Shouldn't that be "positive province"?

Shouldn't that be "positive province"?

Not since Ontario qualified for equalization payments!

Happier than a moose covered in maple syrup wading through a bog of poutine. Mmmmm.....moose.

The plan really does seem to have come together this offseason. The last time the Jays made this strong of a winter push, they nabbed Merced, Garcia and Plesac...I drank some Kool-Aid on that deal...

R.A. Dickey. Brandon Morrow will be next, followed by Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson and Ricky Romero.

I don't know if there's any value to mixing up your pitchers between soft & hard and left & right, but if so, this is probably an ideal setup.

Of course, by April 20th it'll probably be something else because of off-days, rain outs, or injuries.

That rotation has the potential for all sorts of awesomeness, especially if Romero can find himself again. Of course, Johnson and Morrow could easily spend good chunks of the year on the DL.

The last time the Jays made this strong of a winter push, they nabbed Merced, Garcia and Plesac

God, I hated that trade. From the first moment I heard of it I hated that trade.

I think the Jays' last big push before this one was the off-season they picked up Overbay, Glaus, Burnett, and Ryan. Which... I don't want to say it didn't work, because all of those guys played well as Jays, but obviously it wasn't enough.

God, I hated that trade. From the first moment I heard of it I hated that trade.

I don't think anyone expected Garcia to crater as quickly as he did-- his first year with the Jays was his last as a regular. Merced wasn't terrible but still seen as a disappointment. Didn't expect Plesac to end up as the best player in that deal.

Blue Jays fan Brian Chick is less positive about the team, though not for baseball reasons.

I don't think anyone expected Garcia to crater as quickly as he did

Oh, I did.

Before making this trade, the Jays had been unable to pick a second baseman out of a field of infield prospects: Domingo Cedeno, Tilson Brito, Felipe Crespo, Tomas Perez, and Miguel Cairo. I was hoping Crespo would get the job, because he was supposed to be able to hit, but instead they traded for Garcia and gave him the job. At the time I made the prediction that, within two years, Garcia would be out of baseball, but at least one of the prospects would be a regular somewhere. (I was right about Garcia but wrong about the prospects, although some of them did end up hanging around the majors for a long time.)

I was also pessimistic about Merced, who in retrospect was better than I thought he was, but thought that Plesac would at least be useful, which he certainly was.

One of the reasons I didn't like the trade was the long list of prospects the Jays sent to Pittsburgh, although none of them turned out to be that great. I think one guy ended up with a long but not overly impressive career.

I still hate the trade.

Oh, I did.

I had rose-tinted glasses on, I'll admit, but looking back, the fall does seem really dramatic.

One of the reasons I didn't like the trade was the long list of prospects the Jays sent to Pittsburgh, although none of them turned out to be that great.

Yeah, it ended up as the ultimate lots of smoke and no fire deal-- iirc, the Jays gave up a lot of talent that was especially young, even as prospects go, and it was weird that none of them developed at all.

I had a lot of hope for Crespo, too. It seemed like part of their problem was not wanting to commit to anyone long enough to live through early struggles-- the Bucs suffered through some tough times with Garcia before getting rewarded with a couple of decent seasons, and the Jays had those sorts of guys around.

Blue Jays fan Brian Chick is less positive about the team, though not for baseball reasons.

I'm not sure if I saw it in there, but there's a massive book/pamphlet full of photos from the 1992 playoffs the Jays sold. We've had it in our house for about twenty years, and this year at Christmas my brother was looking at it and said, "hey, that's Dad!"

One of the pictures was of the celebrations at the Sky Dome after game six (the game was in Atlanta, but they opened up the Sky Dome for Jays fans to watch on the big screen there). After the game my brother, dad, and I had run out onto the field. My dad was planning on grabbing home plate, but there was a cop standing on it, so he consoled himself with scooping up some dirt from home-plate - he still has it in a little jar. The one picture in this book shows my dad hunched over on his hands and knees scraping the dirt from home plate, which was pretty fun to see.

Any other Toronto folks watch that game at Sky Dome?

Well, there's sucking and then there's 1997 Carlos Garcia. Carlos Garcia is maybe my least favourite Blue Jay ever, along with one of the Homer Bushes. The Gord Ash era was truly the Dark Ages.

I am still trying to figure out why they would want Henry Blanco as back-up Catcher over Josh Thole... but if that is the biggest thing to worry about, we are doing pretty good.

I am still trying to figure out why they would want Henry Blanco as back-up Catcher over Josh Thole... but if that is the biggest thing to worry about, we are doing pretty good.

This does not make a lot of sense to me either. I think Thole's a better hitter than he showed last year. Plus, he bats lefty, and owns a career .275/.345/.347 line against righties. Arencibia's at .216/.273/.415. I'm not expecting Blanco to last long in the majors.

I think that, for a few years at least, Barry Bonds and Felipe Crespo were the only two Giants to hit home runs into McCovey Cove on the fly. So, you know, Felipe will always have that distinction.

Craig Wilson was pretty good for a few years. Although as a Braves fan, my best memory of him is that of a player worse than Carlos Garcia for the Blue Jays.

I'm not expecting Blanco to last long in the majors.

No kidding! He's the oldest non-pitcher currently signed to a major league contract. (Jason Giambi might return and strip him of that title)

Because Omar Vizquel was such a great contributor last year.

On a related note Darren Oliver has apparently retracted his unilateral demands to be paid more money, and will return to Toronto, as the second oldest player in the majors behind Mariano Rivera.

I am still trying to figure out why they would want Henry Blanco as back-up Catcher over Josh Thole

'Tis a puzzler but teams do love their veteran backup Cs. You'll hear how Blanco is really good with the pitchers, is spending extra time with Romero, etc. Which would be good reasons to see if he'll be the bullpen coach.

Actually I am further puzzled. Thole is on a 2/$2.5 M contract and Blanco is signed for 1/$750,000. I know those are all chump change at this level but it's odd to have two backup Cs on guaranteed contracts (maybe Blanco's not guaranteed?). The trade was Dec 17, Blanco was signed on Jan 11. I assume Thole has at least one option left (looks like it) otherwise this makes no sense at all.

Besides Thole, Dickey told the Jays Blanco is the best receiver he's thrown to since becoming a knuckleballer. They had 8 games together at some point. They want to see what Thole can do with regular AB's before they stick him spot-starting with d0uchebag Arencibia.