Interview Excerpts: Fisher Cats RHP Tyson Brummett

Recently our pal Jay Floyd of PhoulBallz.com chatted with New Hampshire Fisher Cats hurler Tyson Brummett.  Claimed off waiver by the Blue Jays from the Phillies organization last off-season, the 28-year-old was a veteran addition to the system, but hasn't had much luck this season.  Through 10 outings with the Double-A Fisher Cats, Brummett has a 0-3 record with a 5.59 ERA.

Here are some highlights from Jay's interview with Tyson...

On the differences between the Toronto and Philadelphia organizations-

There's always a lot of differences. I was in that organization for a long time. I grew up with a lot of those guys, you know, roommates and people like that, coming up through the ranks. This is my first time in a different organization, obviously there are new people, new faces. At the end of the day, it's still baseball. You've gotta go out there and perform and do all those fun things on the field.


On pitching against the Phils' Double-A team in Reading and putting forth his best effort of the season, with six shut out innings-

I mean it's always...you get up to face your old organization. I know there's guys that jump around and have played for three or four different organizations. I think there's that kind of connection there. They know you and you know them and things like that, but you always want to go out and put on a show for the team that you used to be with and obviously the team that you're with against your old team. Kind of like giving a message like, "Hey, I can still help a team win."


On who has been the biggest help to him with the Blue Jays-

I mean, honestly, there's a lot of veteran guys both here, in Double-A and at Triple-A. I think I probably learned the most, it was my first big league (spring training) this year, I had a lot of guys that I played with and Northwoods League and collegiate leagues. Once you've played this game and you move around, it's hard to not run into somebody you've played and vice versa. It's just really good communication over here. Lots of friends. They went out this year and picked up a lot of veteran guys, so it's a lot of guys that have been all over the place, so you feel like you have an instant connection with them, 'cause they're kind of in the same boat you are. I think overall it's pretty welcoming.


To read the full interview with Tyson, including details on his time playing in the Venezuelan Winter League, click here.

1BJW Interview: Fisher Cats Manager Gary Allenson

Former big league catcher Gary Allenson has a career in professional baseball that dates back to 1976 when he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox. In a big league career that included six years with the Red Sox and a small stint in 1985 with the Blue Jays, Allenson batted .221 with 19 home runs and 131 RBI in 416 games.

Since his playing career ended, Allenson has managed in the minors for the Yankees, the Rangers, the Orioles, the Brewers and the Astros.  Additionally, the 58-year-old has served as a coach in the big leagues with the Orioles and Red Sox.

Currently the manager of the Blue Jays' Double-A affiliate in New Hampshire, Gary sat down with minor league insider Jay Floyd last week to chat about his transition into coaching, his time playing in the big leagues, his Fisher Cats players and plenty more. Check out the media player below to hear the full interview.

Press Release: NH Coach Adopts Dog at Ballpark

Via a press release from the Trenton Thunder, Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees-

(TRENTON, NJ) -  Some dogs "roll over", some can "shake hands" and others "speak", but you can bet that newly adopted "Dee Dee's" favorite trick will be fetching baseballs.   

Pitching coach Tom Signore of the visiting New Hampshire Fisher Cats has adopted "Dee Dee", a year old Yorkshire Terrior, who was featured at ARM & HAMMER Park as the Trenton Thunder and Northstar VETS "Dog of the Day" on Thursday, May 9.  The adoption paperwork with Res-Q-Pets of Trenton was finalized today and "Dee Dee" will be making her first baseball road trip after the game as she rides the team bus back to New Hampshire.  Tom said he's considering re-naming his new puppy "Thunder".  

At all 71 Thunder home games, a different "Dog of the Day" is paraded around the field in front of the crowd and a description of the potential pet is read over the public address system.  Fans are invited to "meet" the dog in person or to pick up a flyer at the NJM Fan Services Center on the concourse.  After the game, the dog's picture is posted on the "Dog of the Day" photo gallery accessed through the team's facebook page.

The NorthStar VETS "Dog of the Day" program, now in its seventh season, has helped hundreds of dogs find homes with Thunder fans and staff members over the years but this is the first time a member of one of the teams has adopted.

 New Hampshire won two of four contests at Trenton's Arm & Hammer Park over the weekend.

An Interview with THE Sleeper Prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays Organization

OF Prospect Kevin Pillar

We love cheering for guys like this.

