The Baseball Hall of Fame operates in mysterious ways and one of the biggest mysteries is how they select the winner of the Ford C. Frick award.  The winner gets to be represented in the Hall of Fame.  Tom Cheek is this years winner.

The Hall of Fame is not a part of MLB.  They are a private institution.  As a private institution they want people to come and visit and, in my opinion, there is always a pull between naming broadcasters who are alive versus dead.  Dave VanHorne, who was elected last year, is most definitely alive and therefore can go on multiple TV and radio shows and talk about what a great place the Hall of Fame is and in that way generate publicity and revenue for the Hall.  Tom Cheek cannot do that.  That is speculation on my part as to why it has taken so long for Tom Cheek to be named.

The winter meetings started yesterday and John Gibbons and AA met the media to answer some questions.

Elsewhere the Red Sox added Mike Napoli.  Angel Pagan stayed with the Giants.  Rafael Soriano is rumoured to be close to signing with the Rangers.  And A-Rod will have hip surgery in January and will miss four to six months.

The 2013 Hall of Fame ballot has been released, and it's a big one. There are 37 names this time around, ten more than last year. There are 13 players returning from last year and 24 who will be on the ballot for the first time. And some rather notorious names are among them.

The Toronto branch of the BBWAA held a meeting today and AA and Paul Besston joined the writers to answer questions. Gregor Chisholm at MLB.Com has posted a full transcript at his blog. AA discussed the roster in light of the winter meetings next week.

We did this a few years back, and it seemed like an obvious idea to put it up again...

It's still only November, but recent events have us already thinking about 2013, right?

The Buffalo Bisons have introduced a new logo for 2013 to mark its brand new affiliation with the Blue Jays.

The Bisons have ditched its New York Mets-inspired colors and logo for a red and blue look.

Or so Bob Elliot believes.

Here comes $165,000,000 worth of fish!

Commissioner Bud says that this deal "represents the exercise of plausible baseball judgment on the part of both Clubs, does not violate any express rule of Major League Baseball," such as public exhibition or unauthorized reproduction. Wait, are there other express rules?

It's been a while since the last Boxcast episode, but it's a while since anything was particularly exciting 'round here. Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLBTR dropped by and we talked about the recent moves, the AL East as it stands, and what it's like to cover the GM Meetings as an internet journalist.

Subscribe here. Listen here.

A couple of years ago I came out of my bunker, but I saw my shadow.

The Blue Jays have agreed to sign Melky Cabrera to a two year $16M deal according to ESPN.  Cabrera is coming off two very good seasons and a 50 game drug suspension.  The key question is...what kind of Melky are the Jays getting?

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is reporting the Blue Jays have completed a mega-deal with the Miami Marlins.  Right-hander Josh Johnson, lefty Mark Buehrle and shortstop Jose Reyes are heading to Toronto.  Going the other way are righty Henderson Alvarez, shortstops Yunel Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria and minor league lefty Justin Nicolino, one of the "Big Three" pitching prospects in the minor league system.



Update:  There is more to the deal.  Former Jays catcher John Buck and infielder Emilio Bonifacio are coming to Toronto.  Jays pitching prospect Marcus Stroman says minor league outfielder Jake Marisnick is also heading to the Fish. 



Update 2: Catcher Jeff Mathis and minor league pitcher Anthony DeSclafani are also Marlins.

The semi-official award season kicked off Monday with the naming of the two rookies of the year. The timing of the award announcements has changed this season. Previously awards were announced over a two week period at 2pm. This year the Baseball Writers Association has linked with the MLB Network to have an award show at 6pm. The award winners for both leagues are announced on the same day.

Maicer Izturis. AA signed him today to a 3 year deal plus an option year (he does love having options) for $3 million per year.