Yes, yes, it's stupidly early for an odds-on look ahead, but the world of gambling never sleeps. According to Bodog.net, the odds for each MLB team to win the 2010 World Series are as follows ...

Great idea in the other thread ... what would a team's "mixtape" look like, the one capturing everything from that team's current philosophy to its historical legacy? Or, as Matthew E. put it, how a team "really feel[s] about baseball."

Let's see, for the Yankees (per this thread's headline) you might start with ABBA's Money, Money, Money but also must needs include Queen's We Are the Champions. The Mets' mixtape would surely include Bryan Adams' Summer of '69 ... what else, and for who else?

Two rules/challenges:
1. Keep it clean!
2. Sarcasm is welcome, but don't cross the line into snottiness! Genuine cleverness is best, of course ...

Next?

A tip of the retro Blue Jays cap to Bauxite brent for pointing out that the Jays are taking a gander at lefty John Halama down in the Dominican.  Should the Jays sign the 37 year-old hurler, it would continue a trend by GM Alex Anthopoulos of acquiring players whose last name begins with "H".  Halama would join fellow southpaw Sean Henn and second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir in the "H" gang.  Again, more hard-hitting analysis from Batter's Box.  Subscribe now!

The second waiver claim of the Alex Anthopoulos era is second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir from the St. Louis Cardinals.  To make room on the 40-man roster, the Jays have designated left-handed reliever Bill Murphy for assignment.

So does this recycling of managers ever work?

Not very often.

The National Post is reporting that center fielder Vernon Wells and third baseman Edwin Encarnacion will have wrist surgery this off-season.

Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has confirmed the team will not re-sign free agent first baseman/DH Kevin Millar for next season in an interview with Shi Davidi of the Canadian Press. 

A .143 hitter is one of the big reasons the New York Yankees are in position to win the World Series tonight.  He's the subject of our latest POTD.

Another Halloween has passed, and we are more than halfway through the Nov. 1 anniversary that is known widely in many Christian denominations as "All Saints Day." I thought we might build a Hall of Names team around men with "Saint" or at least "St." in their names, but these sainted ballplayers are few and far enough between that, certainly moreso than the five dozen or so major leaguers with "Angel"-based names, they could gather to dance on the head of a pin.

Though we might assemble a full active roster if we counted the 75 or so historical minor league Saint/St. ballplayers -- including infdividuals like 1953 Drummondville Royals backstop Marcel St. Pierre (who frankly sounds more like a goaltender than a catcher) -- our major league "archive" of saints includes just three men ...

Jordan Bastian has twittered changes to the Jays coaching staff for 2010.

Cito Gaston will manage one more year then retire after 2010.

Brad Arnsberg has moved on to the Astros as the new pitching coach and Gene Tenace has retired.

Bruce Walton comes out of the bullpen to be the next pitching coach, his job in the bullpen will be taken by Rick Langford who has been a pitching coach in the minor leagues for many years.  Last season Langford was the pitching rehab instructor.

Brian Butterfield goes back on the field to be third base coach as he switches jobs with Nick Leyva.  This gives Cito one of his old pals on the bench with him.

Dwayne Murphy moves from first base coach to hitting coach.  Murphy is another coach who has spent time in the minor leagues.  And Omar Malave is promoted from Dunedin manager to first base coach.

As Bauxite 92-93 and our John Northey pointed out in a previous thread, the Jays have claimed left-hander Sean Henn off waivers from Baltimore.  To make room, the Jays have designated catcher Michael Barrett for assignment.

Take me away, I don't mind
But you better promise me, I'll be back in time 

He's been reactivated in time for the start of the World Series and he can add this to the list of his accomplishments - a starring role in the Batter's Box POTD!

The Jays announced today that Paul Beeston has been appointed President and CEO for a three year term.

"We are thrilled that we were able to convince Paul Beeston to take on this role," continued Tony Viner. "Paul's background with the club, his credentials in the baseball world and his enthusiasm for this sport will be incredible assets." Paul Beeston will work with newly appointed General Manager, Alex Anthopoulos.

Alex Anthopoulos's first order of duty is to come up with a philosophy for the team.  What is a team philosophy you ask?  Beeston and Anthopoulos stated in their first Saturday press conference that the organization first needs to define a philosophy and from there decisions regarding payroll and free agents and roster composition can be made.   The philosophy covers how the team will compete, it is a baseball equivalent of a business plan.  Alex and Beeston were supposedly meeting over the last couple of weeks to determine the philosophy.  This week they might be presenting it to Rogers.  So we at Batters Box, at no charge to the Blue Jays, will help define what the philosophy should be.

There has been a lot of discussion in other threads about what the Jays should do but a lot of it is based around specific players such as JJ Hardy or Hanley Ramirez that the Jays could target.  However a philosophy cannot be based on what other teams might be willing to do, it has to be more abstract than that, it is what will wo do, in general, to make this team competitive.  Here are three offerings from members of the roster.