Joe Torre, the eighth-winningest manager in major league baseball history, is now, as they say, a free agent. In a twist on the expected "will they bring Joe back?" storyline, it was Torre's decision to leave the Bronx Zoo.

Although it would have been a pay cut, the Yankee offer he turned down was for a $5 million, one-year contract that still would have made him the highest-paid manager in baseball.

Whatchathink, Bauxites?

TSN.ca is reporting that that Tony LaCava has been promoted to Assistant General Manager.  LaCava's name has surfaced several times as a candidate for other general manager jobs.  With most GM jobs filled for next year the Jays have moved to promote LaCava.  The promotion would not likely stop LaCava from pursuing other GM opportunities.

It is not clear how this will change LaCava's day-to-day responsibilities.  Those details will likely come out by tomorrow.

In which I present my Grand Summing Up of the work of the Blue Jays starters this past season, complete with Game Scores and pretty pictures.

With the surprising Colorado Rockies looking to take a 3-0 advantage in the NLCS today, I found myself wondering what an All-Rocky team would look like; no, not a Helton-Holliday squad, but rather a Colavito-Bridges sort of Hall of Names collection.

Unfortunately ...

I took an extensive look at sixth starters the other day. The point of the exercise was simply to show that five starting pitchers are never, ever enough.

Here are some random thoughts about the 2007 season from a Blue Jays fan's perspective.

Two teams this time, one of which is composed of players sharing surnames with DC Comics' stable of superheroes, and the second is similar but with Marvel heroes. I made the arbitrary rule to restrict each team to a single player/hero with a given last name, but I'm not above fudging the spelling a little bit if it gives us a cooler team.

No one ever talks about the Sixth Man.

Usually members of the Roster disappear without much fanfare. Articles with their name at the bottom simply stop appearing on Battersbox. People could get the wrong idea. So, my disappearance will be public and friendly, consistent with the truth that Battersbox is a pena, not a junta.

Courtesy of John Northey.

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I found the following information about payrolls and exchange rates:

The new hitting coach, Gary Denbo, comes from the Yankees minor leagues.  As with most hires they sound good when they happen.  We'll see if there's any noticable change next year.

I have always been fascinated by teams which are able to piece together unlike talents into a coherent whole better than the sum of its parts. The October 10 birthday boys have the potential to be one such team.

Got predictions? Observations? Questions, comments, concerns? Post all your Rockies/Diamondbacks witticisms and dissertational items right here, Bauxites!

Got predictions? Observations? Questions, comments, concerns? Post all your Red Sox/Indians witticisms and dissertational items right here, Bauxites!

Dick Scott is the Blue Jays Director of Player Development and a regular interview subject here at Batters Box.  Recently Scott answered questions from Batters Box regarding the 2007 minor league season and some of the Jays prospects.  The 2006 edition of this season-ending interview can be found here.  Batters Box would like to thank Dick Scott for giving us some of his valuable time.