Inside Pitch

By Amy Moritz

Right-hander Justin Germano, who tossed a perfect game for Columbus in 2011, has been named the starter for the Buffalo Bisons' inaugural game as a Toronto Blue Jays affiliate Thursday at 2:05 against Rochester in Coca-Cola Field. (See the last out of Germano's perfect game above).

The 30-year old was named to the International League All-Star Team last year while playing for Pawtucket but did not get the chance to play in the Triple-A All-Star Game in Buffalo. He was recalled to Boston and pitched one game for the Red Sox before being traded to the Chicago Cubs for the rest of 2012.

In 17 games and 16 starts for Pawtucket last year, he went 9-4 with a 2.40 earned run average. He was 2-10, 6.75 in 13 games for the Cubs (12 starts).

Germano was singed buy the Blue Jays in the offseason. He has pitched in 93 Major League games with the Padres, Reds, Indians, Red Sox and Cubs. In the minor leagues, he has a career record of 90-69 in 254 games.

Germano was Pawtucket’s Opening Day starter last season and defeated the Bisons, 4-2, at McCoy Stadium on April 5, 2012. He allowed two runs in five innings. Germano needed just 95 pitches to throw his perfect game at Syracuse on July 26, 2011. It was just the fifth one in International League history. 

Manager Marty Brown named the starting rotation of five righties, with Ramon Ortiz scheduled to start here on Friday, Claudio Vargas and Dave Bush going on Saturday and Sunday in Rochester and Todd Redmond slated to start Monday when the Herd returns to Buffalo to play Syracuse. Ortiz was a 13-game winner last year at Scranton and won 15 games in 2002 for the Anaheim Angels as well as two postseason games that season.

The Bisons also announced the Blue Jays have promoted 1B/OF Adam Loewen from Double-A New Hampshire to replace Lars Anderson, who was lost on waivers to the White Sox. Loewen, a converted pitcher, hit .227 with eight homers and 26 RBIs in 56 games with the Bisons last season.

by Amy Moritz

All you Celery fans out there can relax and rejoice.

The Twitter shenanigans about Celery being suspended for Opening Day was an April Fools joke. And for the record, Buster is actually pulling for a Celery win. The vegetable is winless in three years of the Wing-Blue Cheese-Celery race at Coca-Cola Field.

Via @BuffaloBisons

Buster: "Sorry, I'm so excited for the season, I wanted to get the fun started a little early. I'll be rooting for @BisonsCelery Thursday!"

If you can't have fun with Opening Day, when can you have fun?

by Amy Moritz
(@amymoritz) 

So 2013 will kick off with a little controversy at Coca-Cola Field.

All right, controversy of the fun mascot type.

Today on Twitter the Bisons have been having fun gearing up for Thursday's Opening Day. This morning, the Bisons, along with popular Celery of the Wing Race, made an appearance on the local morning show "Winging It." Celery, as you know, has not won a race in three years. During the visit, Celery revealed plans to win this year, and win on Opening Day.

On Twitter, Buster T. Bison did not appreciate Celery's "me-first" mentality, especially since Buster guaranteed fans an Opening Day win. If the Herd does not win, everyone in attendance at Opening Day wil get a free ticket to a future fridaynightbash! game.

The matter was taken to Twitter where the official Bisons account (@BuffaloBisons) had this to say over two Tweets:

Update: @BisonsCeleryhas been SUSPENDED for Opening Day. Will not race! Buster: "Focus must be on #Bisons winning on Thursday." Buster: "While it was a good thought, @BisonsCelery's appearance has caused an unnecessary distraction from main goal of a #Bisons win!"

Celery responded on Twitter with this apology: 

I'm so sorry for my actions. I'm just so excited about getting my first win in 2013. Rooting for a #Bisons win will always be my #1 priority

Below is the video from Celery's appearance on "Winging It" this morning along with Matt LaSota, the club's director of entertainment and marketing services. Stay tuned all season long for updates in the Wing Race.

Celery's first visit to Winging It!

by Amy Moritz

With Opening Day just three days away, the Buffalo Bisons announced a 25-man roster that is loaded with experience. Of the 25 players, 23 have Major League experience -- a combined 3,229 games.

