A couple notes today — one from the pros and two from close to home.

Jose Bautista

Well this has worked out well, now hasn’t it.

Acquired by former Blue Jays general manager JP Ricciardi in 2008 for a player to be named later — the player turned out to be switch-hitting catcher Robinson Diaz, who is now a minor leaguer treading water in the Detroit Tigers organization — Jose Bautista can’t be labeled as anything less than a smashing success.

Currently leading the league in home runs on Wednesday morning  with 30 — he’s probably smacking a couple more right now as I write this — Bautista has the most dingers of any professional baseball player since last September. More than Ryan Howard. More  than Mark Teixeira. More than Alex Rodriguez. You get the point.

That’s why the Blue Jays have to get rid of him. Soon.

If Jose Bautista is still on the Blue Jays roster after the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline, the Jays will have made a huge mistake.

Look, by all accounts Bautista is a really good guy and a fantastic comeback story, but everyone and their escaped boa constrictor knows that the guy is hitting way over his head. Eventually, his production will slow down and return to his career norms. Remember, he’s never hit more than 24 home runs — he did it in 2oo5 in double-A — in any season at any level in his career. The time to cash in on Bautista’s inflated value is now when his stock is through the roof — before it comes crashing back down to earth.

Bautista turns 30 this year, which is typically the age where power number decline. The exceptions to that rule come, of course,  during the steroids era when, well, you know how that story goes.

No matter what any of the mouth-breathers who phone radio call-in shows say, the Blue Jays are not going to contend this year or next. If Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos is savvy, he’ll trade Bautista now for quality young ball players who can help the team down the road when it’s ready to challenge for a playoff spot.

Noteworthy Mustangs

Aa always, your Western Mustangs are hard at work over the summer, training for their upcoming seasons and participating in events around the continent.

Unfortunately we only had one summer issue this year — sorry, I couldn’t stop the frisbee thing — so we weren’t able to shine as much light on their goings-on as we have in the past, but here’s a couple stories you should check out.

Jacqueline Rennebohm, a visually-impaired Mustangs track and field athlete, set a Canadian record in the 200m at a track meet in Windsor earlier this month with a time of 28.6 seconds, besting the previous record by more than two milliseconds.

The second-year social sciences major — whose eyes can only detect colour and motion from objects five feet away — works with a running guide and competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a paralympic swimmer.

Taylor Stewart, a London native, won a bronze medal at the 2010 IAAF Track and Field World Junior Championships last week.

The 19-year-old, entering his first year at Western, lept 7.63 metres to secure the medal.

I’ve been hearing about Stewart around London for some time now and everyone who sees him compete thinks he’s going to be a star. He’s one to watch this year.

E-mail Arden at arden@westerngazette.ca . You can also follow him on twitter at @ArdenAtGazette

I get it, Toronto sports fans. You’re fickle. That’s why you cheer ridiculously when the Raptors score 100 points, entitling you to a voucher for a free slice of pizza that you probably won’t even redeem. That’s also why you boo Lyle Overbay pitch-by-pitch when he’s in the middle of a slump at the beginning of the season. It’s cool — you’re just not that bright.

The fact of the matter is, Lyle Overbay is not as bad as the boo birds at the Rogers Centre and the boobs on radio call in shows think he is. This is baseball — players slump. No one’s jumping all over Jays future franchise player Travis Snider, who is hitting .108 and slugging .243 this season.  If anything, Jays fans should be expecting far more power from Snider’s bat than Overbay’s. So why don’t they boo Snider at every at bat? His numbers are just as bad as Overbay’s.

A big problem with Overbay’s production comes against left-handed pitching. Overbay stopped hitting lefties two years ago — plain and simple. It doesn’t take much of a hitting coach to note Overbay hasn’t been the same against left-handers since John Danks broke his right wrist with a fastball on June 3, 2007. Clearly, the resulting spiral fracture and surgery Overbay had to correct the problem has affected his swing.

Before he was injured in 2007, Overbay hit .287 agaisnt lefties with a .472 slugging percentage. In 2008, after the surgery, Overbay hit just .215 against left-handers with a measly .255 slugging percentage. Those numbers got even worse in 2009 when he hit .190 and slugged .229.

This year? Overbay is 0 for 15 against lefties — a number that is absolutely killing his batting average (currently .080), which is the number most fans point to when criticizing Overbay’s performance this season. Take away those 15 at bats against lefties and his average goes up to .114. A point of reference? That would be the exact same batting average through Monday as New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixiera — who makes $20 million this year, by the way.

Why Cito Gaston insists on continually marching Overbay out against left-handed pitching at this point is beyond me. As I’ve said before, he has veteran slugger Randy Ruiz — who has hit at a pace of one home run per 12 at bats with the Blue Jays — on the bench who could easily sub in at first base instead of Overbay against left handers.

Gaston likes to stick with his guys, however, and won’t be working a platoon at first anytime soon. And even though I don’t agree with the move, I admit that it’s not the worst thing that could happen. This way Overbay can hit his way out of his slump, thus raising his trade value ahead of the July non-waiver trade deadline and giving Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos another chip to play with. Ship Overbay off to another team and clear the way for heavy hitting Jays prospect Brett Wallace to come up and get some major league at bats — nothing wrong with that.

Or keep Overbay until the end of the year — he is a free agent at the end of the season, after all. Eventually his numbers will improve and he’ll likely be a type B free agent, meaning the Jays will receive a compensatory pick when he signs elsewhere. And trust me, his numbers will improve.

Remember, last year Overbay was third on the Blue Jays in doubles, second in on base percentage and fourth in slugging percentage. His 16 home runs and 64 RBIs in 2009 were on par with Vernon Wells’ numbers (15 HR, 66 RBI) and Wells had almost 200 more plate appearances than Overbay.

Lyle Overbay is simply not a bad hitter. Sure, he won’t hit 30 home runs or 100 RBIs but a first baseman does not have to do that. One of the biggest misconceptions among fans is that the corner infielders must hit for power, your second baseman and shortstop can hit poorly as long as they play good defence and your centre fielder must be your leadoff man who steals bases. These are baseball stereotypes. Every team needs a good balance of contact, power and speed to be successful at the plate, but why do those attributes have to come from certain positions?

