Time for cake and ice cream. What kind of party do 6 year olds like? We should all meet at Chuck E Cheese.

The first post was put up on the same day as the Lyle Overbay trade. Lots of water under bridge since then. Back then J.P.Ricciardi was GM and John Gibbons was manager. The Jays had just come off an 80-82 season. Josh Towers and Gustavo Chacin tied for the team lead in victories with 13 (Doc had 12). Vernon Wells led the team with 28 home runs and 97 RBI. He was a year away from signing the biggest contract in team history.

It turned out to be a busy off-season. A couple of days after the Site started, we signed A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan. Around Christmas we traded for Troy Glaus. In February Bengie Molina signed with the team. A bit later Halladay signed a 3 year, $40 million contract extension. All the moves got us a 87-75 record, finishing 2nd in the AL East. We haven't won 87 in a season since.

I'm sure Alex, would like to buy us a present. We take an extra large Fielder. No? Ok, well just use your best judgement then, Alex.

It has been a great year for the site, we've seen a lot of growth. Thanks for coming around and visiting, commenting, putting up fanposts and fanshots. The fun of this place is the community we've built up.

And, when we are finished singing 'Happy Birthday', lets have a round of applause for all the folks writing and moderating on the site. Johnny, Jessef, masterkimbo, Woodman663 and Minor Leaguer have all put up great posts in the last year. And if you haven't been checking out the great job TonyFernandezSavedMyLife has been doing on the Facebook page, you really are missing out. Go look. He, Bowling_Guy, JohnnyG and MinorLeaguer have wielding the banhammer with great skill. Johnny's runs our podcasts (it's about time for another), doing all the work, letting the rest of us just have fun on them. And Hugo, course, though MIA at themoment, sets the tone for the site, we wouldn't be here without him.

So line up for a piece of cake.

Update: please go to Twinkie Town for a correct and updated draft order tracker

The 2012 draft class may be described as weak compared to the 2011 class, but apparently the High School crop is better than last year's. And very deep, too, which means that AA will have plenty of possible high school picks with upside to choose from with those extra draft picks that the last year of Elias Rankings-based compensation brings us.

Note: because of the modified type-A free agents, there is more uncertainty in the draft order than ever. For example, Kelly Johnson signing with the Astros would mean he gets the Jays a second round pick, but if he signs with the Tigers they get a first round pick in front of the Tigers' pick, meaning every pick beyond the 26th has moved down one spot. Because there are 5 of these modified type As remaining (Bell has signed), the current number 26 pick (for example) could be just number 26, but it could also be all the way down to number 31. Only the 1-15 picks and the picks that are compensation for unsigned 2010 picks are locked in place.

I won't list the extra picks caused by modified type As because we don't know where they'll end up, but keep in mind that they're there. A * denotes a compensation pick for an unsigned 2010 pick (btw, these are no longer unprotected in the 2012 draft). Italics mean a player has not yet signed elsewhere, so the pick is not certain, while picks that didn't come to be, due to a player staying with his club, are listed with a strikethrough. Jays picks are in bold, with the variation in possible position in brackets.

-----First Round-----
1. Houston Astros
2. Minnesota Twins
3. Seattle Mariners
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Kansas City Royals
6. Chicago Cubs
7. San Diego Padres
8. Pittsburgh Pirates
9. Miami Marlins
10. Colorado Rockies
11. Oakland Athletics
12. New York Mets
13. Chicago White Sox
14. Cincinnati Reds
15. Cleveland Indians
16. Washington Nationals
17. Toronto Blue Jays (17-18)
18. Los Angeles Dodgers
19. Los Angeles Angels
20. San Francisco Giants
21. Atlanta Braves
22. Toronto Blue Jays* (22)
23. St. Louis Cardinals
24. Boston Red Sox
25. Tampa Bay Rays
26. Arizona Diamondbacks
27. Detroit Tigers
28. Milwaukee Brewers
29. Texas Rangers
30. New York Yankees
31. Boston Red Sox (from Phillies)

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Bob Elliott won the vote for the J.G. Taylor Spink Award and will be going to the Hall of Fame. Bob is the first Canadian to receive the award.