The Bisons' five-man rotation features 817 big league appearances. Righty Ramon Ortiz won 16 games with the Los Angeles Angels in 2003 and was on the World Series team in 2002. Claudio Vargas (RHP) played in 2006 with Arizona and 2007 with Milwaukee. David Bush (RHP) has four seasons with eight or more Major League wins. Justin Germano (RPH) should have played in the Triple-A All Star game in Buffalo last season, but he was busy with his promotion to Boston while Todd Redmond (RHP) has been in the top five in strikeouts in the International League the last three seasons. He made his Major League debut last season with Cincinnati.

This season will be a homecoming for infielder Jim Negrych. The former All-Western New York player from St. Francis was an All-Star with Syracuse last season. He had an impressive string training with Toronto, hitting .412 (14-34) with two home runs and seven runs batted in.

The infield includes: Luis Jimenz, an All-Star first baseman with Tacoma last year; Andy LaRoche, who won the Govenors' Cup Trophy with Pawtucket in 2012; Menumeori Kawaski, who played 61 games with Seattle last year; Eugenio Velez, who hit .280 with 50 extra-base hits for Triple-A Memphis in 2012; and Ryan Goins, Toronto's top prospect, who led the Eastern League with 158 hits in New Hampshire last year. Lars Anderson, who belted 33 home runs over the last three seasons with Pawtucket, was traded Monday to the Chicago White Sox.

Headlining the outfield will be Anthony Gose, who played in the All-Stars Futures Game last year and has 228 stolen bases in 566 career games and  Moises Sierra, who was part of the Dominican Republic championship team at the World Baseball Classic last month and hit a combined .271 with 23 home runs and 78 runs batted between Triple-A Las Vegas and Toronto last year. Also in the outfield are Ryan Langerhans and Mike McCoy.

Bisons fans will be familiar with both catchers. Josh Thole played in 48 games with the Herd in 2010 before spending most of the last three years with the Mets. Last season, Thole caught Johan Santana's no-hitter. Mike Nickeas returns to the Herd for the fifth straight season.

The bullpen came together Friday when the Blue Jays claimed righty Alex Burnett off waivers from Minnesota. Burnett pitched 133 games over the past two years with the Twins. Juan Perez (LHP) had a 3.60 earned run average in Triple-A Nashville in 2012; Brad Lincoln (RHP) held opponents to a .176 average in 47 relief appearances with both Pittsburgh and Toronto last year; Alex Hinshaw (LHP) has experience with the Giants, Padres and Cubs; Buddy Caryle (RHP) posted a 3.43 earned run average for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season; Micky Storey (RHP) had a 3.05 ERA and went 7-4 for Triple-A Oklahoma City before getting his first promotion to Houston; and Neil Wagner (RHP) has 45 saves in his seven-year career.

The Herd, managed by Marty Brown, opens the season at 2:05 p.m. Thursday against the Rochester Red Wings.

By Mike Harrington

If you missed it in Sunday's MLB Preview Section, Jerry Sullivan and I both took our annual plunge at picking the races and the postseason winners (A very cheap plug here: I picked the Tigers and Giants to make the World Series last year in March, but had the Tigers winning). The recap looked like this:

Harrington
Division winners: Blue Jays, Tigers, Angels, Nationals, Reds, Giants
Wild cards: Rays, Athletics, Braves, Dodgers
ALCS:  Angels over Blue Jays
NLCS: Nationals over Reds
World Series: Nationals over Angels

Sullivan
Division winners: Blue Jays, Tigers, Athletics, Nationals, Reds, Dodgers
Wild cards:  Orioles, Rays, Braves, Giants
ALCS: Tigers over Blue Jays
NLCS: Nationals over Dodgers
World Series: Tigers over Nationals

Now it's Opening Day and it's your turn. To make things easier, I want you to pick the AL & NL champions, World Series winner and just the AL East (since that is the division most everyone in town follows).

Have at it.

The cover illustration of today's MLB preview section by News staff artist Dan Zakroczemski.

By Mike Harrington

The baseball season opens tonight with the Astros' inaugural game in the American League and really kicks into high gear tomorrow with the official Opening Day that includes Red Sox-Yankees in the Bronx. I'll be on hand Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre in Toronto for the Blue Jays'  much-anticipated opener against Terry Francona's Cleveland Indians (how strange that sounds).

