,they have a tough enough job allready ,and they don't need some bozo in an air conditioned studio with the benefit of super slo-motion , publically ridiculing them, and inciting the crowd.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=ratto_ray&id=1988660
Nice to see the Giants have found a way to legally rob their fans.

COMN for details.

Listen, I'm usually the first guy to jump on the umps when their wrong, but this will never happen , and justifiably so. I believe several years ago when a stadium operator re-played an incorrect call, the umps in unison, walked off the field.

Fire them, and replace them then. What kills me about this policy is that a lot of the time, the close plays will involve players making amazing plays. You don't get to see the conclusion because god forbid the umpires be shown to be incorrect. The thing is, the umps are right the vast majority of the time. They don't need to be babied.

We're talking 30,000 seats (Major League Baseball takes the first 12,000 seats off the top as their price for bringing the circus to town), times as much as $2,064, the cost of one lower box season ticket, times three, plus three years' interest while they hold your money.
That's a maximum of $18,576,000, plus interest, the Giants get in advance...

That's bad enough, but unless I'm really stearing my daughter wrong on her math homework, the writer missed a zero. It's $180,576,000 they get in advance.

http://media.sports.ign.com/articles/586/586966/vids_1.html
COMN for a full MVP 2005 game of the Jays vs the Indians. Its four parts, the game looks so good.

http://sports.ign.com/articles/586/586717p1.html
Or, COMN for IGN's preview of the Owner Mode.

It sounds good. I'm mildly upset that you can't (apparently) make something like the Polo Grounds, but I'm really glad that everything is in real dollar this years. Nothing would've been more annoying than seeing: Payroll: 10,000 points, Ticket Sales: 6,000 points, net loss: 4,000 points. I'm also glad that they've got real managers in the game (and that you can hire scouts. The scouting aspect was terrible last game)

Looks like fun. Now, what's the over / under on Hinske's overall rating in the game, and the average number of days it takes players who pick the Jays to trade for another 1st baseman?

Listen, I'm usually the first guy to jump on the umps when their wrong, but this will never happen , and justifiably so. I believe several years ago when a stadium operator re-played an incorrect call, the umps in unison, walked off the field.

Which makes me wonder, why are NFL refs ok with admitting to being mortal but MLB refs are not.

I mean the NFL has gone so far as to say "look we know our refs make mistakes, they're only human. Therefore we will give each team the ability to legally overturn 2 referee's calls per game." and everyone is ok with it. But in MLB the umps walk off the field if they dare show an umpire making a mistake on the jumbotron. I guess it's just a different culture. I cant remember the last time I saw an NFL coach stand toe-to-toe with a ref and yell his face off arguing a call either, but I see it all the time in MLB.

That's bad enough, but unless I'm really stearing my daughter wrong on her math homework...

You let someone else help her with the English homework, right?

:)

The problem with your theory Tyler is you can't fire everybody, and if you show only the "right" calls, the crowd would obviously know the umps screwed up, and react accordingly. You'd place the umps under extreme duress to err on the side of the home team to appease the crowd.

No thanks, I like my arbiters to be neutral.

You'd place the umps under extreme duress to err on the side of the home team to appease the crowd.

Weak. A professional is strong enough that that isnt even a factor, or at least it shouldnt be. Plus doesnt this happen in like every other major sport? And the refs and umps there do just fine. Unless you're implying that umpires are just plain weak-willed ;)

Weak. A professional is strong enough that that isnt even a factor, or at least it shouldnt be. Plus doesnt this happen in like every other major sport?

Actually this is a weak arguement.If you've ever been to a live NHL game, dubious close calls are not re-played. I'm sure the NBA and NFL have similar, "don't show up the refs" type policies. Your point about the culture of baseball being different is a good one. The verbal abuse tolerance bar in the NBA is set much lower than in baseball.

Weak.

Upon re-reading, that sorta came out wrong. Didnt mean to accidentally state that either you or your opinion were weak. But rather that if what you are saying is true and that is the real reason for it, then IMHO that is a poor or "weak" reason for doing it.

http://www.bostondirtdogs.com/
Canseco names Nomar as roid user in his upcoming book

Have to disagree with Wildrose. There's nothing wrong with showing that umps make mistakes; they are human. No reason to baby the umpires and just let things continue like they're perfect.

I'm really getting tired of hearing of the umpiring crew's collective ego. With the "Questec won't let me alter the strikezone as I want," and the "I'm going to call a clear ball a strike because you started to walk to first before I called it," and now with the "I'm too great to have my mistakes shown to the public." Blech.

Okay ... wtf.

I'm watching those videos of MVP Baseball 2005, and I see that Doc STILL has the Palmball! Why?

Looks like they improved the foul ball system, though. Great.

That's the first thing that I noticed when I watched the videos. I just hope that they fixed the editing system, so that I can edit him without changing his contract and the motion on his curveball.

Also of note:

A) Hinske's not as bad as he could've been.

B) Reed Johnson is still the perfect platoon partner for the Cat

C) Adams and Qurioz look like they got worse ratings than Howie Clark. Ouch. With them, Hinske, and Rios in the lineup, things could get ugly.

D) The new additions look good. The pitching meter seems to be a lot harder than last year, the off-balance swing animations are great, and the hitter's eye isn't as prominent as I thought it'd be.

I'm pretty sure that's just the beta version of MVP. So I don't think things such as ratings/pitches are finished. They have the same engine as last year so things that they may have updated in the last month won't be in that version. IGN has had the beta version for a while now.

I guess we'll see on March 1st. I was a little worried when I saw the palmball as well though, hopefully they'll get it right.

Also I'm pretty sure they fixed the editing glitch, so hot zone's and 12-6 curve balls don't change.