Bob Elliott has been writing about baseball for 30 years, starting in 1980 with the Expos. In 1987 he moved to Toronto to cover the Jays for the Sun. He has written three books on baseball; Hard Ball, a bio of former Blue Jay George Bell, The Ultimate Jay's Trivia Book and The Northern Game: Baseball the Canadian Way. If you have an interest in baseball in Canada, the Northern Game is a great read. He also writes for the Canadian Baseball Network, one of my favorite sites.

About three years ago, Bob was nice enough to answer some questions for us, he was very kind to give us some of his time and knowledge. He had finished second in the voting for the Spink Award that year.

Congratulations Bob, very well deserved.

The site has been growing by leaps and bounds lately and it has gotten to the point that it is hard for just Johnny, Hugo, Jessef and I to keep everything under control, especially when I'm off on holiday and without internet. 99% of the time it isn't a problem, our members are great but when we are adding new people, by the dozen each day, they don't always understand that what makes this site work is that we are a community. I often use the line that you are in our living room, don't say anything you wouldn't say sitting on the couch with me. 

So, to deal with the fact that we can't be everywhere in every thread, we are adding three moderators. The mods have the same banhammer powers that the rest of us have (course we are hoping they won't be needed) but what I'd rather is that they are able be in a thread and able to say 'please stop'. If you are asked by any of the mods to stop something, please do. Pretend that arguing with a mod is like arguing with the umpire, you might might get thrown out of the game. Arguing the rules is a sure way to get the banhammer to drop on you. 

The 3 new mods are Minor Leaguer, TonyFernandezSavedMyLife and Carm. Please treat them well. If you have a complaint with how they are doing their jobs, send it to me. Also if you see moments where moderation would be helpful, flag the comment and/or send me an email. 

If you are new and are wondering about what the rules are, they are here. Basically, be reasonable, try not to insult, try not to swear, be a pleasant house guest. Disagree sure, but disagree with the argument, don't insult the person making it. 

For me, the fun of this place is that, unlike most spots on the internet, people should be treated with respect.  Just because many of us are hiding behind screen names doesn't mean we should say things we wouldn't say to someone's face.  

Some experts are saying the Jays are looking for a college bat, others say they'll go for a high school pitcher. Heavily linked players include Levi Michael, college shortstop, Andrew Chafin, a college left-hander who's coming off Tommy John and Daniel Norris, a high school left-handed pitcher. Others include Mikie Mahtook, Kolten Wong, Taylor Guerrieri and Josh Bell. All of those players have their downsides. Mahtook might not stick in center field and might strike out too much, Levi Michael might not stick at shortstop and might not hit for power. Wong isn't a sure bet to stick at second or hit for power, Guerrieri has great stuff but also makeup concerns because he's been kicked out of 2 high schools. Chafin's health is a major question and Norris and Bell will be very expensive.

Then there's that tiny issue of the Jays not knowing who will be available, as 20 players will be selected before the Jays get to choose their favorite. Whoever they will select first, though, the Jays will have a lot more picks this draft. So if you do not like the first pick, remember that every selection has a lot of bust potential and in the end the most valuable player to the Jays might not even be selected in the first three rounds. Of course, I'm saying this because most Jays fans don't seem to like Levi Michael, the current favorite to be picked at number 21 by the Jays. I'd like to point out a quote by Dave Cameron of Fangraphs:

Good college bats are, by far, the safest bet in any Major League draft.

This could be why AA and scouting director Andrew Tinnish are looking for a college bat, as they have plenty of picks to select high schoolers with a lot of potential with. Whoever they pick, I'm sure their improved scouting team has watched that player a lot and are confident in the player's abilities.

Tune into MLB.com's live coverage and give us your thoughts in this live draft discussion thread!