Be sure to read all about the upcoming season in today's MLB preview section. Here's a look at the starting lineup:

---As I sat through the Florida chill -- and there was plenty of it last week -- I composed a lot of thoughts on the Blue Jays' history, their long playoff drought and their new tie-in to Buffalo. Be sure to read my essay on it all here, complete with thoughts from Cy Young winner and ex-Bison R.A. Dickey and longtime broadcaster Jerry Howarth.

(And if you missed it, be sure to double back to this link for my audio podcast with Howarth taped last week during batting practice in Florida. Love the sound of bat hitting ball in the background).

---He's been one of ours for 24 years now but Senior Sports Columnist Jerry Sullivan grew up in Rhode Island as an unabashed Red Sox fan. Times are likely to be tough this year for both the Sox and the Yankees, which hasn't happened much over the last two two decades. In his essay on the Yanks and Sox, Sully says it reminds him of fighting as 9-year-olds with his best friend, Brian, over which team will stink less.

---In my preseason MLB power rankings, the Giants start at No. 1 and a third World Series title in four years would certainly put them in some rare air.

---Greg Connors' Mixed Media column puts the focus on Tim McCarver, the FOX analyst who is one of the game's most polarizing figures as he heads into his final season. Yes, McCarver talks too much at times. But he's perhaps the greatest television analyst in the history of the game. Nobody has done more jewel events, be it All-Star Games or World Series telecasts. 

---Jay Skurski's fantasy breakdown gives you a look at some good sleeper picks. Some are prospects you've probably never heard of. Some of the names might surprise you.

As for the Bisons, they hit town for their first workout Tuesday in advance of Thursday's opener at Coca-Cola Field. Amy Moritz and I will have full coverage of the Herd's hopes in their first year as a Toronto affiliate in Wednesday's paper.

Matt Tuiasosopo: From Buffalo to Detroit. (Mark Mulville/Buffalo News)

By Mike Harrington

Bisons manager Wally Backman loved Matt Tuiasosopo last year, constantly talking up the journeyman for a callup to New York that never came. But it turns out other teams were watching Tuiasosopo, who hit .242 with 12 homers and 57 RBIs in 131 games for the Herd.

The Detroit Tigers were apparently trying to trade for him late last season but couldn't get him until he signed a minor-league deal over the winter. Now Jim Leyland has decided that Tuiasosopo will start the year in Detroit, and not Toledo, as a right-handed option off the bench. Tuiasosopo hit .286 with four homers this spring and had a big bounceback -- including a home run off Stephen Strasburg -- after an 0-for-14 start

"I don't think anybody in here can disagree that this kid deserves a shot," Leyland said. "He's stung the ball. He's hit the ball out of the ballpark. He's hit the ball hard."

By Mike Harrington

We're less than a week away from the Bisons' historic opener as a Toronto Blue Jays affiliate Thursday at 2:05 in Coca-Cola Field, and the Herd announced today the game against the Rochester Red Wings will be a Guaranteed Win day.

If the Bisons lose, all fans in attendance will receive a ticket for a future fridaynightbash! game during the 2013 season. Tickets for the game can be purchased at the ballpark box office on the Swan Street side, by calling THE-HERD (843-4373) or by logging on to the ticketing section of Bisons.com

The Bisons remind fans the print-at-home feature to buy tickets on their Web site has no service charge. (Nice. Never understood how teams charge for that -- it's my ink and my paper!!)

By Mike Harrington

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- To say there's anticipation and excitement at Blue Jays camp this month is a gross understatement. The place is pumped for what everyone hopes will be Toronto's first playoff run since 1993, when Joe Carter's ninth-inning home run beat the Phillies in Game Six of the World Series.

There's also a buzz because of the new affiliation between the Blue Jays and Bisons. The minor-league players are talking about it, the media is interested in making trips across the Peace Bridge and I probably got stopped by eight or nine fans I didn't even know at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium who saw "Buffalo" on my press pass to talk about the team or Coca-Cola Field.

With all that in mind, I had a chance to sit down with longtime Blue Jays radio voice Jerry Howarth and discuss the current state of the Jays and turned it into an audio podcast.