Who says the first baseman has to be a power hitter? That’s a ridiculous misconception. Overbay consistently gets on base, scores runs, moves runners along and works pitchers deep into counts. What’s not to like? If Jays fans got that from John McDonald, Alex Gonzalez, Jose Bautista or John Buck, they’d be over the moon.

I know you’re fickle, Toronto. But if you think Lyle Overbay is your biggest problem with the 2010 Blue Jays, you’re in for a long haul.

10. Mustangs keep playoff hopes alive

It was a tough season for the Mustangs women’s hockey team who lost ten games by just a goal on their way to finishing one point out of the playoffs. Head coach Paul Cook stepped down at the end of the season after accumulating a 53-99-21 record over his seven years at the helm. We were criticized for our coverage of the women’s hockey team here but I stand by our reporting. We cover the Mustangs — we are not their cheerleaders. It would be detrimental to our journalistic integrity if we wrote off poor play because the team ‘tried really hard’ or blamed officiating and bad bounces for losses. Some media outlets in this city and on this campus make a habit of that kind of unprofessional boosterism. Not the Gazette. Read the article.

9. Argos could be in play for Canadian QB

I wrote this blog ahead of the CFL’s annual evaluation camp in Toronto where several Canadian Interuniversity Sport athletes auditioned for jobs in the CFL. I felt that one of the three quarterbacks from the CIS had a pretty good shot at earning a contract with the Toronto Argonauts and, as it turned out, I was right — Danny Brannagan signed with the Boatmen the following Monday. Of course, Mustangs quarterback Michael Faulds was invited to the camp but had to sit out because he’s still recovering from a torn ACL which he suffered last season and played on throughout the playoffs. Whether a healthy Faulds would have earned a CFL contract at the evaluation camp remains — much like his future as a football player — up in the air. Read the article.

8. Men’s hockey off to semis

My fellow sports editor Daniel Da Silva wrote this recap of the Mustangs men’s hockey team’s opening round playoff series against the unnecessarily lengthily named University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks. UOIT was a thorn in the Mustangs side all season long. They snapped Western’s 16-game winning streak in January, forced a shootout in the second-last game of the season and beat the Mustangs 2-1 at Thompson Arena in the opening game of the 2010 playoffs. The Mustangs got by UOIT in the first round of the playoffs but would eventually fall shy of their bid to return to the National Championships. Read the article.

7. Sixteen Things

This is the second of four of my blog posts to appear on this list which certainly bodes well for the Gazette’s increased web presence in 2010. This one dealt with the NHL’s participation — or lack thereof — at the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the Toronto Raptors’ reliance on power forward Chris Bosh and the Toronto Blue Jays prospects for the coming season. If you ask me, it’s not my best work. Read the article.

6. Mustangs bury Guelph

This game story was written after a Mustangs women’s basketball mid-season game and for the life of me I cannot figure out why it is on the top ten list. I was lucky enough to cover the team several times this year and was always impressed with the commitment and hard work the girls showed on and off the court. Head coach Stephan Barrie is one of the most dedicated, caring coaches at this school and if you ever question the girls’ work ethic, just stroll down to their locker room post-game where you can find them running laps in the hall before they talk to the media or celebrate their victory. Read the article.

5. UFC spurs fresh interest in jiu-jitsu

One of our goals coming into the year was to cover the emergence of mixed martial arts on campus at Western, so you can imagine our excitement when Elton Hobson — a talented writer and MMA junkie — walked into our office this year looking to volunteer. Hobson wrote a three-part series on MMA in London, examining its connections to collegiate wrestling, the Western Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu club and…

4. Adrenaline powers London MMA boom

…Adrenaline MMA, one of London’s premier MMA training grounds and the home of six-time UFC pay-per-view veteran Sam Stout who has helped put London, ON on the MMA map. We sent Hobson to Adrenaline where Rowan Cunningham, who holds a 6-3 MMA record, showed our brave reporter the ropes, literally tying Hobson into knots. See the story for the photographic evidence and be sure to read the first and second installments of the series, as well. Part one. Part two. Part three.

3. Brannagan will have steep hill to climb

The Zwellin’ it like it is blog accounts for the bronze and silver positions on this list, starting with this blog that I wrote after Queen’s QB Danny Brannagan signed with the Toronto Argonauts. Brannagan’s signing was great news for the CIS and Canadian quarterbacks in general, seeing as it’s been 14 years since a Canadian started a CFL game under centre. But it will certainly be tough for Brannagan to crack the Argos roster out of training camp against Gibran Hamdan and Cleo Lemon — both former NFL QBs. Not to mention Dalton Bell who played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders last season. Read the article.

2. Fourteen Things

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” I reckon Mark Twain and I would have gotten along just fine. Despite coming in at a healthy 1,664 words — a word count that would be considered blasphemy to most bloggers — this was the second most read sports piece of 2010. This one came during a particularly busy period in professional sports, with NHL teams wheeling and dealing, head shots coming to a front at all levels of hockey, the Blue Jays making a free agent splash and the tragic death of Brendan Burke, son to father Bryan who is the Toronto Maple Leafs President and G.M. I also have to give a hat tip to Gazette alumnus Elliotte Friedman whose blog inspired me to break up my own with numbers to make it more palatable for those with short attention… um, what was I talking about? Read the article.

1. Mustangs have high hopes for CFL

Rounding out the top ten is my story about three Mustangs football players — Josh Buttrill, Conor Elliott and Chris Greaves — who took part in the CFL’s annual evaluation camp in Toronto ahead of the CFL draft. The popularity of this story was due in big part to Twitter where the CFL — hat tip to Jaime Stein — and its fans picked up on it. It was an exciting year for the Gazette on Twitter and this story demonstrated how we can use the tool to expose our work to a readership well beyond Western’s campus. The fantastic, honest quotes I got from the guys didn’t hurt either. Read the article.

