If you're on cable anywhere in Canada, you can get a look at the 2003 Blue Jays this afternoon. Sportsnet will be carrying the game vs. the D-Rays at 1:00 EST; Sturtze faces his old mates, while talented young lefty Joe Kennedy goes for Tampa. I remember last year's first televised game very well -- not the result, or even the opponent, but it took one Eric Hinske AB for me to decide he was a terrific hitter. (This year, he's 0-12 so far, but has drawn four walks, so nobody's too concerned.)

Yesterday's 6-0 whitewash by the Red Sox was one of those games -- the Jays managed only two hits, as knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was very sharp, and the Boston bullpen committee did its job. Though Mark Hendrickson didn't have his best outing, he left trailing just 1-0 after two. The damage was done against Brian Bowles, but even he wasn't terrible -- after one strong inning, the roof caved in; four of the five runs he allowed were unearned, with Guillermo Quiroz contributing an error and a passed ball. You can excuse Bowles, whose pitches are so lively they can confuse a green catcher, if he lost his composure a little.

Not everything in Blue Jay land is perfect; Doug Creek looks shaky, and I'm not impressed with Jason Dubois' bat speed. But there is plenty of reason for optimism.

Shannon Stewart's bat is electric, he's in midseason form. Eric Hinske's no longer 0-for-Florida; he's going to be just fine with the stick, and might win a few games with -- of all things -- his glove. Tanyon Sturtze is a completely different pitcher than he was in his nightmare 2002 season.

It was an excellent afternoon for the Blue Jays, easy 6-2 winners over Tampa Bay, and I can't express how happy I am to be watching baseball again. J.P Ricciardi joined Rob Faulds and John Cerutti in the booth for a couple of innings, and Sturtze, after three terrific innings of work, was an entertaining TV guest. Paul Godfrey also made an appearance, endorsing his GM as a judge of talent, and talking about the club's aggressive new marketing campaign.

Managing a major-league baseball club is an incredibly difficult job. Keeping millionaires in line, answering the same stupid questions game after game, constantly trying to think of new ways to say “Our starter sucked tailpipe,” always being second-guessed by chowderheads on talk radio, rarely getting the credit for wins, always getting fired for too many losses. It’s a credit to those men who can pull it off, and I could never do what they do.

None of which will stop me from ranking and criticizing the eight full-time managers in Blue Jays history. Because it’s fun.

Based on criteria I made up myself and riddled with all my own biases, here are my extensive rankings of these managers. I’ve left out the temporary or purely interim managers – Gene Tenace and Mel Queen – and I’m leaving aside Carlos Tosca too, because for managers even more than for players, you simply can’t judge a career until a year or two after it’s over.

As always, comments will be welcomed. Let’s get started.

Another spring profiile from the always-reliable Spencer Fordin at mlb.com focuses on Russ Adams, first-round pick last June out of UNC and middle-infielder for a Blue Jays team of the near future. Adams has received steadier playing time than he expected, thanks to Chris Woodward's ailments, and like other Jays prospects, he's really impressed those in the big-league camp. He comes across as the prototypical good rookie: earnest, eager to learn, willing to pay his dues.

It's been a feel-good spring in Dunedin, no doubt about it, judging from the media reports; even the curmudgeonly Richard Griffin actually went four columns with nary a discouraging word. Partly it's the sunshine, the grass and the fact baseball is back that puts everyone in an upbeat frame of mind. But I'm also getting the impression that this is a good camp: the veterans are enthusiastic and looking forward to April, giving of their time to the rookies and minor-leaguers, and the youngsters are picking that up and running with it. This can be directly attributed to JP assembling the right individuals for this squad, and Tosca and his coaches setting up an excellent Florida program. If there's a better place to be than a happy spring training camp, I'd like to know what it is.

Here’s a neat article, submitted to us by a keen-eyed poster, about one of the Rule 5 picks in the Jays’ camp, Jason Dubois. Plucked from the Cubs’ High-A affiliate in Daytona Beach, Jason drew some notice with a three-run jack against the Reds Wednesday. But he was turning heads already with his outstanding work ethic and good plate mechanics, not to mention his 6’5”, 225-lb frame.