Howarth, who came on the air in Toronto in 1981, called all the glory days seasons with legendary partner Tom Cheek, and was the 2012 winner of the Jack Graney Award presented by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame for contributions by a media member to the game in Canada.

Click below to hear Howarth talk about the feelings on camp, his thoughts on the moves made over the winter by GM Alex Anthopoulos, the new affiliation with Buffalo and his emotions on the news that his late partner Cheek will be honored in Cooperstown this summer with the Ford C. Frick award for broadcast excellence.

Jerry Howarth

By Mike Harrington

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Another big group of players sent back to minor-league camp for the Buffalo Bisons today by the Toronto Blue Jays, and the headliner is fleet outfielder Anthony Gose.

Gose, 22, should be Buffalo's starting center fielder. He hit .267 in spring training with a homer, three RBIs and five stolen bases. His red flag is 16 strikeouts but he also drew 11 walks.

"He's got a chance to be really good," said Jays manager John Gibbons. "He just has to get his swing together, cut down on his strikeouts. That will be big for him. Defensively and on the bases, he's pretty dog-gone good right now. He's a 22-year-old kid probably where he needs to be. When he irons that bat out, who knows how good he can be?"

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- It's a dark, windy day down south and the Bisons are taking on the Indianapolis Indians about 90 minutes south of here in Bradenton. Be sure to catch up with my story in today's paper on Marty Brown's early thoughts on how camp is going 10 days before the season opener.

Bisons play-by-play voice Ben Wagner was here last week doing several interviews with potential Bisons players and many will air tonight at 7 pm. on WWKB (Radio 1520 AM). Wagner also taped a segment with this corner and you can listen to it below.

(Memo to Buffalo: I'm coming back in five days. Get the weather situation straightened out).

Mike Harrington with Ben Wagner

(Photo of Blue Jays minor-league complex. Look which logos is top center.)

Jim Negrych made a big impression in the Blue Jays' big-league camp. (AP Photo)

By Mike Harrington

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- I'll be meeting the Sabres Monday in Tampa so I took an early detour down south where it's 50-degrees-ish cold -- I hear all your sympathy pangs -- to check out Blue Jays/Bisons camp. The Jays are playing the Red Sox and old friends John Farrell and Torey Lovullo today at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. (Lovullo demanded Sabres updates when I saw him on the field pregame. I told him Ryan Miller hasn't been too chatty lately. Heh.)

I've already checked in with Bisons manager Marty Brown and will have a story on his early thoughts on the Herd with a week to go in camp in Sunday's paper. The Blue Jays sent a bunch of guys out to minor-league camp today and one of them was infielder and St. Francis product Jim Negrych, who made a big impression with the at-bats he got.

Negrych got into 20 big-league games and went 12 for 28, with his .429 average tied for third on the club entering today. He had three doubles, two homers, six RBIs, drew five walks, had an on-base percentage of .515 and a slugging percentage of .750. In the previous two years in Marlins and Pirates camp, he had only four big-league at-bats.

By Mike Harrington

The Bisons' annual Open House at Coca-Cola Field runs today from noon-3 at the ballpark (opens at 11 a.m. for season ticket-holders only). In addition, tickets for the entire 2013 season, the first as a Toronto affiliate, go on sale at 10 a.m. 

The open house features tours of all levels of the ballpark, including restricted areas like the Bisons' clubhouse and press box, a free hot dog and Coca-Cola product for all fans, kids games, merchandise sales and much more.

The complete rundown can be found here. 

By Mike Harrington

Former Bisons star Brandon Phillips is getting his first chance to represent Team USA at the World Baseball classic and, of course, is loving every minute of it (right).

Phillips, whose Twitter account of @DatDudeBP is one of the best of in professional sports and is approaching one million followers, was on Jim Rome's national radio show Wednesday afternoon. He talked about the WBC, how he's going to honor his 1 millionth follower, playing for Joe Torre, and still being unable to wipe out the memory of the Cincinnati Reds' collapse to the Giants in last year's NLDS.

Hard to believe it's 11 years since Phillips showed up with the Bisons after the Cleveland Indians' whopper of a trade with the Montreal Expos for Bartolo Colon. And Phillips' heroics for the Herd in its 2004 championship season? Nine years ago. Wow.

Click below to hear Phillips' interview with Rome.