A guy who spent a full 4 years in a division II college. A guy who was drafted in 2011 in the 32nd round, 979th overall.

Generally guys drafted this low either sign immediately for peanuts and start in short season ball or don't sign at all.

In 2011 in the Appalachian League with the Bluefield Bluejays he won the batting title with a .347 average in 236 at bats.

In 2012 in the Midwest League he won the MVP award despite only playing 85 of a possible 137 games with the Lansing Lugnuts. He was also chosen one of only six to represent the Blue Jays organization in the Arizona Fall League and worked his way off the taxi roster and into in the lead off spot.

He got some love on the early 2013 season prospects lists.

This year he made the jump to the Eastern League with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and he has a .331/.380/.470 slash line in 151 at bats, which is pretty damn close to his career numbers since starting in pro ball, which are .331/.376/.470. At 24 he is no longer considered old for his level.

All this accomplished and many scouts still doubt his ability to make an impact in the Major Leagues.

BP on Kevin Pillar "super grinder; fringy prospect who will profile as a backup at the absolute best"
— Clint(@StivBators) May 6, 2013

And you know what? They might be right.

We would argue he has the best hit tool in the entire system, has great wheels - he grabbed 51 bags in 60 attempts last year - and can play all three OF positions.

Even if all he ended up being is a fourth OF or a chip in a trade someday, everyone should be talking about this guy more. Or at the very least, know his name.

Below is an interview our boy Jay Floyd of PhoulBallz.com & other fine media outlets did a few days back with Kevin Pillar. In it they discuss why he plays the game with a chip on his shoulder, gives a scouting report of himself and what his mentality is depending on where he hits in the order.

Click here for his complete stats.

RHP Deck McGuire Video Footage

Righty pitching prospect Deck McGuire picked up his second win of the season for Double-A New Hampshire on Thursday night against the Trenton Thunder (Yankees affiliate).  The Blue Jays' 1st round draft choice from 2010 allowed two earned runs while striking out two and walking three batters in five innings.

The victory took McGuire's record to 2-3 on the year.  He also sports a 5.11 ERA and a .246 batting average against.

Check out the media player below to see footage of the 23-year-old McGuire warming up in the bullpen, striking out Trenton's J.R. Murphy looking and getting Ali Castillo to ground into a fielders choice.

RHP Marcus Walden Video Footage

Double-A New Hampshire righty hurler Marcus Walden has been a bit of a surprise performer thus far in the 2013 season.  A 9th round draft pick of the Blue Jays in 2007, Walden has posted a 1-3 record with a 2.97 ERA while striking out 15 and walking eight in 33 1/3 innings pitched through six starts for the Fisher Cats.

The California native, who stands six feet tall and weighs 190 pounds, entered this season with a 26-18 record along with a 3.62 ERA in five pro seasons, having missed all of 2010 due to an injury.  Additionally, Walden, who is 24-years-old, is armed with a sinker, a cutter, a slider and a change up.

This past week, I shot some video of Walden.  The below clip features some pregame bullpen footage, a strike out of Trenton's Reegie Corona and a single surrendered to Thunder designated hitter Tyler Austin.

Challenge Completed

First off, let me apologize to all the contestants of this year’s 25 Man Roster Challenge for the delay on revealing the winner. I guess I could try to give you all some cheese dick reason why it happened this way but I just don’t want to do that. In my defense, I attended the Blue Jays home opener, the Buffalo Bisons home opener and the epic Fuck Farrell Friday bonanza this week so free time was at a premium. Two openers in two different countries was a pretty special opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up. Mix in some recovery time between games and the attention that this post deserves wasn’t available until now.

The Blue Jays opening day roster in 2013 contained a few wrinkles to say the least. Most notably the absence of Brett Lawrie due to a freak WBC injury and Ricky Romero’s epic melt down that resulted in him being held back in Dunedin to fix his "mechanics".

These developments made for another interesting roster challenge this year but in the end, the winner came from the ballot that was most selected AKA The Favorite. 23 out of a possible 25 was a good enough score to take the crown this year and as expected the tie breaker - the Blue Jays spring training record - factored into determining a sole winner.

Here is where it got interesting. Actually, it got very interesting.

Tiebreakers chosen by the nine contestants that needed tiebreaking were as follows.