Cito Gaston must have thought he had travelled back in time.

It was opening day and a Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher was carrying a no-hitter and a three-run lead into the seventh inning. Gaston probably thought this was opening day 2009 and that was Roy Halladay dominating the Texas Rangers with a no-no through six scoreless innings, not Shaun Marcum, the default 2010 Jays ace who hadn’t thrown a major league pitch since 2008.

Gaston must have figured he could just sit on his hands and let Halladay do what he does best — give the manager a day off. All that was left to do was stroll to the post-game press conference to pump Halladay’s tires and regurgitate the same old clichés about the best pitcher in baseball.

Of course, this is 2010 and Gaston was clearly confused. So we can excuse the 66-year-old’s incredible lapses of judgment that directly lead to the Blue Jays 4-3 loss at the hands of the Rangers in their season opener on Monday.

But any other mismanagement and Gaston should be stripped of his duties and given a comfy office at the Roger’s Centre with a figurehead title and a corporate expense account.

Let Gaston remain affiliated with the organization and transfer to one of these glorified pension positions that storied franchise legends take on after their contributions at field level dissipate.

Like the Advisor for Team Baseball Operations role Bobby Cox will mail in for the Atlanta Braves when he retires from managing at the end of this season or the Special Consultant job Scotty Bowman took with the Detroit Red Wings after he left coaching.

Then let someone who gives a damn have a chance to manage this ball club.

In fact, Rogers Communications should be encouraged to pay Gaston inordinate amounts of money not to manage the Toronto Blue Jays. Stay away from the players, keep out of the dugout, don’t whisper in any ears — just go away and pick up your cheque every other Friday.

Gaston has proven time and again that his managerial chops are mediocre at best and Monday’s season opener was no exception. It’s not what he does — it’s what he doesn’t do.

It started in the top of the eighth inning. After Travis Snider strikes out — he looked overmatched all afternoon — to begin the inning, Jose Bautista walks and Aaron Hill doubles, pushing Bautista to third. Adam Lind, who was three for three with a home run on the day, is then intentionally walked to load the bases and set up a force out at any bag.

Vernon Wells comes to the plate and singles on a line drive to left field, scoring Bautista and advancing the other runners. The Rangers immediately go to their bullpen and call on their sole left-handed pitcher, Darren Oliver, to face the next Jay, Lyle Overbay, who last season hit just .190 against left-handed pitching.

It’s a shrewd managerial move, but certainly far from rocket science. In fact, expect most teams to take this strategy when Overbay comes to the plate with runners in scoring position late in a game.

Of course, this ploy is easily negated by pinch hitting a right handed hitter like, oh, let’s just say Randy Ruiz who not only plays Overbay’s position but is also a career .279 hitter against left-handed pitching.

This is why you have your bench. Baseball is a game of matchups and despite old guard managers like Gaston who prefer instinct over statistics — the numbers rarely lie.

Overbay, of course, struck out looking on three pitches. Which made way for Jays catcher John Buck and his career .244 average against left handers. Ruiz again watched from the bench as Buck — at least he made contact — flew out to left field, stranding three runners and killing the momentum that the top of the Jays lineup had worked so hard to create.

I’ll admit, baseball is hard to predict — Ruiz could have just as easily struck out or popped out like Overbay and Buck did. But the role of the manager is to put your team in the best possible position for success. Gaston’s inaction left the Jays behind the eight-ball instead of giving them a fighting chance.

This isn’t to say that a player should be pinch hit for in the second inning because of an unfavourable matchup. But in the eighth inning of a one-run ball game with the bases loaded? There isn’t a more ideal time than that to play the matchups game.

Not convinced?

Consider the bottom of the ninth inning. Clinging to a one-run lead, Gaston turns to his closer, Jason Frasor, to get the final three outs. After a Michael Young double, a Josh Hamilton strike out and a Vladimir Guerrero single which moved Young to third, outfielder Nelson Cruz doubled to right field, scoring Young, pushing Guerrero to third base and tying the game.

At this point, Frasor has already blown the save and in the four batters he’s faced, he’s given up a single and two doubles. Gaston has two other closers in the bullpen, Kevin Gregg, who saved 23 games for the Chicago Cubs last season, and Scott Downs who saved nine for the Jays.

But Gaston did not so much as even warm one of them up. Nor did he visit the mound to talk things over with Frasor or send the pitching coach out to give instructions. Again, he did nothing.

Well, he did do one thing. He ordered Frasor to intentionally walk Rangers first baseman Chris Davis to load the bases. The same Chris Davis who last year struck out in 150 of his 391 at bats, giving him the honour of tying Arizona’s Mark Reynolds for the league lead in per cent of at bats that result in strike outs. Long story short — the guy strikes out 38 per cent of the time.

The least Gaston could have done was let Frasor pitch to the strikeout-king Davis instead of loading the bases for Jarrod Saltalamacchia — a career .357 hitter with the bases loaded — who fought off two pitches before sailing a 2-2 curveball into centre field, over the head of Vernon Wells to cash Guerrero and win the game.

Those were the moments when Gaston could have made a move in Monday’s game and possibly changed the outcome. Those precious, fleeting moments are when good managers like Mike Scioscia, Ron Gardenhire and Terry Francona make adjustments to their squads to put them in the best possible position for success. And those are moments that may become all too familiar for fans of this year’s team.

Gaston, it seems, feels his job is done when he submits the lineup card before the opening pitch. Sure, he’ll replace an injured player or yank a pitcher who is getting particularly pasteurized by the opposition batters, but asking for much more past that is a lot for Gaston.

This could be one of the reasons why the clubhouse literally revolted against him at the end of last season, with several members of the team telling the media Gaston’s negative, passionless approach was falling out of favour with the players.

It’s a wonder Gaston is even back behind the helm in a year when the Jays plan on developing their youth — past Adam Lind, Gaston has shown little understanding of how to spur success in young ball players.

