Strong stuff from Peter Gammons, who considers "the perception of mistrust with the Commissioner's Office" the game's biggest problem, and calls for change.

This past October we saw how good baseball can be, but it needs someone or something to blast it forward into the 21st century.

You'll be disappointed if you wanted more rumours about trades and free agents; this column is a "state of the game" lament, including the steroid issue and the spectre of collusion, directed at Bud and his credibility. Gammons calls it "a resounding embarrassment to baseball" that Wisconsin legislators and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel are calling for audits of the local team's books.

The Hanlan's Point Chapter of SABR (that's the Toronto chapter) will have its next meeting on Sunday, January 18 at 1:00pm, at the Duke of Richmond Pub (20 Queen St. West, near the Eaton Centre). The featured guest will be Anthony Kalamut of Seneca College speaking on "Southside Anthony's Hall of Fame". Also on the programme are "The Lighter Side of Jay Buckley's Baseball Tours", a preview of the 2004 "Spring Training for Fans" Lineup, a trivia contest, and more.

To RSVP, please contact Maxwell Kates by telephone at (416) 515-9578, or by e-mail at BUS79@sympatico.ca.

If you're not already a member of SABR, it's OK... guests are welcome. But if you love baseball, join SABR.

As is often the case, this is already being discussed in the Hijack Central thread. Citing "a source close to Escobar," Geoff Baker reports in today's Star that it's a done deal, pending a routine medical examination. Kelvim will be an Angel for $18.75 million over three years. It sounds like the Red Sox were the underbidders at $15 million for three, while the Jays wouldn't budge from their $10 million, two year proposal.

There were rumours about an Escobar trade to Anaheim at least as far back as the 2002 deadline, and he continued to impress his (alleged) new team in 2003, taking a shutout into the ninth on August 3, and pitching five scoreless relief innings in May. The Angels hit just .136 off him this year; no wonder they think he's worth the money. I certainly don't.

it's official -- the Anaheim Angels have signed Kelvim Escobar to a three-year, $18.75 million contract (lefty broke the news first). The decision will have a number of effects. First, the Jays will now take the $5 million they had offered Escobar and put it towards the team's remaining purchases: another starter (preferably a solid #2), bullpen help and/or veteran infield depth. Second, Escobar was a Type-A free agent, which means the Jays get a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds of the 2004 draft as well as the Angels' 2nd-round pick next June. Finally, Escobar will be pitching for neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox the next three years, which has to be considered a bonus for the Blue Jays -- they would not have liked to lose a talented starter to their divisional rivals. The news is unsurprising and will surely foster controversy: should the Jays have tried harder to bring Escobar back? Should they have tried to match the Angels' offer? Or are they better off without the enigmatic, frustrating right-hander? Adios, Kelvim.

We've run a thread like this before, but I thought I'd throw the floor open for the input of our many new readers.

It's a simple pair of questions: If you were a hitter on the Blue Jays, what would you select to be your at-bat music? And if you were on the Jays' pitching staff, to what song would you like to enter the game?

I think if I were an ace reliever, I'd definitely choose "Money City Maniacs" by Sloan to get the crowd going in a close game. As a hitter, my imagined tune changes from week to week; now I'm thinking "Can't Explain" by The Who. I have to say, though, that I saw Willie Harris stride to the plate to "Still Fly" by the Big Tymers at a White Sox game -- and it was pretty cool.

It's up to you...except that Murray Eldon's presence, of course, is non-negotiable.

I've kicked the habit
Shed my skin
This is the new stuff
I go dancing in

By popular demand, here's a new Hijack Central, for breaking news, rumours, OT discussions and other Bauxite miscellany.

Most baseball fans like to look at minor league pitching stats and dream about what a player might become. We look at the teenager who blows away A ball hitters and wonder if he might be the next Dwight Gooden. At the same time, we haven't seen most of these pitchers pitch regularly (if at all) and we must rely on scouts for anecdotal information. The one thing we do have is a confusing tangle of numbers. But what, if anything, do they indicate about a pitcher's likelihood of making it in the majors?