Photo: (@DatDudeBP via USA Baseball)

By Mike Harrington

We're less than a month away from Opening Day of the Toronto Blue Jays era at Coca-Cola Field as the Bisons host the Rochester Red Wings on April 4 at 2:05 p.m. in the first game of their new affiliation. The Bisons are putting individual tickets on sale today for all games of the 2013 season in a special Internet-only offer at Bisons.com.

There are no service charges for the online presale, which begins today at 9 a.m. and runs through Friday at 9 p.m. Tickets to all 72 home games are available and that includes the ultra-popular dates like Opening Day, Star Wars Night (June 22), Independence Eve with the BPO (July 3), the just-announced Bobblehead Night featuring R.A. Dickey (July 24) and Fan Appreciation Night (Aug. 29).

In-person sales for the 2013 season begin Saturday at 10 a.m. in conjunction with the team's annual Open House at the ballpark. That runs from noon-3 with free admission. All fans receive a free Sahlen's Hot Dog and Coca-Cola soft drink. Fans will also be able to purchase a ticket voucher good for two tickets to Opening Day for only a $5 donation to Coaches vs. Cancer.

There will be tours of the press box, clubhouse and party suites, a chance to view artifacts and trophies from the team's history, raffles, merchandise sales and kids activities like XBox Home Run Challenge on the Bisons TV HDBoard.

News Sports Columnists Bucky Gleason and Jerry Sullivan discuss during their weekly "Bucky & Sully Show":

Watch all the segments of this week's show here.

Outfielder in the Toronto Blue Jays organization talks about upcoming season.

by Amy Moritz

Infront of a Buffalo Bisons logo backdrop, Anthony Gose was at the center of a scrum of reporters from Buffalo and Toronto just 77 days away from Opening Day at Coca-Cola Field. The outfielder was taken a bit back by the setting.

"I feel like I just signed a big contract or something. Or like I'm Alex," Gose joked, referring to Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "Do I get to play GM now?"

"Well, if you played GM, you wouldn't be in Buffalo in April," one of the reporters said.

Gose laughed. "Oh. Good point."

Gose will likely be starting for the Bisons on April 4 as the 22-year-old outfielder looks to improve his offense to work his way into a permament position with the Blue Jays.

Drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 and came to the Toronto organization in a trade in 2010. In a full season at Double-A New Hampshire in 2011, he hit .253 with 70 stolen bases. Last year he played with Triple-A Las Vegas, hitting .286. He had two stints with the Blue Jays, going up in July and then again in September. In 56 games with the big club he batted .223, numbers which put him back in Triple A, this time in Buffalo, to start the new season.

"My time will come. Hopefully sooner than later," Gose said. "The front office and Alex and the staff feel I needed more time and I didn’t exactly light up the world in the big leagues last year. Here’s a chance for me to go back down to Triple A and get better and hopefully put up some pretty good numbers and prove my way back to the big leagues."

So what does he need to do to make the jump from Triple A to MLB stick?

"Hit the ball. Simple as that," Gose said. "If I hit the ball I can play in the big leagues with anybody. I can always get better on defense. I can always get better on the bases and things like that, but when it all comes down to it, people make a spot for you when you hit the ball. If I hit the ball, I’ll get a spot."

"The last part of his game that needs to develop is really the bat," Anthopoulos said. "But he continues to get better. That’s an area he’s going to continue to work on [in Buffalo]. ... He plays with a great confidence but you see how down to earth he is. He wins community awards all through the minor leagues. He’s going to be a fan favoarte no doubt about it."

(Photo from globeandmail.com)

So long Mets blue and orange color scheme. Hello a return to the red, white and blue.

The Buffalo Bisons unveiled their new uniforms today at their annual Hot Stove luncheon. The home and road uniforms paid attention to popular jerseys from the team's past including using scarlet red lettering and blue numbers, reminiscent of the jerseys worm by the team in the early years of Coca-Cola Field.

The alternate third jersey pays tribute to the new affiliation between the Buffalo Bisons and the Toronto Blue Jays, using the Bisons colors but incorporating the lettering and number style of the Blue Jays. The alternate jersey also features a bi-national patch on the sleeve with the American and Canadian flags.

Official pictures from the team are below.