Action Jackson: 22-10

@gregorMLB: 18-14

@gideonturk: 17-15

@AndyMc9293: 16-16

@swannsky: 15-17

Team Fightin’ Clints: 14-16

Mr. Defending Champion Sir: 14-18

@trodge: 12-18

@AHume92: 12-20

Blue Jays spring training record: 16-17-1

So yeah, no one nailed the tiebreaker dead on. To further complicate things there was a pesky tie mixed in. Even more annoying than that, the Blue Jays played 34 spring games and most of the contestants but not all chose a win/loss total based on a 32 game record.

What to do? What is the most fair thing to do in this situation?

My initial reaction was to go by wins. After discussing it with a few people – people both involved in the roster challenge and neutral third party observer types -  that was quickly discarded. If the only thing that mattered was the win total, we would have only asked you to guess how many wins the Blue Jays would have this spring. No, losses needed to be validated and factored into this equation.

The next thought that wasn’t immediately rejected was winning percentage and the more we all talked about it, the more it made complete sense. Most importantly we felt it was the fairest way to determine a winner. Once we decided to run with this idea a few things that we naturally didn’t consider presented themselves.

First up, we needed to determine what the Blue Jays actual winning percentage was in spring training.

Courtesy of the always trustworthy WIKI answers

Question: How do you calculate winning percentage with a tie?

Answer: Generally, most organizations count a tie a one half win and one half loss when computing winning percentage. The National Football League is one of the organizations that does this.

So, should a team in the NFL have a record of 5 wins, 4 losses, and 1 tie (5-4-1), their winning percentage would be .550. This is calculated by taking the number of games (10) and dividing into the number of wins (5.5).

Seems legit and makes perfect sense to us. Hey, if it's good enough for the all knowing, all powerful NFL then surely it's worthy.

That means the Blue Jays record for our purposes was 16.5 – 17.5 which works out to a winning percentage of .485 if you go to the traditional third decimal point.

Now let’s re-examine the list of contestants using the same principles and see what their winning percentage is.

Action Jackson:  .688

@gregorMLB: .563

@gideonturk: .531

@AndyMc9293: .500

@swannsky: .469

Team Fightin’ Clints: .467

Mr. Defending Champion Sir: .438

@trodge: .400

@AHume92: .375

Even after all this simple math was done, there was still some healthy debate on who actually won the 25 Man Roster Challenge. Do we go Price Is Right style rules and say the closest without going over? Or do we just say fuck it at this point and go with whoever has the closest winning percentage to the Blue Jays actual winning percentage and crown them the champion?

It was decided at the end of the day to say screw you Bob Barker and Drew Carey, we are going with the raw data this time.

@AndyMc9293 was  0.015 over

@swannsky was 0.016 under

So with that, we have our champion.....@AndyMc9293 in what can only be described as a photo finish. Congratulations good sir! We will be in touch shortly to arrange to have the prizes sent to you.

Please note that this formula will be used in future 25 Man Roster Challenges as it is now the gold standard. We hope you can all see why based on the unique set of circumstances that presented themselves this year.

The integrity of the 25 Man Roster Challenge was the ultimate driving force behind any decisions made with respect to the tiebreaker - from this point on to be referred to as the modified tiebreaker - changes.

Thanks again everyone for playing and we hope you can join us again next year! (when our roster is even more stacked)

MLB Betting Tips

If you are planning on betting on the upcoming MLB (Major League Baseball) season, the most important single tip is to get as much information about it as you can. This means finding out what kind of quality the teams have when it comes to pitchers and hitters, and whether there are issues such as injuries or off-field problems that might have a negative impact. It is also worth looking at statistics, but make sure that they are up to date, because things change regularly in professional sports – due to the simple fact that MLB players, like other athletes, become less effective with age.

It is also well worth looking at the odds when you are making a future bet on the winners of either the American or National Leagues, or the World Series, but these should only be treated as a guide. Current pre-season favourites for the new season include the likes of Nationals, the Dodgers and the Tigers, and it should be borne in mind that teams do not get awarded this favourite status for no good reason – it generally reflects the quality they have in their sides. Of course betting a low odds favourite will not make you as much money should it prove a winning bet, but there will be some variance in odds between sports betting sites – so you should look around for the best odds you can get.