The following performance ratings are based on the pitcher's performance relative to minor league level and age, and are adjusted for league and for whether the pitcher was a starter or a reliever in the minors. Major league stats are NOT included in the evaluation.

I've kicked the habit
Shed my skin
This is the new stuff
I go dancing in

By popular demand, here's a new Hijack Central, for breaking news, rumours, OT discussions and other Bauxite miscellany.

Thanks to Ryan01, who broke the news of the Jays' 40-man roster additions on the Hijack Central thread. The additions were expected, but there were some notable absences. And there are still two spaces left -- the club has room for more acquisitions later this off-season. Added to the 40-man today were Gabe Gross, John-Ford Griffin, Dustin McGowan, Jesse Harper, DJ Hanson and Jorge Sequea. Here's the complete roster:

Mike Green had a great idea over in another thread, I'm taking the liberty of opening a new thread, and pasting his comment here to get us started. Mike Moffatt, don't forget to put your team in here.

Here's part II of my bandwidth-choking thread on Blue Jays minor league hitters. Have fun!

Here, for your enlightenment, enjoyment, or whatever, is info on every Blue Jays hitting prospect I could think of since the dawn of recorded time. Needless to say, this project grew to be rather larger than expected! (Eventually, I'll do the pitchers too, but not right away.)

I've divided the list into two parts - A-K and L-Z - as I don't want to choke a single thread. Hopefully the formatting will work out - I tested it in another thread, and on two browsers, before posting it here. Scream if there are any problems!

Each player has a Buzz Factor listed, which is a non-scientific estimate of the amount of hype the player generated, from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest).

Hope you find some of this useful, and enjoy!

Yes, I'm hurting for good headlines today. The Globe & Mail's Jeff Blair chimes in on the Jays' recent flurry of pitching acquisitions with an interesting article and chat with JP Ricciardi. It's quite good, but for a brain cramp that led him to call Adam Peterson a southpaw, and includes this insight from JP: "We were four wins from 90 [last season] with what was, let's face it, a Band-Aid staff." He's right about that, and if a legitimate #2 can be added (names tossed around here have included Kelvim Escobar, Ben Sheets and, if you really stretch the definition, Miguel Batista), the Jays could catch fire. But the article spends more time talking about the help on the way from the minors. JP makes the interesting assumption that while David Bush will open the season at Syracuse, Dustin McGowan should start at Double-A and quickly move up. It's a good reminder that McGowan's just 21 and needn't be rushed. I have a feeling that there's at least one big trade in store for the Jays this winter, and that it will send some prize minor-leaguers out the door. But if such a trade brings back that #2 guy, it's more than worth it. That's why you collect prospects, after all.

Baseball's off-field life can sometimes be fairly likened to a circus, and this week is no exception. The Mets did the right thing and fired Bill Singer for acting like an idiot and embarrassing the organization. The Brewers are in far deeper trouble, trying to fire their team president, a highly respected Milwaukee businessman who protested the team's plans to chop payroll to $30M -- a decision that itself has stirred the anger of the local press and politicans. And finally, an alleged rift between Alex Rodriguez and Buck Showalter in Texas has supposedly been exacerbated by the firing of a clubhouse assistant who doubled as A-Rod's valet and personal assistant. Why can't I have a gofer? Here I am doing all my own errands like a chump. (Thanks to Jeff for the A-Rod tip.)

A busy day for the Blue Jays garnered a great deal of press. Geoff Baker at the Star reports that both Hentgen and Lilly are happy to be in Toronto, though Ted's belief that "we have a very good shot at winning the division" is a tad optimistic. Mike Rutsey at the Sun notes that JP still hopes Escobar will come back as the #2 guy, though that seems a longshot at best. The Oracle at Baseball Primer echoes the popular sentiment that the Kielty-Lilly trade was the classic "good deal for both sides." And the best report came from the Score Bard, who penned these Schultzian lines:

Beane's outfield was so bad he felt he
Should make it less Lucy Van Pelty,
While JP's poor mound
Was too Charlie Browned:
And thus was born Lilly-for-Kielty.