TSN reports that the Jays have signed catcher-first baseman Jason Phillips to a minor league contract.

Over the next couple months, we'll be using the polling station here at the Box to generate collective projections for the 2006 Blue Jays. For hitters, we'll be projecting number of at-bats, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. For pitchers we'll estimate innings pitched and earned run averge. These stats can be used to generate rough estimates of runs created and and runs allowed, respectively. Add these up for an entire team and you come up with the total runs for and against; from this you can calculate a Pythagorean winning percentage; and from this you know precisely how many games the team will win. Okay, maybe not quite precisely. But hopefully it's an entertaining exercise.

For each poll set, the relevant statisical history of the player in question will be included as the first comment in the "AB" or "IP" poll. When in doubt, users are encouraged to refer to these stats before responding. As always, discussion related to the polls is encouraged. Let's begin! What do we think Mr. Roy Halladay will do in 2006?

One of the most common given/first names in the English-speaking world is, of course, Robert. (Our own Dudek's and Pettapiece's ears -- er, eyes -- have certainly perked up at this point.) It's also one of the most common given/first names to not yet have its own Hall of Names roster published here on Batter's Box ... and it's time to take care of THAT little oversight.

Yes, this is (in part, anyway) a team made up entirely of players who appeared in the major leagues with "Robert" (not "Roberto" -- sorry Mr. Alomar, Mr. Bonilla and especially Mr. Clemente) as their first/given name (sorry, Jeffrey Robert Bagwell and Bret Robert Boone, among many others) and who actually went by (Sayonara, Robert Kevin Appier and Robert Britt Burns) some form of that name ...

There are so many little things that pitchers do: fielding the position, holding on runners, throwing the ball where the catcher can catch it with runners on, getting the ground ball with a runner on first. How many runs can these things add up to in a career?

Oh, I'm still on hiatus from Photo of the Week. Am I ever on hiatus. In fact, I don't think I'll be starting work on the new banner until February, so Orlando Hudson will be at the top of the site for another month at least.

But that doesn't mean that we can't talk about who's going up there next...

New Year's Eve, New Year's Day ... warm up the pipes and clear the throats to sing along!

In the Troy Glaus trade the Blue Jays also received Sergio Santos from the Diamondbacks. Where does he fit into the Blue Jay prospects?

According to the information provided by Sean Forman's brilliant BaseballReference.com, there have been more than 200 Canadian-born major league ballplayers, men actually born in The True North Strong and Free.

Before we move on to an international Hall of Names challenge, let's see if we can't build the best possible 25-man roster from this considerable pool of candidates; your arguments and corrections are welcome and invited!

So here we go, let's welcome ...

At Hall Watch, evaluating quality is Job 1. For starting pitchers, it is not easy. There are so many choices. You can start with the components- walks, home runs, strikeouts, ground balls, fly balls and line drives, and work from there. You can start with the runs allowed and work from there. Or you can look at the won-loss record and work from there. You might very well use a different method for career evaluation than you would use for seasonal evaluation.

B.J. Ryan, 5 years $47M. A.J. Burnett, 5 years, $55M. Lyle Overbay for Bush and Jackson and Gross. Troy Glaus for Hudson and Batista. How’s a longsuffering Blue Jay fan feel about all this?

This one feels culture shock.

Did you know that only 11 men in major league history have carried the name of "Troy"?

Where do the AL East contenders sit right now compared to each other? Let’s compare them by looking at how their current depth charts stack up. At each position (including starters one through five and three bullpen slots for closer, lefty/righty setup men and the rest) the three teams will be ranked according to the likely productivity of their current situation. We’ll assign points on a 3-2-1 scale for each team and total them up at the end.

At a press conference this evening the Blue Jays finally announced the deal that has been mentioned for several days: Troy Glaus and prospect Sergio Santos join the Jays from the Diamondbacks in exchange for Orlando Hudson and Miguel Batista.

While we wait for the Troy Glaus trade press conference, here's a new place for our baseball musings.

Boxing Day in Toronto gave us nothing but sadness, thanks to a senseless shooting on Yonge Street and this news of Jeff Reardon. Today cannot help but be better.

So what baseball related gifts did people get?