Will Dubois make the team? Hard to say – he put up great numbers in 2002, but the last A-Ball Rule 5er the Jays carried for an entire season was DeWayne Wise, and look how well that turned out. Toronto has three promising Rule 5 picks in camp (Dubois, Aquilino Lopez, and Gary Majewski), and of those three, Lopez would seem to have the inside track on a full season in the majors (he’s old enough that the culture and competition shock shouldn’t be too much for him).

It would be great if the Jays could find a way to keep all three on the roster, but operating with a virtual 22- or 23-man roster is no way to continue the franchise’s development. And though deals have sometimes been worked out with the originating clubs where Rule 5 picks are concerned (it's how the A's got Eric Hinske from the Cubbies), there's no indication the Cubs and White Sox would even want to talk trade on Dubois and Majewski. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Lopez as the only season-long Rule 5 survivor. But JP is a master of the youneverknow.

Okay, so I had something ready to post today, a nice little non-Jays-related puff piece -- I rarely write anything "in-depth" that requires "research" or "hard work" -- only to find that today also marked the posting of the two most engaging articles in BB's brief history: JMG's cruel march through spring training and Gideon's management seminar.

So I punted my puff piece until later, but still wanted to add some postmodern theory to the ranking of Ye Olde Toronto Managers Guild. And regular readers of this blog may recall that I believe everything about a person is contained in their "personal anagram." So without further ado (and before we bid adieu), read on for evidence of Jimy Williams' self-deprecation, Buck Martinez' overreliance on Jose Jr. and a truly prescient give-peace-a-chance statement by Tim Johnson.

How's that for a self-serving headline? I'm not going to rant about European ballplayers, it's just my way of calling attention to my latest ESPN.com Blue Jays fantasy advice column. In the interest of equal time to two AL rivals, here's Mick's latest Yankees piece, and John's column about the A's. ESPN correspondents are paid approximately $0.0004 (Can.) per hit, and we earn it.

Maybe because I started Batter's Box as a personal baseball diary, I'm going to keep linking to stuff I write elsewhere, and like any other item, you may choose to ignore it. Craig and Robert have the juicy assignment of the Blue Jays 2003 Preview for Primer, and even if we didn't "know" the authors, someone here would be linking to that piece as soon as it's published. No need to be overly modest, guys -- one of you should feel free to introduce it to BB readers.

I'm as surprised (and delighted) as anyone when something unexpected (like a Seussical) pops up here, so I encourage all my co-bloggers to post anything they want to share.

A good piece about spring training by the BP folks, provided as a reminder to the optimistic Blue Jay fans to be less sanguine about the results of March Madness.

And so ends the streak. Cleveland 15, Toronto 6. The string of scoreless innings by Blue Jay starters reached 11, through five games, before Cory Lidle got rocked for a 4-spot by the Indians. Doug Linton is not sharp, and seems ticketed for Syracuse. Doug Creek gave up a HR to feared slugger Coco Crisp. Lidle was philosophical (hey, it's early):

"I had four pitches that could have been called strikes and weren't, but no excuses," the right-hander said. "I fell behind and had to come in with pitches to guys that I don't even know who they are and are swinging hot bats right now."

Dave Berg started at 3B and had a big day, homering off C.C. Sabathia and scoring three runs. It was a B-team for the Jays, as Stewart, Hinske, Wells, Delgado and Hudson sat one out. Still no sign of Woodward; maybe tomorrow.

Over at Baseball Prospectus, Will Carroll is running a series of Team Health Reports for each major-league club. It's supposed to be an inventory of aches and pains currently afflicting various regulars and/or their propensity to break down over the course of the year. But since the Blue Jays are a relatively healthy bunch this spring (middle infielders notwithstanding), the Jays report is mostly a summary of organizational developments, and it's a very positive one.

Carroll talks about the organization's vision in numerous areas, starting with their courage to take three promising catching prospects out from behind the plate (and in Joe Lawrence's case, out of the organization). Frank Catalanotto's historical gimpiness is parsed, the club's careful handling of Roy Halladay is praised. and a Kelvim Escobar-Brandon Duckworth trade is proposed (great idea, but I don't think even Ed Wade would go for that).

The only odd thing for me was comparing Josh Phelps's likely career trajectory to Harold Baines. Granted that Phelps adjusts terrifically well and will likely be a better hitter for average than we think, he also has way more power in his tank than Baines ever did. To my mind, Phelps projects to a .275/.350 average/on-base line with anywhere from 35-45 HRs annually, depending on whether (as I suspect) the great baseball pendulum starts to swing back to the pitchers in this decade.