--- Amy Moritz
www.twitter.com/amymoritz 

Photos from www.twitter.com/BuffaloBisons

By Mike Harrington

The New York Times was the talk of the Internet Thursday with its bizarre but spectacularly conceived cover that was something out of Seinfield.

As in, it was about nothing.

Look at it here. Never seen this before in my life. Quite an idea. I once met the sports editor, Joe Sexton, because he's a close friend of our own Jerry Sullivan. Very impressive guy and Sully has talked about him for years.

(Sully weighed in on the Hall and PEDs in his column for Friday's editions)

Sexton got a lot of play over this one, including these comments in the Public Editor's Journal at the Times -- written by former Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan (h/t to the ex-boss!). The Sherman Report, which studies sports media, also weighed in here.

I've made my views on the entire Hall situation clear on this blog earlier in the week. Several of you on Twitter inquired on my feelings about the Times cover. Here goes: 

It's deep thinking. It's obviously eye-catching. It's downright historical; no one will forget it for years. But what does it mean? Is the Times protesting that no one got in the Hall? Or are the folks on 8th Avenue in Manhattan saying the shutout was a good thing? Leaves you to decide.

Or does it? 

It was just a day before the election when Tyler Kepner, the national baseball writer with The Times, wrote this column about the problems he sees in the voting process for the Hall (in a separate piece, Kepner correctly predicted the shutout of inductees).

Kepner is a former Yankees beat writer who took over the national slot when Jack Curry went to the YES Network a couple of years ago. I think he's one of the best in the business, regularly coming up with all kinds of story angles no one thinks about (which is why, after all, he works for the Times). 

But I say large sections of his column are brutally flawed. Yes, there are voters who should no longer have a ballot because they've long since stopped covering baseball. And maybe one or two broadcasters per team plus legends like Bob Costas and Vin Scully should have a vote.

But you cut the pool of votes down to fewer than 40 and you'll have the same insular, backroom shenanigans that turn the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Hockey Hall of Fame into a farce. You want players, managers and executives to vote? Some of them do such a good job with the Gold Gloves, I can't wait to hear the outrage if they're involved in the Hall.

And you're OK with segments keeping their votes secret? See football and hockey. Doesn't work. The BBWAA is pushing transparency. Its own web site has compiled more than 100 ballots to date and many more have been revealed on publications' web sites. (Disclosure: I am a BBWAA member but do not get a Hall ballot until 2016).

Then there's this: The Times doesn't let its people vote for any awards anyway! That's a self-righteous stance if there ever was one. We don't want to make the news etc-etc-etc. Give me a break. You should WANT your people to be considered personalities. You should WANT them to be considered foremost experts in their field. Stealing from the old line from "All the President's Men": Who gave the New York Times a monopoly on wisdom? 

The voting process is flawed only in limited ways. Pare out the people no longer covering baseball and that would make a huge difference. So The Times doesn't vote, its national baseball writer goes on and on about how the process is flawed and the next day -- the next day! -- its sports section comes out with this from-out-of-left-field page pushing the main theme of that column while simultaneously trying to report the news. 

But the Times doesn't want its people making the news. Huh. What did Elaine once sort of say to Jerry?

I ain't buyin' it. They shouldn't be sellin' it.

(Times cover from Poynter.org)

By Mike Harrington

Just as many web sites speculated, and just like we told you here this morning, no one got elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame today.

So for the first time since 1996, the Baseball Writers' Association of America pitched a shutout as no one got 75 percent of the vote. And for the first time since 1960, no living person will be elected to the Hall this summer.

You can see the complete rundown of the balloting at this link.  Craig Biggio led the way with 68.2 percent of the vote followed by Jack Morris at 67.7 and Jeff Bagwell at 59.6. Morris has just one more chance (you're removed from the ballot after 15 years).

For the record, Roger Clemens finished eighth at 37.6 and Barry Bonds ninth at 36.2. Interesting numbers for guys who would have been shoo-in guys on the first ballot were it not for PED issues.

Here's MLB.com's official story on the election, or lack thereof.

Biggio got 388 votes, 39 shy of election. Pretty wild to think a 3,000-hit guy didn't get in on the first try. Especially one with no PED suspicion. There were five blank ballots, which didn't cost anyone this year. Still, I think those are absurd. Vote or don't vote. Don't influence the results.