Travis Snider’s hitting against left-handed pitching has hardly improved over the past years because Gaston simply doesn’t let him face left-handers. Ricky Romero — once thought of as a rookie-of-the-year candidate — fell apart in the second half of last season after Gaston over-worked him. Jeremy Accardo, who saved 30 games for the Jays in 2007, has seen just five save opportunities since and has enjoyed permanent residence in the manager’s dog house for no apparent reason.

Look, I get it. Gaston is more than just a manager. He’s a symbol — a constant reminder of the years when this team was living in the penthouse of the AL East, not the basement. But now, almost 20 years removed from those back-to-back World Series titles, it’s time to move on and pass the torch to someone with some passion for this job.

In ’92 and ’93 Gaston had exceptional players like Roberto Alomar, Devon White and John Olerud to make him look capable as a manager. Today’s Blue Jays don’t provide that luxury and Gaston’s reality — a passive, archaic and ineffective manager — is clearer than ever.

Clarence “Cito” Gaston

Born March 17, 1944

San Antonio, Texas

Playing Statistics

11 Seasons with San Diego, Atlanta and Pittsburgh (1967-1978)

799 hits

91 home runs

387 RBIs

.256 batting average

1 All star selection (1970)

Managing statistics

12 seasons with Toronto (1989-1997, 2008-2010)

809 wins

761 losses

.515 winning percentage

Four American League East division titles (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993)

Two AL pennants

Two World Series titles (1992, 1993)

Two time AL all star team manager (1993, 1994)

Spring is great.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the patios are opening — and the Toronto Blue Jays, with a 0-0 record, are .500.

Jays fans will want to relish this moment as all indications point to a difficult season for this young, rebuilding ball club. Nevertheless, here’s how the Blue Jays stack up as they open their 33rd season.

The Lineup

Right fielder Jose Bautista will be tasked with lead off duties this season, after last year’s lead off man Marco Scutaro and his team-leading .379 OBP departed to the Boston Red Sox in the offseason. Bautista has limited experience in the role but has put up decent numbers in his 93 games batting lead off, with a .275 batting average and .359 on base percentage. He’ll look to replicate those numbers in Toronto and build on a tremendous spring that saw him bat .439 with five home runs and 11 runs batted in.

Aaron Hill will try to pick up where he left off last year — 36 home runs, 108 RBIs, an all star selection and a silver slugger award — batting second and patrolling second base. The 28-year-old showed no signs of slowing down this spring, leading the Jays with 6 home runs and 15 RBIs. He also led the team in walks with 11, which is an encouraging sign for a player who has been criticized for being impatient at the plate. A point of reference? Hill’s 11 walks this spring came in 60 plate appearances. Last season he drew just 42 free passes in 734 plate appearances.

Following Hill in the three-hole is designated hitter Adam Lind whose .305 average, 35 home runs and 114 RBIs last season propelled him to a silver slugger award in just his first full season of MLB service. Fresh off signing a contract extension with the Jays that will pay him $18 million over the next four years, Lind will be counted on to replicate if not improve on those numbers.

Clean up hitters are usually the top paid players on their team and Vernon Wells is no exception — he’ll recieve a $12.5 million salary in 2010, along with an $8.5 million signing bonus, making him one of the top ten paid players in the entire league.

Needless to say, the Jays would appreciate a bit more return on their investment than the .260 average, 15 home runs and 66 RBIs Wells contributed in 2009.

The centre fielder has battled injuries to his wrist and hamstring in previous seasons and is only three years removed from an all star campaign when he hit 32 home runs and 106 RBIs, so there is reason to believe a healthy Wells can find his form once again. But most Jays fans know better than to be optimistic about their franchise player.

Following Wells — who manager Cito Gaston insists will bat cleanup for the majority of the season — will be any mixture of Lyle Overbay, John Buck and Edwin Encarnacion.

Overbay has been one of the Blue Jays most consistent hitters over the past two years, despite being the subject of persistent trade rumours. His .372 OBP last season was the second best on the team and his other offensive numbers were better than the aforementioned Wells, who is considered a more potent offensive threat. Overbay’s defensive prowess at first base is also underrated — the first baseman has committed just 12 errors over his past 400 games.

Behind the plate, Buck represents a definite downgrade offensively from Rod Barajas who handled most of the catching duties last season. He’s never hit for a higher average than the .247 he mustered last season and his OBP has hovered around .300 for his career.

Not encouraging numbers by any means, but Buck is simply a one-season placeholder for Jays catching prospect J. P. Arencibia who could even see major league time later this season as a September call up. As far as seat warmers go, the Jays could do worse.

One of the most interesting players to watch for the Jays this year will be Encarnacion, who arrived in the Scott Rolen trade last year. The 26-year-old battled through a wrist injury all of last season, hitting just .225 with 13 home runs and 39 RBIs. When Encarnacion was healthy the season prior, however, he belted 26 home runs.

The third baseman has undeniable raw power at the plate and had surgery to correct the problems in his wrist over the off season, so a productive year could be in store. Just don’t expect him to replicate Rolen’s brilliance at the hot corner. Despite missing time due to injuries, Encarnacion has committed 50 errors in the past three seasons alone.

Alex Gonzalez and Travis Snider will round out the Jays batting order this season, representing very different roles in the organization.

Gonzalez, like Buck, is a seat warmer. Justin Jackson, a Jays first round pick in 2007, is patiently waiting in the wings for his shot with the big league club.

Meanwhile, the Jays agreed to terms with highly-touted Cuban shortstop Adeinis Hechavarria this off season, who could also be ready for next year. So when Gonzalez posts a .230 average and a .300 OBP this season, don’t get too worked up.

Snider is anything but a seat warmer — he’s the seat filler. After two years of being yo-yoed between AAA and the majors, the 21-year-old will get a chance to establish himself as an everyday player this year, starting in left field. He had a decent spring, hitting .250 with 3 home runs and 8 RBIs while drawing 8 walks. Snider has the potential for a breakout season to the tune of 20 home runs and 80 RBIs — whether he’s ready to do that remains to be seen.

The Bench

Fan favourite John McDonald contributes more with his glove than his bat, but will see more playing time behind Gonzalez than he did spelling Scutaro. Jose Molina is another player more known for his contributions defensively than at the plate. Look for him to see action twice a week to give John Buck a rest.