Every year fans and experts alike make predictions on which player will be selected by which team in the yearly MLB Amateur Draft, also known as the Rule 4 Draft. Every year, most of those guesses are wrong, which makes following the draft that much more exciting. Like in other years, the place to be on the day of the MLB Draft 2011 is right here on Bluebird Banter. In addition to previewing the draft, we will have an Open Draft Discussion thread where all of us excited Jays fans can discuss who we want to fall to the number 21 pick, and who we do not want. We'll laugh at some other team's selections, thinking that we know better than their scouting departments, and we'll be frustrated when another team snatches our favorite player away before the Jays could select him. Last year hugo and Tom were talking about how much they didn't like Transformers 2, so perhaps Transformers 3 will be featured in today's draft thread as well?

So how does this work then, you ask? Well, first of all, only players from Canada, the U.S. and U.S. territories (like Puerto Rico) are eligible. Players from other baseball areas like Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Cuba are signed as international free agents. So while the draft is not the only way to get young talent, it is a very important one. The Draft will begin at 7:00 PM Eastern Time, following a pre-game show on MLB Network. Only the first round, consisting of 60 picks, will be finished today. Rounds 2-30 will be done on Tuesday starting at 11:00 AM Eastern, followed by rounds 31-50 on Wednesday, also starting at 11:00 AM. Toronto will pick first when the 21st overall pick comes around, and again at 35, 46, 53, 57, 74 and 78 in the first two rounds. After that, the Jays will have one pick per round. You can find the complete draft order here.

The reason the Jays have so many picks is because Major League Baseball compensates teams who lose players to free agency, depending on the quality of the player as estimated by Elias Sports Bureau. The loss of Scott Downs, a type A (highest class of players) free agent, has been compensated for with the number 35 and number 74 picks. John Buck and Kevin Gregg, who had both joined the team on one-year contracts, account for two of the 46/53/57 picks. Miguel Olivo was shrewdly acquired by Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulos in a trade, and because he rejected the Jays' arbitration offer the Jays received another compensation draft pick.

If the Jays select a player with one of their draft picks, they have until August the 15th to get him to sign a contract. If the player doesn't sign by then, the Jays will receive a compensation pick in the 2012 MLB Draft. However, that draft pick in 2012 would then be "unprotected", meaning they would not receive a 2013 draft pick in compensation if they failed to sign the player they selected with their compensation pick. This year, none of the Jays' picks are unprotected, so they can take all kinds of risks in the first three rounds. Picks made after the first three rounds are always unprotected. There's also a thing called "slot", which means the MLB has set a recommended amount as maximum signing bonus for draft picks (the lower the pick, the lower the recommended signing bonus). However, the Jays are very likely to completely ignore that recommendation and spend big. They are rumoured to have prepared to spend $20 million on the draft, up from around $11 million last year.

Some recent Jays draft history below the jump.

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When I left for Florida this morning from my parents' house in Canada, it was cold beyond belief and snowy like crazy. In Dunedin, there's not a cloud to be seen. Some days I really do love my job.

I'm all checked in to my hotel room which will be my home for just under two months. For those of you who know that my off-season home is in Orlando, and are asking why I just don't stay in that, is because it's too far of a drive for me everyday, and my buddy who works at the hotel I'm staying at gives me a discount. So I'm pretty fortunate and I would like to thank my friend right now! Thanks, Josh!

By the time I arrived in Dunedin, the early-arrivals workout had ended. My first taste of baseball will be tomorrow morning at roughly 10:00 A.M. Check back for an update later in the afternoon!

If you ever have any questions, feel free to post a comment in any thread asking the question. If I can't answer it, I'm sure Hugo or Rince will be more then happy to. But if it's Spring Training related, I will do my best to answer.

Just one further thing. I'd like to remind you all that from March 4th-18th, I will be taking my last vacation of the year, except a couple days off here or there in the season. Nothing too major.