If you were like me and late for the original party, have no fear!!!. We can make a second fantasy league. A keeper league would be a first for me so it would be awesome if we could do that. Simply state your interest and an email for contact and i'll add you to the league.

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The First 5 made the top 100 MLB prospects list.

Toronto Blue Jays
1. Travis d'Arnaud, C (6)
2. Drew Hutchison, RHP (42)
3. Jake Marisnick, CF (47)
4. Anthony Gose, CF (59)
5. Aaron Sanchez, RHP (96)
6. Justin Nicolino, RHP
7. Noah Syndergaard, RHP
8. A.J. Jimenez, C
9. Adonis Cardona, RHP
10. Deck McGuire, RHP

Tom: Sorry I edited out large copied portions of Keith's post. Folks, copying and pasting very limited amounts of other people's work is ok, but posting a few hundred words of someone else's work isn't.

Hi guys! So last semester for my Honours seminar (every student in an Honours/four-year degree has to take one) I decided to write my paper on the economics of PEDs in baseball. Have a look after the jump.

Special thank-yous to jessef, dexfarkin, Mike Andrew, Pikachu, MjwW and everyone else here who helped me whether directly or indirectly. Thanks!

WARNING: LONG AND BORING

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This is a small attempt to use the so-called "wisdom of crowds" to give us a better understanding of our own prospects. The idea of the wisdom of crowds is that the aggregate judgment of many different observers is superior to the individual judgements. I've used the rankings of Fangraphs, Baseball America, John Sickels, Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com and Batters' Box.

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THIS IS MY FIRST FANPOST, PLEASE BE NICE!

If you aren't on the following list, you can ignore this post.

MjwW, Woodman, Rugged Rock, Pikachu, dannyofbosnia, yleviticus, Monstour, hansdampf, Aidin, boltspeedman, Damaso, STZ513, Beer Leaguer, Lutherie, jays182, bluejays13, Rhinos, FanInJapan, EthanDR

The waiting list, in order: Joffrey's Loop Hole, jaysfan101 (who, apparently, is not the same person as jaysfan100), HESS2479, jaysfan100 (who, apparently, is not the same person as jaysfan101), Vagabond13

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This is my first fanpost so be please kind if I mess anything up.

Blue Jays poised to be AL East's newest beast

Lyle Spencer claims that the Blue Jays are following in the Rays example and are becoming a force to be reckoned with in the AL East. Pesonally, I feel the same way about the Jays and hope that they do bcome the next AL East power. With our prospects, the Jays seem to be set and it could be as soon as this year that we begin to compete. As you can see by my username, I am a big fan of Brett Lawrie and I think he will become a top three 3B this year, so if he does do well he will therefore provide protection for Bautista and we could finally see all of what Bautista has to offer.So I was wondering, were do you guys think the Jays will finish this year. I put up a poll, but it would also be great if you could leave a comment on where the Jays will finish and why.

If I did anything wrong please tell me.

I've been thinking about going to see the Blue Jays in Spring Training and lo and behold the Leafs happen to be going to Florida in March

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Though it may be old news at this point I just wanted to say a few words on Josh Hamilton Gate from last week. More specifically, I’d like to discuss the reaction of one, Jeff Passan, and the inflammatory consequences of a journalist allowing personal disappointment colour his portrayal of a story.

As many of you probably know by now Texas Rangers' outfielder and recovering addict, Josh Hamilton, fell off the wagon last Monday reportedly having drinks in a Dallas area bar. Writing for Yahoo Sports, Passan's article often takes on the tone of a let down fan rather than a journalist attempting to objectively cover a somewhat tragic story. Throughout the piece Passan's petulance takes the form of a bizarre impulse to place blame on an admittedly sick individual and nowhere is this more evident than in the article's introduction: "The worst part about Josh Hamilton’s relapse is that he didn’t care. The most famous addict in sports does not go to a bar in the town where he is best known without full knowledge that his exploits will becomes public in a matter of hours." What is, of course, troubling about Passan’s opening is that, instead of viewing Hamilton’s awareness of being caught--and almost certainly publicly humiliated--as a sign of the severity of the outfielder’s addiction, he chooses to portray the relapse as a careless lapse in judgement.

Further confusing Passan’s take on last week’s events, the article quickly shifts, taking on a much more sympathetic tone. “Hamilton does care, of course” Passan explains in his fourth paragraph. Wait, hold on...what? Contradicting the accusatory tone of the article’s introduction, Passan admits that Hamilton’s relapse does not “represent weakness” but is rather “a symptom of addiction’s vagaries.” There are several points in the article where Passan makes similar concessions and during these moments of lucidity the writer seems to acknowledge the fact that addicts will not always be able to overcome the challenges that their illnesses present them with. These moments, however, do not overshadow the overall accusatory and downright petulant tone that characterizes the article.

If you were worried that Hamilton’s relapse was a complicated situation possibly influenced by the pressure of being in the public eye; the loss of Hamilton’s long time “accountability partner,” Johnny Norran or his tragic involvement in the death of a spectator last season, don’t worry, Passan assures us its not. “The particulars...don’t matter as much as the act. With addicts they never do. Sobriety is black and white. Black won Monday.” Though, the physical state of sobriety is obviously black and white, for an addict the act of maintaining sobriety is far more complicated. Never explaining the basis of his psychiatric expertise, Passan reduces a complicated psychological illness into an overly simplified black and white concept and in doing so he, not only, makes it easier to speak disparagingly about Hamilton’s relapse he carelessly diminishes the challenges faced everyday by recovering addicts.

What Passan comes close to but ultimately fails to convey is that even when one is not dealing with the pressures of being both a public figure and inspiration to millions of recovering addicts, battling addiction is an ongoing process often marred by moments of weakness. Just because many look up to Hamilton as a role model does not mean we can expect him to be perfect. What we can hope for is that Hamilton continues to be open and honest about the challenges he faces as a recovering addict. We can hope that Hamilton’s battle will continue to inspire fellow addicts to fight their illness even after they experience similar setbacks. We can hope that in witnessing how easy it is for an addict to fall off the wagon that those who have loved ones struggling with addiction continue to provide them with the support that they need. And finally, if/when Hamilton suffers another relapse we can hope that the journalists put in charge of covering the story have a little more patience--and perhaps, write a couple more drafts--before they further stigmatise addiction by publicly attacking people who are merely showing the symptoms of their illness.

As always, if this struck you as not terrible feel free to check out more at my blog: thejimbag.blogspot.com

Questions for BBB fantasy leaguers and interested BBB members

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Tom's post today about adding any single player from the past to the current roster got me thinking about an all-time 25 man roster. I used peak season as my criteria, and constructed the staff as follows: 13 pitchers (5 starters, a swingman, and 7 relievers) and 12 position players (2 catchers, 8 other starters, a 4th outfielder and a utility infielder) which is the way the roster is currently constructed. With a pitching staff as strong as I am able to pick, I'd be inclined to carry fewer pitchers and have a longer bench. On the other hand, with a line-up this strong, how much would you use the bench?

The team, after the jump!

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