Of course one tip for limiting the risk involved is to wait and see how the MLB season progresses before you make your bet, to see if one of the teams outside of the favourites shows strong form. While you are waiting you have the option of playing a game such as Hot Shot - which is a slots game devoted to baseball – at an online casino like Gaming Club. Hot Shot has five reels and nine pay lines, and the presence of a wild symbol (a fiery baseball) can stand in for other symbols to create winning combinations – which greatly increases your chances of winning a payout. All of the reel icons are baseball related, including players like pitchers and hitters, while the sound effects of crowd noise and bats hitting baseballs really make Hot Shot come alive for any lover of the game and betting.

Gillies Excited to Represent Canada in WBC

Gillies is Phils' #9 Prospect, Photo- Jay Floyd

Phillies outfield prospect Tyson Gillies is a very skilled player that has had some well documented ups and downs in recent years.  Being traded, bouncing back from several injuries and a return from a suspension have induced plenty of emotion from the lefty batter, but an opportunity to play for his home country of Canada in the World Baseball Classic has the Vancouver native more excited about the game than he's been in some time.

"It's always a dream come true to represent your country, doing something you love," Gillies said from Team Canada's training facility this week.  "The excitement level has been through the roof for everyone out here in Arizona."
 
The 24-year-old, who plays with a hearing impairment, has experienced some considerable injury issues since the Phillies acquired him in the 2009 trade that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle.  A recurring left hamstring ailment, a troublesome foot problem and a concussion that forced Gillies to miss six weeks of action following a collision in the outfield last year have limited him to 106 games in three seasons in the Phillies organization.  Additionally, he was arrested for drug possession in 2010, although those charges were dropped.  And last season, Gillies was suspended by the Phillies for violating team rules following a non-physical confrontation with the Double-A Reading Phillies bus driver.  The arrest and the bus outburst were quite uncharacteristic for the 6-foot-2 205-pounder, as his behavior is typically on the exemplary side among his peers.

Expected to bat lead-off for Team Canada, Gillies, who was recently ranked as the Phils' 9th best prospect, performed well last year, when he was active, posting a .299/.369/.440 line with nine steals in 75 games during the 2012 regular season.

While the World Baseball Classic got rolling last week, the first round Pool D games, which feature Canada and the United States, will begin on Thursday, with each of the aforementioned clubs seeing their initial 2013 tournament action on Friday.

Armed with a solid bat, great speed and sparkling defense, Gillies feels as though the chase for a world championship is extra special because he's doing it along side some Phillies teammates, including his close friend, righty hurler Scott Mathieson, another Vancouver resident that previously spent time in the big leagues with the Phils, and team manager Ernie Whitt, a Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer that is currently the Phillies' minor league catching coordinator.

"Mathieson, Phillippe Aumont, Jay Johnson, Pete Orr and John Suomi from the Phillies!  It's a great bunch of guys and Ernie Whitt has been great also.  He is a players' manager and you can't ask for anything better."

Of course, we wish Tyson and all of his teammates the best as they seek to dethrone two-time defending champion Japan.

More details on this year's WBC can be found here.  Exclusive quotes from Gillies following last season's suspension can be found here.

Blue Jays Swap Prospect For Phils' Expendable Hurler

Art Charles- photo by Joe Wombough

With a surplus of righty relievers and one in particular that has been on the outs in recent months, the Phillies made a trade on Saturday, to acquire a power hitting minor league first baseman Art Charles from the Toronto Blue Jays.

In the deal, the Phils sent 27-year-old pitcher Michael Schwimer to Toronto.  Schwimer, a 14th round draft choice by the Phillies in 2008 out of the University of Virginia, has a 3-2 record with a 4.62 ERA in 47 big league contests while striking out 52 and walking 23 in 48 2/3 innings pitched.

Charles, a 6-foot-6 225-pounder, was a 20th round draft choice by Toronto out of Bakersfield College in 2010.  Last season, splitting time between the Class A Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League and the Rookie level Bluefield Blue Jays of the Appalachian League, the California native batted .236 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI in 64 games.

The 22-year-old is likely to begin the 2013 season with Class A Lakewood and could be a serious offensive threat there, in the South Atlantic League. 

Schwimer has had a rocky relationship with the Phillies, dating back to last August, when the team demoted him to the minors, while Schwimer insisted he was injured and should have been placed on the disabled list at that time.  The variance in pay, which totals tens of thousands of dollars, which Schwimer missed out during that time, is likely something that the Phillies have not heard the last of even after sending the 6-foot-8 240-pounder away to nearby Dunedin, where the Blue Jays hold their spring training.

