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Hey Columbus Sports Fans!

Once again there is a little bit of snow on the ground in Ohio, but down in the South and out West there is baseball fever in the air. Particularly within the Northern organizations, where there is always a great anticipation to play ball, especially with the promise of warmth and sunshine.

There have been a lot of changes made during the off-season for the Toronto Blue Jays. The most obvious, and arguably the biggest move made in MLB is the three-way trade between the Blue Jays, Phillies, and Mariners that sent Roy Halladay to the Phillies, and possibly making them the team to beat in the National League this season.

The Jays also fired their general manager, as well as most of the coordinators and scouts throughout the organization. Needless to say, there are some new faces around the Spring Training Complex in Dunedin, Florida. Personally, I was against a Roy Halladay trade but I thought at least the Jays would bring in plenty of minor league pitching prospects in return for him. However, the Jays received only one pitching prospect in Kyle Drabek from the Phillies. Drabek is a righty who throws consistently in the mid-90s along with a slider that sits around 88mph. They did however, receive several hitting prospects in the trade and signed several free-agent pitchers.  All of this should make things quite interesting this spring.

My attitude this spring with the Jays is much different from last year when I was with the Tigers.  Last year, I figured I would be placed on a full-season roster just because of the success I had the year before. That wasn’t the case at all. This year I am aware of how the baseball “systems” work. Every Spring Training organization brings in far more pitchers that can be placed on their rosters. Organizations have to consider where each player fits into their system, regardless of how they did the previous year. Therefore, this year I am going into Spring Training with the mindset of only trying to control the things that I can. I will do everything to the best of my ability, both physically and mentally, but I will also try to take unnecessary pressure off of myself by not worrying about the outcome of everything.

As always, please feel free to ask questions or make comments. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the articles and updates throughout the year!

Tags: blue jays, minor league baseball, roy halladay, spring training