This is the last week of activity before the winter meetings begin on the ninth. GM's are seeing if they can get something done before the meetings or if it will have to wait.

Today, Monday, is the non-tender deadline whereby teams have to decide if they are willing to offer arbitration to their eligible players. Some players will be non-tendered but there may not be many decent starting pitchers or catchers among the non-tendered. The Jays biggest decision is whether to offer arbitration to JP Arencibia, I assume they will.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting the Jays have agreed to sign Dioner Navarro on a two year deal.  I believe the reports on him are good bat, less than good defense.  We will see.

New member stemac has written an article analysing the value of RA Dickey when he is not pitching. There has much anecdotal discussion regarding the difference between facing a knuckleball pitcher and a regular pitcher. This discussion is often focused on the relievers who follow the knuckleballer. But in this pinch hit stemac looks at the impact on the next days starter,

I received a copy of the new Davidi/Lott book this week from the publisher for review.  I read it in three days, in part because it is not a very lengthy read, the book is 180 page of print plus 16 pages of photographs, and in part because it is an easy read.

When I first heard that this book was on its way I wondered what kind of book would it be?  There are those books that are essentially diaries of the season, a day by day or week by week summary of the season that was.  Then there are the books that are about the team, the players and staff, more than they are about the season.  These books rely on interesting characters to provide the backbone of the book.  Finally there are the insider exposes, a tell-all of sorts, as in here is what really happened behind the scenes.

I also wondered whether the authors were able to breach the secretive world of the Anthopoulos front office, would he open up for the sake of history?

And on no account will I tolerate Boston-St.Louis. Enough is enough, I say.

Me, ten days ago. That worked out well.

To contend in the major leagues you need a successful farm system, or at least one that finds gems once in awhile.  Be you the Yankees or the A's you need homegrown be they for trades or stardom.  How have the Jays been doing?

Mick Doherty passed away on October 8, 2013, due to complications with diabetes. A Roster member for as long as I can remember, Mick Doherty was known for his writing talent and his sense of humour, which was often on display in his trademark “Hall of Names” threads.

We're not happy.

Let the handicapping begin. There are still a couple of weeks left, which is certainly enough time for these provisional seedings to change.

Day night doubleheader action in New York. What will A-Rod do? Esmil Rogers faces Ivan Nova in game one. Phil Hughes vs. Mark Buehrle in game two.

The final game of the homestand.  Mark Buehrle faces Jake Peavy.  Buehrle has an ERA of 4.43, Peavy's ERA is 4.50.  The main pitchers in both bullpens were rested last night, except for Brett Cecil.  Janssen, Santos, Loup, Uehara, Tazawa, etc. should all be ready to go.

After this game the Jays head to Tampa, New York and Houston.  The Jays play a day/night doubleheader on Tuesday in New York.  With Monday being an off-day the Jays could roll through their rotation but that would cause a problem on the Saturday when they would not have a rested starting pitcher.  Baseball rules now allow teams to add a 26th player for a doubleheader, will the Jays recall a pitcher for Tuesday for the spot start?

Josh Johnson (29, RHP, 1-7, 6.08) tries to show his last 3 games were flukes (13 2/3 IP 19 ER 4 BB 17 SO 6 HR) while the Angels hope Garrett Richards (25, RHP, 2-4, 4.33) is Dr. Jekyll (2 of last 4 games were 0 runs allowed) rather than Mr. Hyde (other 2 of past 4 were 5+ runs).

You can use statistics to prove anything. 95 percent of all people know that.

It's another song in this key yeah, but this one's about me

I was thinking about how the ex-Jays are doing this year, not just the ones who were playing here at some point in 2012, as many have left, but also some of the older ones.

"The Blue Jays have reached .500! Remove the stone of shame!"

"Woo-who!"

"Attach the stone of triumph!"

"D'oh!"