Mike McCoy replaces Joe Inglett as the utility man. The 29-year-old only has only six major league plate appearances under his belt, but he’ll get a chance to prove himself with the Jays where you can expect him to see action at practically every position except first base and catcher.

Finally, 32-year-old veteran Randy Ruiz will get a chance to prove he deserves a job in the majors after an 11 year career that has seen him spend time with 10 different organizations. He’s certainly shown he can hit — Ruiz put up a .313 average and .385 OBP in 33 games after being called up to the Blue Jays last August.

The Rotation

Shaun Marcum becomes the first pitcher in seven years not named Roy Halladay to start on opening day after Halladay was shipped to Philadelphia in the offseason. Marcum hasn’t thrown a regular season pitch since 2008 and has big shoes to fill as the staff ace — even if he only has the spot by default.

His spring was coming along fine until Mar. 26 when he allowed nine earned runs in five innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. He’ll rely on his changeup and his slider to help offset the trio of fastballs he throws — a four-seamer, a two-seamer and a cutter. He’ll be successful if he varies his pitches and speeds effectively.

Gaston insists on pitching 6-foot-7 left-hander Brian Tallet after Marcum, despite the mountain of evidence against the decision. The Jays only have one left-hander in their bullpen going into the season and last year Tallet’s earned run average and walks and hits per innings pitched were significantly lower as a reliever than a starter.

The most likely scenario will see Tallet move to the bullpen after Marc Rzepczynski and Dustin McGowan return from the disabled list. But it’s always best to expect the unexpected with Gaston.

Ricky Romero made a strong case for rookie-of-the-year in 2009 going 7-3 with an impressive 3.00 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP in the first half of the season before running out of gas in the second half and seeing his ERA balloon to 5.54 and his WHIP to 1.77. The key for Romero this year will be to remain consistent throughout the season while avoiding a sophomore slump.

The Jays and Seattle Mariners swapped pitchers named Brandon this summer, with the Mariners taking hard-throwing reliever Brandon League and the Jays acquiring 26-year-old Brandon Morrow. Morrow split time as a starter and a reliever with the Mariners, having most of his success coming out of the bullpen.

The Jays are dead set on using him as a starter, however, where he’ll rely on his mid-nineties fastball to overpower hitters and his off-speed change up and curveball to induce strike outs.

Rounding out the rotation is left-hander Dana Eveland who earned a spot on the team with an exceptionally strong spring, posting a 1.80 ERA and striking out 21 batters over 25 innings.

Eveland’s destiny lies in his own hands — if he carries over his strong spring numbers into the regular season, he’ll be a rotation staple. But if he falters, he’ll quickly find himself on waivers, destined for AAA Las Vegas in favour of another of the Jays young arms from the minors.

The Bullpen

Easily their biggest strength this year, the Jays will rely on the bullpen to bail out their young starters who may have trouble escaping the fourth or fifth innings.

Shawn Camp, Jeremy Accardo, Casey Janssen and Merkin Valdez will be counted on heavily to eat up those middle innings and keep the Jays alive in close games.

Meanwhile, Scott Downs and Kevin Gregg provide a serviceable set-up tandem. Both have performed well as closers in previous seasons and can easily step into that role if need be.

Of course, they will only be needed to fill the closer role if the incumbent Jason Frasor falters. Frasor converted on 11 of 14 save opportunities last season, striking out just under a batter an inning and posting an ERA of 2.50 and a WHIP of 1.02 on his way. It’s hard to argue with those numbers — the ninth-inning role will be Frasor’s to lose.

1. Don’t be fooled by Gary Bettman’s posturing over the NHL’s involvement in the2014 winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia. The NHL will be there.

2. Bettman, a shrewd negotiator, is well aware of the fact the players want to be at that tournament. And with another session of collective bargaining with the NHLPA quickly approaching — is it almost 2012 already? — the Sochi chip is an important one for Bettman to hold. He’ll use Sochi as a bargaining concession, which will not only save the owners money but also make the players happy.

3. Bettman can’t possibly pull his players from competition in Russia after 26.5 million Canadians and 27.6 million Americans watched the gold medal final Sunday afternoon, according to the CBC. A hockey game in the United States hasn’t been viewed by that many people in more than 30 years — music to the ears of a man whose stated goal since he took the job has been to grow the game in the United States.

4. Events like the Olympics and the NHL’s winter classic appeal to Americans and generate a buzz around hockey that a game between the Florida Panthers and Atlanta Thrashers never can. Americans viewers want a spectacle. They want story lines and characters like the goaltending hero Ryan Miller or the Canadian hometown boy Sidney Crosby. Without considerable production around the sport, it’s too easy for American audiences not to take interest.

5. Let’s give a bit of perspective. The American ratings for Sunday’s Canada-US gold medal game were higher than the ratings for any game of the highly competitive 2009 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. The ratings were also higher than every NBA finals and NCAA final four broadcast since 1998. How could Bettman ever pass that up?

6. Speaking of the NBA, the Toronto Raptors are learning just how critical Chris Bosh is to their franchise right now, having lost their last four games without the all star forward, including a 116-92 trouncing at the hands of the Houston Rockets Monday night. The Raptors are coming off a relatively easy portion of their schedule where they needed to pick up wins against inferior teams in order to bolster their position in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.

7. Of course, this is Toronto and things rarely play out the way they should. The Raptors went just .500 over their easy February and now face a March schedule where they play 16 times over 31 days, including 9 games on the road. They’ve already dropped their first game of the month on Monday and if that night’s effort is any indication, without Bosh in the lineup things could get a lot worse before it gets any better.

8. Bryan Colangelo has assembled a nice team — Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon, Hedo Turkoglu and even Jarret Jack are all nice complimentary players. Complimentary to Chris Bosh, that is. The team is clearly built around the 6-foot-10 Texan and is at its best when he’s on his game. When Bosh operates down low and draws double teams, it frees up other Raptors with open looks and allows them to put up points.