With a large collection of young right-handed relievers such as Phillippe Aumont, Justin De Fratus, Mike Stutes, B.J. Rosenberg, Tyler Cloyd, Jonathan Pettibone and Ethan Martin in camp, Schwimer became expendable for the Phillies.

The Blue Jays and Phils are scheduled to face off six times over the next five weeks, or so, in spring exhibition contests.

__________

Click here to check out an interview I did with Schwimer during his time with Triple-A Lehigh Valley a couple years back, prior to making his big league debut.

And click here to read last year's prospect review on Schwimer, which had him ranked as the Phils' 13th best prospect at the time.

And We're Off!

This year the field is jam packed with VIP's including a MLB Fan Cave top 30 finalist, blogger extraordinaire and all around solid guy The Blue Jay Hunter, our defending champion - known in these parts as Mr. Defending Champion Sir - Jason Martinez and the man with his finger directly on the pulse of your Toronto Blue Jays Gregor Chisholm.

A little over a month ago we asked the world one simple question, who will make the opening day roster April 2nd against the Cleveland Indians? In the case of a tie we also asked, what will the Blue Jays spring training record in 2013 be?

As always there is one single ballot that gets chosen more than any other.

The Favorite:

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Rajai Davis
Mark DeRosa
Henry Blanco
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Josh Johnson
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Darren Oliver
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
Jeremy Jeffress

Of the twenty-three ballots submitted nine looked like this. So if this is your Toronto Blue Jays opening day roster and based on almost half of the worthy competitors saying it will be so it seems likely, then whoever is destined to be crowned champion will have to rely on the tiebreaker for their chance at glory. Interestingly (thank God) nobody picked the exact same spring training record which means - cross your fingers - there should be a sole winner. We will list them from most optimistic to not so most optimistic in terms of their tiebreakers.

Action Jackson
22-10

@gregorMLB 
18-14

@gideonturk
17-15

@AndyMc9293
16-16

@swannsky
15-17

Team Fightin' Clints
14-16

Mr. Defending Champion Sir
14-18

@trodge
12-18

@AHume92 
12-20

The one and only Jimmy Triggs has the same ballot as The Favorite with one little wrinkle in the bullpen which is a great place to be in the 25 Man Roster Challenge.

Team Jimmy Triggs
17-16
Out: Jeremy Jeffress
In: Brad Lincoln

The next most popular ballot to be submitted with five contestants selecting it only has one difference than The Favorite. That player is back up catcher Henry Blanco and his 41 year old knees/no bat/non guaranteed contract. These gritty competitors don't think that he will be coming north with the club in April. Let's take a look at Josh Thole's newest biggest supporters or as we will call it from now until the end of time:

The Josh Thole Camp

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Rajai Davis
Mark DeRosa
Josh Thole
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Josh Johnson
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Darren Oliver
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
Jeremy Jeffress 

The Human Rain Delay
20-10

#AprilMeansBaseball 
18-14

Jays Are My 2nd Favorite Team AKA my idiot Reds fan friend
18-13

@1BJW
16-16

Team Last Row 500's
12-20

The three next ballots are firmly in The Josh Thole Camp with only one difference in the bullpen.

Team Sweaty Bobandy
20-13
Out: Brett Cecil
In: Brad Lincoln

That would leave only Darren Oliver from the left side coming out of the pen.

@pumpedupjays
13-19
Out: Jeremy Jeffress
In: Brad Lincoln

A straight one for one swap of righthanders.

Fightin' BJ Hunters
18-14
Out: Jeremy Jeffress
In: Aaron Loup

Ian says the Blue Jays decide to go with three lefties out of the pen to start the year. Not a bad idea considering they play a not as lefty heavy hitting lineup as last year yet a still somewhat lefty heavy hitting lineup in the Tribe to open the season.

The next ballot is also in The Josh Thole Camp while having a two player difference, both in the bullpen.

Sudbury Blue Jays
20-12
Out: Jeremy Jeffress
Out: Esmil Rogers
In: Brad Lincoln
In: J.A. Happ

The remaining four ballots are one offs which truly bodes well for the people that selected them if something crazy happens at spring training this year. If a player that everyone picked - think Casey Janssen or Sergio Santos - can't answer the bell,then all bets are off who the favorite really is.

Because a few of them are so ridiculously outrageous they will be listed in their entirety, purely for your enjoyment. We will attempt to highlight the differences.

