Ever wonder just how different the arsenals of knuckleballers are, relative to the rest of pitchers? Well, we already discussed how pitcher arsenals are analogous to ecological communities and how some of the statistical techniques community ecologists use can be transferred to describing and testing relationships for pitchers. Operating under that assumption, I used a technique called Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) to graphically display pitcher arsenals.

I downloaded the pitch type usage of all pitchers last season who threw 150 innings or more and used a multivariate method called nonmetric multidimensional scaling to graphically display how pitch usage differs from one pitcher to another. The first step is to create a matrix of how different each pitcher's arsenal is from every other pitcher (called dissimilarity scores and based on the Bray-Curtis index of community dissimilarity). Once this matrix has been created, the technique compares each of those scores to one another and assigns each pitcher's arsenal a set of (x,y) coordinates in two-dimensional space. All that remains is to plot those coordinates and we see similarities and differences between pitcher arsenals. Now, the axes do not actually mean anything. Although we can test variables to see how they correspond to this ordination, all the figure below shows is how pitcher arsenals differ in relation to one another.

I think the results speak for themselves but I'll just quickly say that Dan Haren and Roy Halladay are separated due to cutter usage. R.A. Dickey, while still quite far removed from the rest of the pack is nowhere near as far away as Tim Wakefield because he uses his fastball more (22% of the time vs. 9% of the time) and his knuckleball less (75% vs. 89%).

Anyway, this doesn't really mean anything, I just thought you might find it interesting.

Thanks to The Smiths for today's title.

Since there is nothing for baseball news, give us your guess for the winner and the final score of the football game, and anything else you'd like to take a guess at, like how many times they turn the camera to Peyton Manning.

I'll guess 30-24 Patriots. And more shots of Payton manning that I can count.

This is my vote for best Super Bowl commercial of the year.

Here's the question of the day: If you could return one former Jay to his prime and put him on the Jays' roster, which one would you choose?

I'd pick Dave Stieb. It would be close between him and Roy Halladay but Stieb finished 19 of 38 starts in 1982, throwing 288.1 innings. Can you imagine? 288 innings? Having a guy starting every 4th day, giving your bullpen the day off? And, with Stieb's competitiveness getting the best of him, so often, watching him blowing up at his teammates would give us lots to talk about in the GameThreads.

Anyway, let us know which former Jay you would pick to join today's club.

Nothing much out there for Blue Jay news, yet again, so I thought I'd just put up an open thread and let folks talk about whatever they would like.

If you want an off-topic subject to start it off, tell us how your new year's resolutions are coming. Me? Well, I've got the boring one, I'm working to get back in shape. I've been a runner for the past 15 years or so, but the past year I've been lazy and haven't been at it. Add in Christmas and a trip to Jamaica and I'm up a few pounds.

I really need a goal to make myself work out, so I'm signing up for a half-marathon in June. Registration for it doesn't open until the end of the month so I have a couple of weeks see that can get running first. I've been to the gym each day since last Saturday seeing if I can get all the parts moving.

Anyway, tell us about how your resolution is going or anything else you'd like to talk about.

I got an email today asking for our help in promoting the contest to be the chosen for the MLB Fan Cave. It started like this:

We are targeting contributors to (and readers of) your forum because of their reputation for intelligent writing and dynamic self-representation.

Buttering us up, always the best way to start. Much better than starting off with 'Your a Moran'.

Enthusiasm is not enough-we are seeking intelligent, unique voices to represent baseball fans everywhere on a national stage. Your contributors and readers are exactly who we're looking for.

Sounds like they are calling off the contest, we are for whom they are looking (or something like that). Load up the truck boys, we's going to New York. Swimming pools, movies stars. Why does this seem like the Beverly Hillbillies?

Then they tell us to apply here (just a formality, I'm sure, they told us that we are the one that they want. Well, those of us over 21 anyway.

When you win, this is what you do:

Reside in a location provided by MLB in New York City
Participate in all aspects of MLB Fan Cave duties, including but not limited to, watching every game played of the 2012 MLB season, taking part in media events, interviews, etc.
Share thoughts regarding games and topics of MLB and pop culture interest via daily blogging, vlogging and through social media platforms
Adhere to all other policies and procedures as required by MLB
Grant all rights in all aspects of his/her participation in MLB Fan Cave to MLB for MLB's use, worldwide, in all media.

I love baseball, but watch every game? That's 2430 regular season games. Some of those are Yankee games (yuck). Seems like a lot even to me. On top of that, MLB owns you for the year and they will watermark your children.

Anyway, if you want to try out for it, great. If you win, remember to work Bluebird Banter into every conversation you have when you are in the 'Fan Cave'.

Good luck.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me wish you a Happy New Year from my mother's basement my room here in the Netherlands, where there's no snow or cold, but a lot of litter from all the fireworks. There's an interesting anecdote about the laws regarding fireworks in this country: fireworks are allowed after 10:00 AM on December the 31st, but apparently the intention was to only allow it after 10:00 PM. Whoops. Now, the country is split between those terrorizing the street with fireworks all day long, and those too scared to go out. In the neighborhood where I work, which is not a bad neighbourhood at all, even the policemen seemed scared to approach local fireworks abusers.

But you, the Bluebird Banter readership, don't come here for idle talk about foreign peculiarities. No, you've been coming here for Jays news and discussion, and boy, did we have some year doing just that! There was the Bautista contract and his subsequent monster year, the Vernon Wells trade, a new manager in John Farrell, the saga of Brett Lawrie, the MLB first-year player draft, the Colby Rasmus trade and the reported acquisition that did not happen (Yu), among other things that sparked a lot of discussion around here. So much in fact, that Bluebird Banter set not just a new record, but almost doubled the record number of visits in a month from 2010. To show you how much the blog has grown in number of visits, I've created a visual representation of the growth by plotting the peak months for all AL East SBNation blogs for the 2009-2011 period:

Yes, we're the light blue dots. The orange is of course Camden Chat, the dark blue is DRaysBay, the red is Over the Monster and the white is Pinstripe Alley. The horizontal lines represent 50k, 100k, 150k, 200k and 250k visitors in a month. As you can see, Bluebird Banter has gone from the most unimpressive peak month in the AL East in 2009 to the record holder in terms of peak month in 2011. While August was impressive at 252k visitors, December's 266k showed us that the blog's readership just keeps growing. It will be hard to reach the levels of Lone Star Ball and Lookout Landing, the top AL blogs in the SBNation network, but third in the AL is already pretty impressive. I'd say Tom's trip to Jamaica has been a very well-deserved holiday indeed.

Of course, this kind of growth wouldn't have been possible without the vigilance of our mods, or the great contributions from all the people who come here to share their thoughts. We've got a great membership, happy 2012 to all of you!

I am enjoying the beautiful weather (and rum) of Jamaica. I'm away at the right time, there isn't much for Blue Jay news or rumors, unless you count some vague idea that the Jays might be after Matt Garza. With what teams have been getting for trading starting pitching, I doubt the Jays will be willing to give up enough to get him.

Baseball isn't the sport of choice here, soccer is clearly number 1, but I have had a couple of locals offer to buy my Jays' cap. It seems they are a favorite team with some here. I almost bought a shirt that said 'No Problem, Mon' above the old Jays logo in a shop here but decided against it. If it had the new logo, I'd have gone for it.

Anyway, figured I'd put up an open there for you to share what ever thoughts come to mind. Me? My only thought is to order another drink. Viking Crown has become my drink here in paradise. I'm not sure what is in it, but it is tasty. if nothing else, you can share what your drink of choice is, when you are somewhere warm. Me? I'm going to lay out by the pool.