9. But building the team around Bosh is cause for alarm, especially considering the fact his return to Toronto next year is unlikely at best. Every Toronto fan would love to see the Raptors pull off a playoff upset this spring, convincing Bosh to stick around for a few more seasons to try to build a championship contender. But if the more likely scenario of Bosh bolting for a strong American market materializes, this team will be missing the catalyst that creates good performances from the supporting cast. Replacing that element will be next to impossible.

10. One Toronto team that you can guarantee will be bad are the Blue Jays, who will certainly finish last in the American League East — look out for the much improved Orioles — and could even challenge for last place in the entire league.

11. The loss of Roy Halladay is a reality that probably hasn’t set in for many Jays fans who will watch a different pitcher throw the opening pitch of the Blue Jays season for the first time in seven years.

12. Number 32 is as close to a guaranteed win as you can get in baseball and knowing your team will only have to produce 3 or 4 runs to win every five days is a luxury that was taken for granted in Toronto over Halladay’s 11-year tenure.

13. That said, there are redeemable qualities to this team. Adam Lind and Aaron Hill may regress from their breakout seasons in 2008 but can still be counted on for 25 home runs and 100 RBIs a piece. Travis Snider should finally get regular at bats this season and could challenge for rookie of the year if he finally finds a groove as an everyday player.

14. The Jays pitching staff will be young and many of the team’s green arms will get a chance to prove themselves against some great teams with strong hitters in New York, Boston and Tampa Bay.

15. But past that, there is still Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay weighing down the batting order and placeholders like Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Alex Gonzalez keeping seats warm for the Jays of tomorrow.

16. Jays fans have to be realistic about the team’s chances this year. 75 wins is the ceiling. Fair weather fans who measure progress purely on wins and losses will not be pleased.

1. I suppose I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the moves the Leafs made last Sunday. For me, they are both very low risk, high reward moves for the Leafs. The players that left town won’t be missed and the players coming back have very high upsides. Let me explain.

2. Dion Phaneuf is one of the most polarizing figures I’ve ever seen in hockey. It wasn’t that long ago that he was a Canadian hero at the World Junior Championships in 2004 and 2005. He was easily the best defender on both those teams and earned tournament all star nods both years, despite playing with future Canadian Olympians Shea Weber and Brent Seabrook.

But Phaneuf clearly wore out his welcome in Calgary, leaving amid accusations he was under-performing and rumours he was not getting along with team mates. How he performs in a Leaf uniform remains to be seen, but Phaneuf still has the potential to be a Norris Trophy candidate. Or a tremendous bust. At just 24 and with good coaching there is a lot of upside for the Leafs here.

3. The price the Leafs paid is more than acceptable. Really, the only one of the four going Calgary’s way who can be an impact player is Niklas Hagman. Ian White was a good defenceman on a bad team, Jamal Mayers is a glorified goon and Matt Stajan should have trouble cracking the third line on a good team. Why Darryl Sutter is convinced he can centre a line with Jarome Iginla is beyond me.

The Leafs didn’t have to cough up a draft pick — not that they have one that’s worth anything — and they managed to pry Keith Aulie away from the Flames, who is a very good, young defenceman. If you’re looking for a sleeper in this trade, he’s it.

4. In the Giguere deal, the Leafs get a goalie who clearly has a good history with Francois Allaire, the Leafs goaltending coach, and a guy who can still be a legitimate number one goaltender. Not to mention a veteran who has won a championship and can act as a mentor to young Jonas Gustavsson, who the Leafs are clearly not prepared to give up on.

5. What do you Leafs send to Anaheim for Gigure? A couple under-performing players who had clearly fallen out of favour with fans, in Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake. The risk is low. You aren’t giving up anything spectacular and if Gigure is a bust, he won’t be around for long. But the reward is high. Giguere could very well find his form once again — he mentioned on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night that he felt like he was in a rut in Anaheim — and even inspire Gustavsson to play better hockey. I know it’s a weird feeling to take the glass is half full approach with the Leafs, but when this organization makes a roster decision that, you know, make sense — it’s big news.

6. That said, there really aren’t many players on the current roster left over from the John Ferguson Jr. era. And if current Leafs G.M. Brian Burke eventually trades Alexei Ponikarovsky and Tomas Kaberle as everyone expects him to, there will be almost no one left over from that arduous period in Leafs history. That’s good for fans of hockey in Toronto, but bad for Burke because he’s running out of people to blame for the Leafs woes. If the team continues to falter, he may have to confront a touchy subject with his college buddy Ron Wilson.

7. Speaking of trades, Olli Jokinen is a guy the Flames should have gotten more return on. He still has 40 goal potential and his contract — which comes off the books when he becomes a free agent on July 1st — only has a cap hit of $5.25 million, which is reasonable for a player of his calibre. Darryl Sutter and the Flames should have waited until deadline day and sold Jokinen for a higher price instead of settling for Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik from the Rangers — two players who don’t immediately improve the team.

8. That said, Sutter now has one of the most impressive collections of third line forwards I’ve ever seen. If Gary Bettman decides to introduce clutching and grabbing back into the game, his team is going to be remarkable.

9. Might as well get them all out of the way and say this about the Kovalchuk deal — Atlanta was never going to get the top six forward, first round pick and NHL-ready depth players that they coveted in return for the Russian sniper. Atlanta G.M. Don Waddell had to deal Kovalchuk — every G.M. in the league knew it. That put Waddell in a very tough position and forced him to settle for what he thought was the best offer at the time. He did get his first round pick and a couple of serviceable players in Johnny Oduya and Niclas Bergfors. But if anyone thought he would get fair value for an elite player like Kovalchuk under the circumstances, they were crazy. If Waddell wanted maximum value, he would have never let Kovalchuk reach the last year of his deal.

10. The same situation presented itself with Alex Anthopoulos and the Blue Jays this summer. They had an elite player, Roy Halladay, who did not want to resign with the team. Instead of going into the player’s final contract year trying to convince him to resign with a dwindling franchise, Anthopoulos sold the asset for the highest market value before the final year of the contract. If Waddell moved Kovalchuk during the summer or even at the trade deadline last year he would have seen better return on his asset. More G.M.’s from all sports should follow Anthopoulos’ lead and not let the players or other G.M.’s control the scenario.

