It's been awhile since we posted a Hall of Names team here on Da Box -- since Oct. 22, in fact, when we unveiled the All-Paul Squad as we continued to build a Hall of Names roster for each of the 25 most-common male names in North America.

To get back in the Hall of Names spirit, let's examine the 19th most common of those names, one that bears significance for me as my own middle name (though of course, as usual, middle names do not qualify for this team) ...

Some AL East moves:

The Yankees traded Gary Sheffield to the Tigers for three minor leaguers, including highly touted Humberto Sanchez.

Not to be outdone, the Red Sox, according to Buster Olney, are going to be the winners of the Daisuke Matsuzaka sweepstakes with a bid of 'between $38 and $45 million.

Miguel Tejada looks nothing like Cal Ripken physically, but sometimes appearances can be deceiving. In 2006, he seemed to change his approach to hitting and hit more line drives, more ground balls and fewer fly balls. The result was exactly what you would expect, a career high batting average of .330 accompanied by a loss of power. At age 30, he still provides an exceptionally valuable package- average defence at short, durability and a .330/.379/.498 line. Durability, of course, understates his record; he hasn't missed a game in six years. Miguel, take my advice, people over 30 need a day off every once in awhile.

No, that's not a 20-year-old headline about former Jay Jesse ... the Padres have traded Jesse's kid, Josh to the Indians for Class AAA prospects Kevin Kouzmanoff, a 3B "uber-prospect," and and RHRP Andrew Brown.

The rarest of baseball trades -- young talent for young talent in a "challenge" deal of sorts.

Thoughts?

Jeff Blair's back with a couple of columns.

Two years ago, I looked at Jeff Kent, Roberto Alomar and Craig Biggio in two pieces- Part 1 and Part 2. Since then, Alomar has retired while Kent and Biggio have wrestled Old Man Time to a draw. Let's see whether I said anything really dumb, and where they stand now.

For the offseason I'm going to continue to trawl through the thousands (literally) of photographs I shot this year for Batter's Box and present you something neat that I didn't put up the first time around. This week, by request, is young Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners:

It's been a fine Arizona Fall League season so far for the Blue Jay farmhands playing for the Phoenix Desert Dogs, who lead the circuit with a 14-8 record. 

Fans have the opportunity to vote for the ten finalists for the Ford C. Frick award for baseball broadcasters.  Many Bauxites voted many times for Tom Cheek last year, and we have the opportunity to do so again this year.  You can link to the ballot here.

According to wire reports (like this one on ESPN.com), Blue Jays CF Vernon Wells has won another Rawlings Gold Glove Award.

And it's true that an OF of Wells, Torii Hunter and Ichiro! would be mighty fine to watch (though, where have you gone, Gary Matthews Jr.?) but that double play combination of Mark Grudzielanek and Derek Jeter might call the award's premise into some question ...

Your thoughts?

Today, a look at the offseason.

Two years ago, I had a look at some first basemen who potentially might be Hall of Fame candidates- Rafael Palmeiro, Fred McGriff, Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Carlos Delgado, and Jim Thome. What I did not discuss in the articles was the implications of the steroid issue on their chances. Palmeiro and Bagwell (along with McGwire and Giambi) have been implicated in the steroid mess.

According to bluejays.com, the Jays have declined Bengie Molina's seven and a half million dollar option for next season and bought him out for half a million dollars.

Gregg Zaun filed for free agency two days ago as well -- the team has an exclusive window to negotiate with its free agents until November 12th, after which they're fair game, however there's no deadline for a player to re-sign with their former team.


Will the Jays end up with an entirely new catching crew for next year?

And who's out there to be had this off-season?

The Elias Sports Bureau player rankings for 2006 have been released. These rankings used to determine the compensation that will be awarded to a team who loses a player through free agency.

And now the pitchers.