From the BBWAA Web site, Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson said, “The standards for earning election to the Hall of Fame have been very high ever since the rules were created in 1936. We realize the challenges voters are faced with in this era. The Hall of Fame has always entrusted the exclusive voting privilege to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. We remain pleased with their role in evaluating candidates based on the criteria we provide.”

Writers have the option of providing their ballot to the BBWAA for public consumption and you can go to this link to see dozens of them.

Among those waiting for the Hall of Fame call today that might not come: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa (AP illustration)

By Mike Harrington

Bonds? Clemens? Piazza? Sosa?

Bagwell or Biggio?

What about Morris or Raines?

The results of the most muddled and controversial Hall of Fame ballot ever come out today. MLB Network will run a three-hour show from noon-3 p.m. with the balloting announced at 2. You'll be able to check full ballots and totals on BBWAA.com, the official site of the Baseball Writers Association of America (disclosure: I am a member but my Hall voting privileges do not begin until 2016).

You have to get 75 percent of the vote to get in and by many accounts, no one will. The BBWAA could be pitching its first shutout since 1996 and there might be no live inductee for the first time since 1960 (the three choices of the Pre-Integration Era Committe are all deceased).

The Baseball Think Factory has been collecting ballots on what it calls its Hall of Fame Gizmo, a post that proved virtually foolproof last year when Barry Larkin was the only player elected.

(Ignore the date being listed on the post as Dec. 27. That's the first day it went up but the numbers are being updated regularly.)

The news from the gizmo is not good for anyone on the ballot. As of 7:30 this morning, with 173 ballots tallied, only Biggio (71.1 percent) has even hit 70. Bonds was at 44.5 and Clemens at 43.4. And having more than 30 percent of the vote to make conclusions on is far more than what television networks use for presidential elections. 

In a column Sunday, New York Times writer Tyler Kepner came up with the same conclusion. When we did a straw vote here last month? Same conclusion. No one got 75 percent.

There's going to be plenty of railing about the process in the Steroid Era, especially if a shutout is pitched today. In my column last month, I listed some of my thoughts. You can vote for up to 10 players but maybe that limit should go to 15. The ballot is only going to get more crowded in the next 3-5 years.

If I had a ballot, who would I be voting for? Bonds, Clemens, Biggio, Piazza, Schilling, Morris, Bagwell,  Raines, Trammell.

I still think most of them will get their day. But it likely won't be today.

Former Mets outfielder Mookie Wilson made a couple trips to Buffalo in recent years as a minor-league instructor. While Wilson is joined at the hip with former Boston first baseman Bill Buckner, the third player in the wild finish to Game Six of the 1986 World Series will be an everyday occupant of the Buffalo dugout in 2013 as the Bisons' pitching coach.

The Toronto Blue Jays have just confirmed the rest of manager Marty Brown's staff for the upcoming season by naming longtime former Boston Red Sox reliever Bob Stanley (left) as Buffalo's pitching coach.

Stanley, 58, worked with Brown last year in Las Vegas and the 51s had a 4.59 ERA for the season, the sixth-best in the 16-team, hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

This will be Stanley's 14th season as a minor-league pitching coach, and his second in Triple-A. He had previous stints in the Mets and Giants organizations, mostly in the Double-A Eastern League.

Stanley pitched all 13 years of his career in Boston and was the franchise save leader with 132 until Jonathan Papelbon passed him in 2009. But he's best known, of course, for one that got away in Game Six at Shea Stadium.

In relief of Calvin Schiraldi, it was Stanley who threw the wild pitch past Rich Gedman with Wilson at the plate that allowed Kevin Mitchell to score the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Wilson, of course, then pulled the roller to first through the legs of Bill Buckner which Stanley (46) watched helplessly as the balled rolled into right field (right). It allowed Ray Knight to score the winning run in a 6-5 Mets victory.

The Bisons' hitting coach will be former big-league outfielder Jon Nunnally, who was the hitting coach for the Cleveland Indians in 2010-11 and worked with Buffalo Baseball Hall of Famer Torey Lovullo at Columbus in 2009.

The Blue Jays have also announced Voon Chong will be the Bisons' trainer, his 12th year in the Toronto chain and fourth in Triple-A. Armando Gutierrez will be strength and conditioning coach.