11. What happens with Patrice Cormier will be the most interesting aspect of this deal. No one was particularly impressed with his performance as the captain of Team Canada at the 2010 World Juniors and his penchant for dirty play is something that has plagued the early stages of his young career. Cormier will sit out the rest of his final junior season to think about this hit. Whether the suspension has a positive effect on the young player remains to be seen.

It’s a commonly held opinion that Cormier could be a very good power forward if he could get his head on straight, but New Jersey — otherwise known as the New England Patriots of the NHL — would have been a much better place to accomplish that than Atlanta. Cormier needs good coaching and a good system under which to flourish. I’m not sure Waddell and Thrashers head coach John Anderson can create that kind of environment in Atlanta.

12. As for Kovalchuk himself — if he’s turning down a $100 million deal from Atlanta, either he really doesn’t want to play for the Thrashers or he plans to bolt to Russia and the KHL when he becomes a free agent after this season. Right now I’m leaning toward the latter. Kovalchuk is a hero in Russia and would earn a ridiculous amount of money in the KHL. In the NHL he’s never had a taste of stardom, toiling away on a terrible team for the first eight seasons of his career. New Jersey may make some noise in the playoffs this year, but they still don’t have to ability to draw the crowds and the attention that can turn Kovalchuk into a superstar on the same level as Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

For Kovalchuck, the talent is undeniably there. Just not the surroundings.

13. What, you thought I was done with baseball? I really like the Jay’s Kevin Gregg signing. Make no mistake, he isn’t here to be the next great Jays closer — he’s an asset for Anthopoulos, nothing more. Gregg’s contract is for only a year — with two club options that will no doubt be denied —and he comes at the very economical price of $2.75 million. In the likeliest scenario, Gregg will be a Type B free agent next year, meaning if the Jays offer him arbitration and he signs with another team the Jays will pick up a top 40 pick for the 2011 entry draft.

Best case scenario? Gregg blows the roof off and reverts back to his form in his years with the Marlins, becoming a Type A free agent and giving the Jays a first round pick from whichever club signs him next year.

$2.75 million isn’t a bad price to pay for a high draft pick —especially when you’re a team with a revamped scouting department, looking to rebuild through the draft like the Jays.

14. And finally, our deepest condolences go to the Burke family after the tragic passing of Brendan Burke, the 21-year-old son of Leafs President and G.M. Brian Burke. Brendan recently came out to the hockey world through an excellent article written by ESPN’s John Buccigross.

I was truly excited to watch Brendan — who was interested in hockey management and clearly had the pedigree to be successful — take on the traditionally homophobic hockey world and climb the ranks as the first openly gay hockey executive.

No matter what your feelings are about the oft-controversial Brian Burke, it’s undeniable that there is no worse day for a parent than losing a child. I really wish I knew the words to do it justice.

It’s not like he was being a very good goon, either. Laraque only fought 13 times in that span or about once every five games. In the NHL, those who cannot score fight. And those who cannot fight or score should look for a new line of work.

2. Chris Bosh is the real deal. He showed everyone his aggressive off-season work out regimen is paying off by following up a 21-point, 10 rebound, 42 minute effort against Cleveland in which he was battling with Shaq the entire night with another 42 minutes of solid play against Milwaukee the next night, where he put up a career high 42 points.

It’s scary how much better the 25-year-old gets with every new season. If MLSE is serious about raising a basketball banner that doesn’t say division champion they will do everything in their power to ensure Bosh stays in Toronto past this season. That includes giving him the maximum salary and spending way into the luxury tax to surround him with quality, championship-driven players.

3. Third is the spot where the Maple Leafs will most likely pick in the 2010 NHL entry draft, assuming they stay in 28th place in the standings, which is where they sit today. Oh, wait. Traded that first round pick away. Well, there’s always next year. Oh, wait. Traded that one too.

Aside from proving my preseason prediction that they would fail miserably to be correct, the Leafs this year continue to demonstrate new ways to lose on a nightly basis — like in overtime to the lowly Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

4. Unlike the aforementioned Laraque, Michael Peca was worth every penny he was paid over his 13-year NHL career which unfortunately came to an end this past week when Peca announced his retirement after he couldn’t find an NHL suitor. Peca was one of the best two-way players in the NHL, providing a scoring threat in the offensive zone while playing shutdown defence in his own end.

His contributions to the penalty kill were also greatly underappreciated, although 30 NHL teams felt his shorthanded services weren’t needed this season, including the Leafs whose 69.7% penalty kill sits dead last in the NHL by a mile. How Rickard Wallin and Colton Orr can find employment in the NHL while Mike Peca can not is a fact that will forever puzzle me.

5. Fifth is the number where the Ottawa Senators currently sit in the NHL Eastern Conference standings — also about five spots higher than anyone expected them to place. Albeit quietly, the Sens are piecing together a nice run in the new year, having won their last six games in a row. The team is only three points behind defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh who the Senators will play next Thursday in a game that may be a bit more intriguing than it was before the season began.

6. Why does everyone hate the Jets? A hard-nosed team who were considered by most to be nothing more than also-rans in the AFC East this year makes the conference championships on the heels of stellar defence, a solid ground game and a 23-year-old QB who has risen to the occasion in just his first year in the league. What’s not to like? Do I think they will beat the Colts on Sunday? No. But, will I be cheering for them to upset Peyton and his troops? No doubt.

7. We can all breathe a sigh of relief now that the rumours about Carlos Delgado signing with the Blue Jays have proven false. Aside from the nice sentimental value of having the greatest Jays first baseman since John Olerud return to the nest, Delgado would have provided absolutely nothing to this team.

His inclusion at first base or DH would take valuable playing time away from the Jays young guns: Travis Snider, Randy Ruiz, Adam Lind and Brett Wallace. Not to mention the age-advanced Delgado will probably hit around the same clip as Jays current first baseman Lyle Overbay, while providing an incredible downgrade in terms of defence.

