Here's a breakdown of what that other division will be throwing at the Jays this year. The White Sox and Tigers reload in an effort to bring down the two-time defending champs, while the Royals lurk in the shadows.

Loyal Bauxite Lyle McRae (lylemcr) just recently  celebrated his first anniversary here on Canada's  Place for Baseball Talk. And now, here's a new thread based on his most recent (and just 20th career!) post ...

Look at the Jays' current 40-man roster. Which players who will be on the roster on Opening Day, will no longer he a Blue Jay come Aug. 1?

Could be a trade, a release, a season-ending injury ... you tell us the circumstances, or let them remain a mystery if you prefer. So take a moment, and list your top five candidates on the 40 who will no longer be a Blue Jay by Aug. 1 ... ready? Go! (And thanks, @Lyle!)

My five are ..

The Toronto Sun says manager John Farrell likes what he sees from prospects Brett Lawrie and Anthony Gose.  The story says Farrell believes Lawrie is ready for the bigs now but GM Alex Anthopoulos thinks the Langley, B.C. native could use some time in Triple-A.

“I sent a text to Alex yesterday saying I can’t wait for the day that Lawrie and (Anthony) Gose might be fully ready to go as major league players.  They’re exciting young players and they can impact the game in a number of different ways. That’s not to say we’ve made a final roster decision when it comes to Lawrie but both of those guys are extremely talented and are going to have an impact the day they arrive in the majors.”

Brett Lawrie and his sister Danielle Lawrie wearing Team Canada uniforms.  Danielle is a softball pitcher at the University of Washington.

The Cincinnati Reds won 91 games to capture the Central flag in 2010, besting the St. Louis Cardinals by five games.  A big reason the Reds won was Toronto native Joey Votto, who captured the National League's Most Valuable Player award.   The Redlegs and Cards were the only two clubs to finish above .500 as the Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs finished with 77, 76 and 75 wins respectively.  The Pittsburgh Pirates made it 18 straight years without a winning season as they only avoided being the second place team on the scoreboard 57 times.  As a point of reference, the 1979 Blue Jays were four games worse so that might give you an indication of how bad things were in Steeltown in 2010.  Let's see what baseball's six pack has in store for 2011.

The Cincinnati Reds crack open some cold ones to celebrate their Central Division Championship of a year ago.

Okay, gentle Bauxites, time for ANOTHER happyfuntime game of Predict the Jays '11!

This time, we're swinging for the fences with this two-part (or is it really 11-part?) question ...

1. How many home runs will the team hit in 2011?
2. Who will the Jays' top ten home run hitters be, and how many will each hit?

This is harder than you'd think. I have a top three combining for 100 and the next seven combining for 70 more. That's right, I see the Jays in 2011 hitting a monster numhber (comparatively) of homers ...

 

Forecasting playing time is fun, isn't it?

Reality check, kids....

So Matthew E got us started on predicting the playing time at third base for the 2011 Jays. Now let's take a step back (or, more accuratbely, forward and to the left) and see how Bauxites think the Jays' 162 pitcher starts this season will be divided up.

There are many options, including, but perhaps not limited to  ...

Like that, only like this.

'Cause after all, he'll hit the baseball!  There's still a long way to go but Brett Lawrie continues to make his case that he should play his second ever game at the Dome April 1.  The Canadian third baseman (who was at the Dome not that long ago) slugged his second homer of the year to help the Blue Jays knock off the Twins 7-4 Thursday afternoon in Fort Myers.   Jays fans are hoping for similar results during the season opening series at home April 1-3.

Brett Lawrie is hitting .381 so far this spring with two homers and five runs batted in over 21 at-bats.

A couple of former Blue Jays decided to call it quits over the weekend.  Sportsnet.ca says catcher Gregg Zaun, who tried to catch on with the San Diego Padres this spring, will officially announce his retirement today.  Also, outfielder Frank Catalanotto said over the weekend that he is hanging up the cleats.  He played briefly for the New York Mets last season.

Today's POTD looks at the winning pitcher in the Jays first Spring Training Victory of 2011.  He's also in the top three list of my favourite Janssens.

Casey Janssen stars as the one-legged man!

Today's POTD is all about a former fan favourite.

Reed Johnson is not settling for a double as he catches the corner of the second base bag during third inning action at New York's Citi Field April 27.

Let's start a friendly, clean, conversational "Bar" fight -- literally.

What players whose last name begins with the alphabetic string "Bar-" would make up the best possible All-Bar (All-Star) baseball squad?

Well, of course, in right field you have the cannon-armed former Jay Jesse Barfield. His son Josh Barfield might make the roster as an extra -- though he might not. Who else? ...

Edwin Encarnacion drills a two-run shot over the fence and Jonathan Diaz plates the winning two runs with a walk-off single in the ninth.

Today's POTD pays tribute to the man who stopped the Blue Jays 24 2/3 inning scoreless streak to begin Spring Training with his RBI double in Monday's 6-3 loss to Philadelphia in Dunedin.

Mike McCoy leads off from second base after a double April 15 at home against the Chicago White Sox.