Ferocious Swans
14-18

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Rajai Davis
Mark DeRosa
Henry Blanco
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Darren Oliver
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
Jeremy Jeffress
Brad Lincoln

This was the only ballot not to contain the name Josh Johnson. This was also the only ballot to include a brief explanation behind the rational of their thinking. Here is how that conversation went down.

Ferocious Swans: The Johnson omission is an injury, hate to see it but I want the picks to be different.

@1BJW: Love it! Very ballsy. I actually considered the same tactic except with Morrow and his "slow build up" issues he's had in previous camps.

Ferocious Swans: I couldn't decide between Johnson & Morrow actually! I hope we're wrong and they make 33 starts each.

Insightful stuff right there ladies and gentlemen. What we forgot to do was ask if that means Lincoln slides into the rotation or if that means the Blue Jays go with an 8 man pen to start the year. Hard to imagine they'd only break camp with 4 starters and also equally hard to imagine that Lincoln would get the gig before Happ. But hey, you have to take a chance to win at life sometimes.

Team Hotbox
15-15

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Rajai Davis
Josh Thole
Henry Blanco
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Josh Johnson
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Brad Lincoln
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
J.A. Happ

This ballot obviously couldn't decide between Blanco or Thole so.....they just picked them both to make the team. Unconventional for sure but not completely out of the realm of possibility.

ALL IN 2013
23-7

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Colby Rasmus
Maicer Izturis
Emilio Bonifacio
Henry Blanco
R.A. Dickey
Brandon Morrow
Mark Buehrle
Josh Johnson
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Sergio Santos
Darren Oliver
Steve Delabar
Esmil Rogers
Brett Cecil
J.A. Happ
Aaron Loup
Brad Lincoln
Dustin McGowan
Luis Perez

Speaking of unconventional, how about a two man bench and an eleven man bullpen? Maybe the thinking was the Blue Jays will go with a 6 man rotation with Happ sliding in there and a ten man pen. Maybe there was no thinking at all.

Blue Jay Way a la Carolinas
20-12

Jose Reyes
Melky Cabrera
Jose Bautista
Edwin Encarnacion
Colby Rasmus
Brett Lawrie
Adam Lind
J.P. Arencibia
Emilio Bonifacio
Josh Thole
Maicer Izturis
Moises Sierra
Alex Gonzalez
R.A. Dickey
Josh Johnson
Mark Buehrle
Brandon Morrow
Ricky Romero
Casey Janssen
Steve Delabar
Justin Germano
Jeremy Jeffress
Jair Jurrjens
Esmil Rogers
J.A. Happ

This ballot takes the cake - by a mile - for most creative. No chance it's the winner whatsoever but thanks so much for playing nonetheless.

In Summary:

And with that the 4th Annual 25 Man Roster Challenge is a go for launch. Good luck to all that joined in on the fun this go around, may the best team win!

Less Than One Week To Go.....

Not quite sure what hot women in bikinis racing on a horse track has to do with this post at all but someone really smart once told us to know your audience.

Please consider this your first and only friendly reminder that the deadline to get your ballot in for the 4th annual 25 Man Roster Challenge is rapidly approaching.

The rules are ridiculously simple. You must:

1) Submit a team name.

2) Submit a list of 25 players that you think will be on the Opening Day roster.

3) Do this before the deadline which is February 12th at the stroke of midnight.

That is all that stands between you and glory.

Once again the tiebreaker will be your Toronto Blue Jays spring training record. With the WBC going on this year, it adds a certain wrinkle to the thought process on that. All teams will be missing some of their key impact players for a few weeks of games and the Jays are not immune to this. We are thinking that the teams with the best minor league depth at the upper levels will fair best this spring training. Perhaps that should be taken into consideration. Or not.

Rest assured the tiebreaker will come into play again this year so please include it with your ballot. It is not a requirement and your ballot is valid without a tiebreaker but it really is in your best interest to provide one.

For a break down on all the prizes, a bit of strategy that we really don't feel the need to go over again and many more details click here.

If you wish to submit a ballot feel free to provide as much or as little explanation for your selections as you see fit. Please use the comments section on this post or you can send an email to 1bluejaysway(at)gmail.com if you want to keep your ballot private. If you have a blog and want to do up a post about this topic, just fire over the link and we will be sure to include it with your ballot.

Hope you join us and play!