The Jays have admitted they won’t be contending this year, so taking a flyer on a past-his-prime veteran is definitely a bad move. Let the kids develop and we can all dream of how good this team can be in 2012. Just like how in 2008 we all dreamed of how good the team would be in 2010. Wait a second…

Of course, we all knew McGwire took steroids during his heyday in the late 1990’s when he put up four straight seasons of 50+ home runs and 100+ RBIs. McGwire was always a good hitter, but not that good.

Who knows why McGwire waited so long to admit his doping. He definitely has his reasons. It’s been rumoured that the St. Louis Cardinals asked him to do it after they hired him as their new hitting coach last October.

You could also make the case that he wanted to wait and see if he would be inducted into the Hall of Fame before coming clean. Admitting steroid use, obviously, is rather detrimental to ones chances.

In 2007 — McGwire’s first year on the ballot — he received 23.5 of the 75 per cent of the vote that is required for induction — a number that stayed constant in 2008 and then dropped to just below 22 per cent in 2009. Making up the 53% of the ballots McGwire needed to get into the hall would be an extraordinary feat, steroid admission or not. So, might as well put all the cards on the table.

Either way, McGwire was never worthy of the Hall of Fame, it says here. I belong to the school of thought that says a hall of famer should excel at all aspects of the game — not just hitting.

There’s no debating that McGwire was a terrific hitter — although his .217 post season batting average suggests he couldn’t get it done in the clutch. McGwire’s 583 home runs and 1414 RBIs are impressive numbers, however his 12 career stolen bases and pedestrian defence would disqualify him from my Hall of Fame ballot.

McGwire spent the overwhelming majority —98 per cent of the games he played — of his career at first base, where he posted a respectable .993 fielding percentage. But consider that the average fielding percentage for all other first baseman during the time he played was also .993 per cent. So really, McGwire was just average — never anything special.

McGwire also played 24 games at third base, where his fielding percentage dropped dramatically to .827. McGwire committed 9 errors in those 24 games on the hot corner, meaning he would commit an error every 3 games. Expand those numbers to an entire season and you get 61 errors in a 162 game campaign. That’s porous defence by MLB standards, where the league average for fielding percentage among third basemen in 2009 was .956.

For me, a Hall of Famer has to excel at all aspects of the game. A special, five-tool player —like, oh I don’t know, Roberto Alomar — is the ideal Hall of Famer.

As far as the steroids issue goes, it’s well and fine that McGwire came clean. The story will come in what happens next.

Hopefully his admission will have a trickle down effect and provoke some of his peers to come clean on their steroid use as well.

As McGwire, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez have all proven in the past 12 months, there are really zero consequences for a steroid admission — might as well put the cards on the table.

Halladay makes a team’s bullpen better too. More often than not he goes deep into games — throwing heat well into the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Knowing your bullpen doesn’t have to pitch every fifth day is extremely valuable. And it doesn’t stop there.

Doc is far more than just a great pitcher — his impact reverberates to all corners of the clubhouse. His professionalism, work ethic and tact not only make him a great athlete — it makes those around him elevate their games too. He is the quintessential selfless team player. A star athlete who — with the exception of maybe Steve Nash — behaves like no other star athlete does. He was an absolute work horse for the Jays and never once complained about team mates, the coaching staff or management.

I suspect most Phillies fans aren’t even aware yet of the gem they just acquired. He’s truly one of a kind.

Anyway, the trade.

The jays get three very good prospects out of the deal, which is the best they could have hoped for. Any package from the Yankees or the Red Sox was not going to match this one.

In starting pitcher Kyle Drabek the Jays have a possible future ace, although he will most likely end up as a number two starter in the rotation. Worst case scenario, he’s a third starter, which is pretty good for a worst case scenario. In AA last season he averaged almost a strikeout per inning, while walking just 3 batters for every 9 innings he pitched. Those ratios are very impressive.

Drabek joins a very, very young Blue Jays pitching staff that should come to fruition in a couple years with Ricky Romero, Brett Cecil, Mark Rzepczynski and Drabek leading the way. Don’t forget about Dustin McGowan, Brad Mills, David Purcey, Robert Ray, Jesse Litsch and Shaun Marcum either. That’s a pretty good crop of young hurlers.

As for the corner infielder Brett Wallace — he can absolutely rake. He’s a pure left-handed hitter who also happens to hit very, very well against left-handed pitching. He’s uber-disciplined at the plate and not afraid to wait deep into counts for his pitch. Wallace is going to be a potent major league power hitter very soon and if Lyle Overbay is sent packing sometime this off season, he could see regular starts at first base for the Jays as soon as next year.

Catcher Travis d’Arnaud is the wild card in the deal. He’s young —just 20 years old — and depending on how he develops over the next two or three years he could grow into a very good major league catcher. Of course, he could end up a bust as well. The biggest weapon he brings to the table is his arm — he threw out almost 25% of base runners last year which is a very good number. If he can develop his bat, that’s simply a bonus for the Jays.

Generally, I like the deal — it’s simply a matter of quality over quantity. Instead of 4 or 5 mediocre, mid-range players, the Jays get three former first round picks and two definite blue-chippers in Drabek and Wallace. Of course you’re never satisfied when you’re trading away the best pitcher in baseball, however there’s no reason for Jays fans to be upset with this return.

What I don’t like about the trade is how Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos flipped OF Michael Taylor to the Oakland A’s for Wallace. The argument can be made that Wallace will be a marginally better hitter, however there is no comparing the athleticism of the two players. Taylor not only gives you an excellent bat, but he’s a danger on the base paths as well. I’d much rather have Taylor —who has committed just 4 errors in his last 200 games —patrolling left field and Adam Lind at first base, rather than Lind in left field and Wallace at first base. Taylor would have given the Jays the speedy, heavy-hitting outfielder they were supposed to have in Alex Rios. If I’m Anthopoulos, I don’t mind sacrificing a couple extra home runs from Wallace for a multi-tool talent.