Okay, no gratuitous insults or personal attacks -- I'll take issue with a Richard Griffin column on its merits alone.

Griff's column today is about the Blue Jays' virtual abandonment of the stolen base as an offensive weapon, and he's not especially in favour of it. He points to successful Jays teams of the past (Tim Johnson's Runnin' Jays of 1998) and current speedsters like the Yankees, Angels and Mariners as examples of what lots of baserunning can accomplish.

Admittedly, he's not advocating for a '98 redux -- that year, virtually the whole team had the green light, which can be murder on the guy at the plate. But his strong implication is that since the Jays have the wheels to run much more than they do, they could steal scores of bases if Carlos Tosca were a little looser with the reins.

Jason asked a very interesting question on another entry ("Lowering the Boom") and it spurred me to think a bit (always dangerous)... he asked:

"Why hasn't anybody signed Ricky Henderson yet? He'll play for the minimum, still puts up a solid OBP, can still swipe a base, and his defense is still more than passable. Surely, there are a bunch of teams that could use him to help fortify their bench or to use in a platoon situation. Even if it doesnt work out, its very low risk."

While the snow piles up in Toronto, some people, like Mike Hansen, are in Florida. There's an eyewitness account of Monday's Jays-Yanks game in the latest installment of his baseball blog. Mike's also made a generous offer to buy a t-shirt at the game Friday -- and try to get an autograph or two on it -- to donate as the grand prize in the BBFL. On behalf of every other owner in the league, we all owe you a beer at a game someday. Thanks!

The recap is great:

Anyway, this insight is that pitchers are "ahead" of the batters in spring, as it takes time for the hitters to get their timing back. Or something like that. It did look like that theory proved itself for the most part, with hitters generally fouling balls off to the opposite field and generally hitting the ball weakly. So I think that despite only allowing one hit to what will probably be the Yanks Opening Day lineup, Hendrickson probably won't be All-Star material just yet. He was putting pitches where he needed them.

Some pitchers need three or four outings to get where Halladay and Lidle already seem to be, but if they're in a decent groove, they have an advantage. Very few hitters can take a few months off, then hit a pitcher's best stuff right away. However, my enthusiasm for Mark Hendrickson is uncurbed. Mike, we all look forward to your next report, and have fun at the Red Sox game.

Alright, y'all take a deep breath now and don't get too excited. Five-and-oh in the spring and $2.25 will get you a latte with legs and not much more. The Cincinnatti Reds lineup that Toronto bombed 10-3 today was missing names like Griffey, Kearns, Dunn, Larkin and Casey, while the Jays trotted out most of their regulars and Roy Halladay to boot. All that said, this is still awfully nice to see, so long as it doesn't get our expectations too high.

A few highlights: Josh Phelps made his spring training debut by mashing a pitch from Calgary's Chris Reitsma 400 feet; Rule 5 pickup Jason Dubois contributed a three-run bomb against Carlos Almanzar (a shiny new no-prize for the first person to name the player the Jays once traded Almanzar to get, and with whom); Dewayne Wise and Shannon Stewart chipped in with a couple of hits each; Halladay went three scoreless with 3 Ks; and Pete Walker allowed just one HR is three solid innings of his own.

Other musings: Eric Hinske is off to a very slow start; Rob Ryan continues to make a solid bid for playing time as an extra outfielder; Felipe Lopez went 0-for-3 against his former mates; Kelvim Escobar was rusty in his first outing (3 H, 2 R in 1 IP); and stop the presses, Dave Berg swiped a base.

Bring on the Tribe!

Speaking of former Jays rotation stalwarts, there's a nice piece at MLB.com about Toronto's first Cy Young Award winner, Pat Hentgen. Pat is coming back from Tommy John surgery (as is half the Orioles' rotation, apparently), but as usual, he's taking a positive attitude and he's helping younger teammates who are also facing TJ surgery to cope with the challenge.

Pat always seemed to be one of the good guys, a great representative of the organization on and off the field. It's a shame his career was so much shorter than it might otherwise have been. He has very little chance of making it all the way back, but I wish him every good fortune in the effort.

By the way, am I the only person who thought Pat was separated at birth from this person?