One of the last of the Boys of Summer, and a familiar voice and face to Expos fans in their early days, has passed on.

What are you doing under there?

There are seven Jays Spring Training games available from the good people at MLB advanced media this year.  Starting Sunday March 6th against the Pirates.  Altogether there are 150 games being shown this spring, starting this Saturday with the Yankees and Phillies (Colon against Hamels).  The games are available as a freebie if you pony up the $15 for the At Bat app on Apple devices.

With pitchers and catchers already in camp and the balance of the squad arriving on Friday, Dunedin began the annual welcome of the Toronto Blue Jays to this delightful Florida coastal town just west of Tampa Bay.   The traditional welcome of the Jays is the address by a Toronto executive to the Dunedin Council of Organizations (DCO), a 100 strong group of local opinion leaders, community activists and volunteers.

Okay, it's Valentine's Day, so 'fess up ... who's your all-time baseball "crush"?

Not your favorite player, necessarily; not even necessarily a player on your favorite team. In fact, let's make that a rule -- step outside the "family" boundaries of your favorite team(s) and tell us who that one player is who, for whatever reason (one you might not even be able to articulate) you just could not help yourself, you had to root for him.

For me? That's easy. It was The Red Baron himself -- Thurman Clyde "Rusty" Greer ...

I dislike second-guessing the manager. I really do. Usually, I can understand his reasoning even if I don't necessarily agree with it. I can figure out what he's probably thinking. I'm also aware that he knows lots and lots of stuff that I don't know.
 - Me, while ripping John Gibbons a brand new orifice for a decision I didn't like a whole lot.

Answer me these questions three
Ere the other side you see
---- Tim The Enchanter

Here's a Pinch Hit from intrepid correspondent Ron.

KLaw has released his organisational rankings behind the insider wall at ESPN and has the Jays system ranked an impressive fourth behind Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

          So many questions
          Still left unanswered
          So much I've never broken through......

I don't know much
But I know I love you
That may be
All there is to know

Over the weekend, with the freezing weather in Ontario, I took the opportunity to clean out some old files while finding time to look at my newly arrived Baseball Forecaster.  Some of the stories and clippings I looked at reminded me of how little we know about baseball performance, one of the reasons the game appeals to us.

At this time last year there were people calling for Jose Bautista to be traded, and expecting that Randy Ruiz would  be on the bright spots for the 2010 Jays.  Aaron Hill and Adam Lind were going to carry the Blue Jay offense and Brett Wallace was waiting in the wings.

...is a new Jay.

A quick look at the rosters as they stand for the AL East teams.

In yesterday's thread about the greatest Jay of all time, greenfrog described Roy Halladay as the most "all-around enjoyable Blue Jay to watch."

Magpie suggested Tony Castillo (as well as Jesse Barfield, Tom Henke, and Paul Molitor). He also thought this might be a worthy thread.

I agree.

The Star today has a feature on the greatest Blue Jay in light of Roberto Alomar's election to the Hall of Fame.  Dave Perkins and Richard Griffin, as well as four nameless fans, pick their greatest Blue Jay.  The six Jays mentioned in the story are Dave Steib; Carlos Delgado; Roberto Alomar; Roy Halladay; John Olerud and Cito Gaston.

Not mentioned are Tony Fernandez; George Bell; Jesse Barfield or Jimmy Key.

Did you know there are still 91 free agents available on the MLB winter market? Sure, some of these guys are going to  either retire by choice (Andy Pettitte?) or "retire"  through lack of interest.

ABut amost 100? Really? Yes, it's true. And while it's also true that most of the big names and stars (not always the same thing!) have been snapped up, we could build two pretty decent 25-man rosters (divided by league, of course) with careful attention to that list. Let's take a look at one version of what's possible, then we'll have a few quick questions for you to consider and answer.