On Wednesday, New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada broke his nose when an errant baseball hit him in the face. Declared Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, "This is another case of the World Baseball Classic's negative impact on my baseball team."

This morning's buzz turned out to be true: in a 1:00 press conference today, the Toronto Blue Jays announced that Roy Halladay has signed a 3 year, $40 million dollar contract extension, locking him up as a Jay until 2010.

Now, A.J. Burnett's wife gets free limo rides, and Troy Glaus's wife gets an operating budget for her ranch as part of their spouses' contracts --

What perks will Mrs. Halladay be receiving? Speculate away!

Oh yeah, and let's talk about what this means to the future of the team and stuff like that, too. I suppose that's also important.

Canada's triumph over the U.S. yesterday left them on a high. Will their confidence lead to a victory over Mexico? Or will tonight find a complacent Canadian team hurt by a Mexican romp?

Join Batter's Box Roster members, including Coach Kent himself, for drinks, food, and camaraderie at Philthy McNasty's (276 King Street in Toronto - the old Peel Pub location) today at 8:00 PM for the inaugural 2006 Blue Jays Beer Club meeting. (The reservation is under the name "Batter's Box.")

Please RSVP in this thread if you're coming!

You will have noticed that, from February 19th until February 23rd, Batter's Box was unavailable from the url battersbox.ca. We're sorry for the downtime, but there was a comedy of technical errors, combined with some very poor customer service, and that multiplied by layers of bureaucracy, that culminated in our domain name being unavailable.

These problems should not happen again, because we're in the process of changing providers of domain names. (By the way: for those in positions of power: Never ever deal with Internet Names for Business, also known as the domain registration arm of Rogers Hosting.)

UPDATE Feb 23, 10:52 am: Our domain has finally been renewed correctly, and battersbox.ca should be coming back on the air in your vicinity very shortly.

UPDATE Feb 23, 1:06 pm: We're back, baby!

ESPN.com reports that Shea Hillenbrand has agreed to a 1 year, $5.8 million deal with the Jays to avoid arbirtation.

Update: Pete Walker has also signed a one year contract avoiding arbitration by signing a deal for $650,000 this season.

TSN reports that the deal is official - 1 year, $4.5 million, with a mutual $7.5 million option or a team $500,000 buyout. The AP reported that the $4.5 million Molina is getting this year is broken out into a $1.5 million bonus and a $3 million salary.

According to ESPN.com (and many other sources), recently deposed GM Theo Epstein has rejoined the Red Sox "baseball operations department in a full-time -- but otherwise unspecified -- position."

So the question to you Bauxites is ...

Ted Lilly avoided arbitration by agreeing to a 1 year, $4 million contract. Lilly can also earn up to $200,000 more based on innings pitched.

The Jays exchanged figures with Hillenbrand and Walker. Hillenbrand has asked for $6.7 million with the Jays offering $5.0 million and Walker has asked for $850,000 with the Jays offering $575,000.

Additionally, the Jays acquired LHP Brian Tallet from the Indians in exchange for RHP Bubbie Buzachero. Tallet was recently designated for assignment by the Indians.

The Blue Jays agreed to terms with Lyle Overbay and Scott Downs for one year contracts, avoiding arbitration.

Jordan Bastian reports that the Blue Jays have signed Ben Weber to a minor league contract and have invited him to spring training.