It's common knowledge that the Yankees do not use Mariano Rivera in the same way that the Athletics used Rollie Fingers back in the day. Just how different are the ways that closers have been used through the years?

Just a quick thread to help everyone enjoy opening day as Wells & Lind hit home runs to start things off in a good way.

Though the main focus of this site is the Toronto Blue Jays and their farm system, I thought I'd take up a different aspect of what was the original “mandate” of Batter's Box. This was meant to be a home for baseball from a Canadian perspective, and it is worthwhile shining a light on the next crop of ballplayers that will join the likes of Martin, Morneau, Votto and Harden in the big leagues.

Baseball season, kids! That was summer in the air this afternoon! Feel the excitement! Catch the taste!

At long last, the 2010 MLB season is here, with the Yankees and Red Sox kicking things off at 8PM tonight. Over the last few weeks, the roster members have been looking ahead at the coming season with various previews and other miscellany. In case you missed some of them, here they are in convenient list format!

In a recent thread here on Da Box, the self-awarely-named Cynicalguy ranted, "I remember [Richard Griffin] writing a column comparing the Jays all-time team vs the Expos all-time team and commenting that the Expos all-time team was better ... which was laughable."

Let's see if that holds up ...

It was an early Christmas for a baseball fan at the minor league complex on Saturday.  On one field the AAA team were playing the AA team.  On another the Dunedin team were playing the Yankees.  On a third field the Lansing team were also playing the Yankees.  And on a fourth field the extended spring team were playing the Phillies.  Four games, five teams, playing at the same time.  You could develop a sore neck from swivelling around to check out something on another field.

The Jays have signed Adam Lind to a four year $18 million contract with three club options that could keep him in Toronto through the 2016 season.

Link

Guy Spurrier of the National Post kindly invited us to take part in a Blue Jays preview roundtable thing for many of the Blue Jays bloggers, and some of us took him up on it. The article is in today's Post, and can also be viewed online at http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/postedsports/default.aspx (spread over several posts). Go check it out!

Friday at minor league camp saw Henderson Alvarez starting for Dunedin and Gustavo Pierre hitting a home run.  The Jays also started laying out their rosters and Chad Jenkins goes to Lansing and Zach Stewart to New Hampshire.

Yesterday we probed into very specific Blue Jay questions.  Today we look at the big picture, wins, expectations and attendance.

As many of you have doubtless noticed, our old chum and Bauxite Emeritus Craig Burley posted a piece on the Jays over at The Hardball Times that might be described - well, that can only be described - as a venomous screed:

Thursday saw the AAA and AA teams playing at home again.  There was a Jesse Litsch sighting.  And Tim Collins looked good.

Now that we have covered all the divisions and the other four teams in the AL East it is time to turn our attention to the home team, the Blue Jays.  Our roundtable of prognosticators have opined on many topics.  Feel free to add your two cents.

I am in Dunedin and I spent the day at the minor league complex.  The teams for the regular season have not yet been selected but I did see two games at the same time.  In the morning all four diamonds were busy with workouts and batting practice.  In the afternoon the AAA and AA teams played the Phillies.