Big news, in case the home opener wasn't exciting enough on its own: the Blue Jays just announced that they have signed Alex Rios and Aaron Hill to contract extensions.

Rios will be a Blue Jay through 2014.

Hill's signing was a surprising twist. His contract takes him through 2011, and also contains three club options that could keep him in Toronto until 2014 as well.

Showtime.

After a tough start in New York, what better way to bounce back than by welcoming the defending champs to town for a weekend series?

Three games in, and already grumbling about the Jays batting order has begun. Mercy! I would say that the John Gibbons has been pretty conventional is his deployment of the troops, but of course conventional doesn’t always mean right. Everyone has their own ideas, naturally, but lets take a look at the current nine and a more statistically oriented bunch and see what we can come up with.

The minor league season opened with a bang on Thursday as the Syracuse Chiefs became the first club in the minors to take the field, as they faced the Cincinnati Reds' Triple-A affiliate, the Louisville Bats. The Chiefs also played the game on grass, after the old turf was removed from the stadium in the off-season.

That's a bit more like it.

Well, I guess we can let the Bad Guys win their last home opener at the old stadium. They'd do the same for us, right?

Do you realize that the Dodgers have played more seasons in Dodger Stadium than they played in Ebbets Field?

The Jays are still undefeated!

Turns out Matt Stairs' hip injury is worse than first thought and he is now out for the season. As a result the Jays signed Barry Bonds as a replacement.

Bonds contract is a one year deal for $5 million, with bonuses of $1 million for every 100 plate appearances he has.

It's time, babies. It's time.

Time to wait until tomorrow...

Thanks to the stupefying greatness of Sean Forman's BaseballReference.com. we can now view the Opening Day starting lineup for every team, every season, ever. Here are Blue Jay Opening Day lineups dating back to that Opening Opening Day back in '77. Go take a look, revel in a trip down memory lane, then come back here and answer these questions ...

I like to spread a little Sunshine and Light around here from time to time.

Not always, though. Just sometimes

The Lansing Lugnuts and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats have announced their opening day minor league rosters and from that we can make some assumptions about the Syracuse and Dunedin rosters.

Travis Snider appears to be headed to Dunedin to start 2008.

Time to consider the local heroes....

We have optimism, we have pessimism. We have faith, we have skepticism. We have - ahem - covered many of the bases.

A look at JP Ricciardi from Jeff Blair.  A pretty good & fair article.