Saturday Bantering: Adam Loewen, Jays Tour

An old friend is back in the Jays' system:

#Jays have signed Adam Loewen to a minor league deal. No invite to big league camp. @sportsnet @shidavidi

— Jamie Campbell (@SportsnetJamie) January 12, 2013

Glad to see him back. I don't know what it would cost to invite him to the big league camp, but he isn't a bad guy to have at Buffalo. Adam played in Buffalo last year, it's a good move by the Jays to give the Buffalo fans someone they recognize.

The Jays' Winter Tour is in Edmonton today, I was going to go up tomorrow and see them but it doesn't look like there would be any chance to talk to anyone one tomorrow and roads aren't great. Driving 3 hours there and 3 hours back, without any idea that I could get something useful for the site, is a little too much.

Tomorrow they are visiting the CFB base in Edmonton, meeting with military families and getting a ride in a tank. Sounds more fun than curling yesterday. You can see a picture of Colby Rasmus about to throw a rock in Saskatoon, from Jamie Campbell's twitter. I'd be worried about on of them falling on the ice. The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has the story. I like this bit:

The Toronto Blue Jays' outfielder - in Saskatoon for the team's Winter Tour - wobbled around the ice on unsteady feet and couldn't make a shot without falling, sometimes hilariously.

Rasmus says he's rarely even seen snow, so coming into frigid Saskatoon and pulling on a pair of curling shoes was a novel experience all-around. He says he tried skating once as a youngster, and quickly decided that wasn't his future.

"I wasn't too good at it. I was 'nope, this ain't for me.' I stay off the ice," Rasmus said.

After that they going to West Edmonton Mall to sign autographs, from 2:00 till 3:00. If they have the same lines they did here in Calgary, 2 years ago, you'll want to get there early. Very early.

The Jays also won the 'Commissioner's Award for Philanthropic Excellence', for their Jays Care Foundation. I put in some money, I got 3 things at the Jays Care Auction they had at one of the game last year. I own a jersey signed by Brett Lawrie, a ball signed by Edwin Encarnacion and a framed ticket and World Series patch from the Jays 1993 World Series win. Jays Care does good work, but there is the feeling, in the back of my mind, that each of the 30 MLB teams will win this award at some point in the next 30 years. This is the third year of the award, the first two winners were the Red Sox and the White Sox.

I can't wait to have real baseball to talk about again. We are just a month away from when pitchers and catchers can report for Spring Training. February 15 is the date all 'non-WBC' players may be invited to Spring Training. And then February 20 is the Mandatory report date for all non-WBC must report.