Happy VD!!!!

It's the most romantic day of the year. Yes, it's Arbitration Hearing Day for Jose Bautista.

Bautista loves the team, the fans, the city and especially, you. Yes, you. And he is looking for a long term deal and saying all the right things to get it.

Bautista came out of nowhere and hit a crap load of homers last season. People whispered about drugs, as he had previously only hit 16 homers in a season, but Bautista claimed it was because he rejiggered his swing and watching the end of season highlight reel of his 54 homers, his swing appeared to be a well-choreographed mirror image of itself. He has a hose in right field and is willing to leave that hose mostly unused by taking one for the team and playing third base. I'm just sort of concerned who is going to hit this year. I like our pitching, but that is only half of the equation.


Bautista wants 10.5 million, the Jays want to pay him 7.6 million for 2011. The hearing happened, and the decision is going to be announced tomorrow.

Actually, the real reason it's the most romantic day of the year is that pitchers and catchers report today!!! So that means baseball is starting again and spring is around the corner.

Things to think about...

Vernon Wells, his 86 million dollars owed, bald headed presence has gone west. Some people think club house leadership is bunk, but you can all read my opinions on that here but in short, a change in guard is going to change the team. It'll be interesting to watch. Maybe there will be something for me to mock.

The pitchers...Romero, Cecil, Morrow, Drabek and some other guy yet to be determined are young, cheap and talented. Who will be the ace of the staff? Are they all going to pitch like men? Are they going to hum and chuck?

Are Aaron Hill and Adam Lind going to rebound? Who is going to hit, especially if Jose takes his services elsewhere?

What is going to happen in the AL East? Boston loaded up with Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez but their pitching outside of Lester and Buchholz is suspect. The Yankees are getting older, have AJ Burnett as their number 2 but always seem to be in it. The Rays lost pieces, but still have a strong core bolstered by an inspired Manny Ramirez. A Manny Ramirez who is looking to compete with Johnny Damon in the shower. The Orioles signed old people for a lot of money, which is an interesting move. But interesting, I mean dumb.

I'm ready to get it started.