The Toledo Blade, my one-time hometown newspaper and advocate of the Tigers' AAA Mud Hens club, is reporting:

The IL's days in Ottawa may be numbered. The city of Allentown, Pa., is pushing for state funding for a new baseball park, and it's probable that the tenant for that new park will be the Ottawa Lynx.

Ottawa has averaged roughly 2,300 fans per game this season, almost half as many fans as the next-lowest IL team. The average attendance for the rest of the league is roughly 6,800 fans per contest.

The Ottawa Sun reported that Lynx owner Ray Pecor said he loses between $700,000 to $1 million per year on the club.

The prospective deal would have Pecor sell the Lynx to a group headed by Craig Stein and Joseph Finley, who would move the team to the ballpark near Allentown in time for the 2008 season.

Moves like this have been rumoured on and off for some time and should come as no surprise; but the obvious question for Batter's Box Interactive Magazine readers is clear ... What does this mean to "Baseball From a Canadian Perspective"?

Maybe not the entire summer, but certainly the rest of July and perhaps most of August. The wire story has the vital information from GM J.P. Ricciardi:

For a month we're going to have to suck it up. We played without him last year. It's not a comforting situation to be in, not having him.

The timing will never be better. Last night, the Dodgers lost outfielder J.D. Drew for 6 to 8 weeks after a Brad Halsey pitch broke Drew's left wrist. The injury is just the latest to plague the Dodgers, who still don't know when they're getting Milton Bradley back from a finger injury.

Roy Halladay and Shea Hillenbrand will represent the Blue Jays at the All Star game next week.

With a 27-43 start under their belts and sitting a mere 18.5 games out of first, the Cincinnati Reds have axed manager Dave Miley, along with fan favourite and pitcher's scrap pile saviour extraordinaire Don Gullett, Miley's pitching coach and once the most dominant LHSP in the game.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to formally retract the proclamations made in my 2005 Reds Preview, The Hunt For a Reds October, in which I concluded that the Reds would capture the NL Wild Card and meet the Yankees in the World Series.

I offer you the only explanation I can for those earlier guarantees: it was a typographical error.

TSN reports that the Jays have agreed to terms with Ricky Romero, and that he'll sign a contract tomorrow.

According to Lee Sinins' ATM Reports (BBRRS: titanium), the Phillies have traded 2B Placido Polanco to the Tigers for RHRP Ugueth Urbina and INF Ramon Martinez.

In a wholly unrelated incident, and as I posted earlier in another thread, Jamey Newberg (BBRRS: diamond) reports that the Rangers have designated their 2005 Opening Day starter, Ryan Drese, for assignment. Late Add: The Dallas Morning News has confirmed this move.

News comes in threes, right? So what's the next transaction to hit the wire? And what do you think of these two?

The CNW has reported that Aaron Hill will be called up from AAA Syracuse to replace Corey Koskie who heads to the DL after breaking a finger in today's 4-0 loss to the Twins.

According to this press release the Blue Jays have given manager John Gibbons a two year contract extension.

TSN reports that the Jays have dismissed hitting coach Mike Barnett.

His replacement will be current first base coach Mickey Brantley, who did such a fine job as interim hitting coach when Barney was unable to join the team in the season's early going.

Can the enthusiastic, passionate Brantley coax more power and more production out of the Jays' currently slap-happy lineup? What do you think?