---Mike Harrington
@BNHarrington 

The NHL still can't figure out its deal but here's better news: The countdown to pitchers and catchers reporting is under 45 days and MLB spent Thursday afternoon even announcing television details of season openers that are now less than three months away.

What's now become a traditional Sunday night opener on ESPN will take on a new look this season as instead of a traditional big-market game, the network will show the Houston Astros' first contest as an American League club when they host the Texas Rangers on March 31 at 8 p.m.

The Astros' move to the AL West this year marks the first league change since Milwaukee went to the National League in 1998 and thus necessitates interleague play on every day of the schedule. The team has already unveiled new uniforms and a new logo (above).

ESPN/ESPN2 will show four games on Monday, April 1 featuring the last seven World Series champions. The schedule features Boston at the New York Yankees (1 p.m.), San Francisco at Los Angeles (4 p.m.), Philadelphia at Atlanta (7 p.m.) and St. Louis at Arizona (10 p.m.).

The Toronto Blue Jays' eagerly anticipated opener is Tuesday, April 2 at 7:05 in Rogers Center against the new-look Cleveland Indians, who will be led by Terry Francona and officially announced the signing of free agent Nick Swisher on Thursday.

---Mike Harrington
@BNHarrington 

Anthony Gose spent time in Toronto last year and is likely to open 2013 as the Bisons' center fielder (AP photo).

The Bisons have scheduled their annual Winter Hot Stove Luncheon for Friday, Jan. 18 at the Adam's Mark and it will be a newsy affair as the team will unveil its new home, road and alternate jerseys for its inaugural season as a Toronto Blue Jays affiliate.

Joining Bisons vice president/general manager Mike Buczkowski at the head table will be Blue Jays president and CEO Paul Beeston, senior vice President of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos and top outfield prospect Anthony Gose.

Tickets are on sale for $25 individually or $200 for a table of eight. They can be purchased at Bisons.com or by calling 716-846-2011.

Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and a buffet lunch will be served at noon. An autograph session with Gose will be held after the main program at approximately 1 p.m.

Gose, 22, split 2012 with Triple-A Las Vegas and Toronto and is likely to be the Bisons' starter in center field in 2013.. He batted .286 with five homers, 43 RBIs and 34 stolen bases at Las Vegas and hit .223 in 56 games with the Blue Jays. Gose was an Eastern League All-Star in 2011 at Double-A New Hampshire in 2011, and his 70 stolen bases were the second-most in the entire minor leagues.

The Bisons open the season April 4 against Rochester in Coca-Cola Field. 

---Mike Harrington
@BNHarrington 

Out here in cyber vacation land, my e-mail box and Twitter feed are getting flooded by inquiries about the R.A. Dickey trade and how the Blue Jays have chipped away again at the Bisons' potential roster for their first season as a Toronto affiliate. Sorry if you don't get the responses you normally get but it will be the same to everyone, so follow along here for the Cliff Notes analysis.

Blue Jays: They're going for it in 2013. The World Series. They haven't made the playoffs since 1993 but with the Yankees and Red Sox either aged or broken down and the Orioles largely considered a one-year fluke, it would seem Toronto and Tampa Bay are the teams to beat in the AL East. The Blue Jays now have the best rotation in baseball with Dickey, Brandon Morrow, John Johnson, Mark Buehrle and Ricky Romero and a lineup with standouts in their prime (Jose Reyes, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion) and young players on the rise (think Brett Lawrie).

Bisons: Catcher Travis d'Arnaud was the top prospect in the Toronto system and the Blue Jays mortgaged him for a multi-year run at the postseason with Dickey atop the rotation. He was going to be Buffalo's Opening Day catcher but he wasn't going to be in Triple-A long, perhaps only as long as April to make sure his injured knee was OK -- and to delay his free agency by a year (think Bryce Harper in Syracuse last April). Noah Syndergaard, the pitcher traded, was a star last year at Class A Lansing and figured to not hit Buffalo until 2014. The Blue Jays have already signed nearly 20 minor-league free agents for Buffalo and top outfield prospects Anthony Gose and Moises Sierra remain. Mike Nickeas will return to Buffalo via the Dickey trade. Overall, this is a much deeper farm system than the Mets.

Mets: It's pretty incredible that a New York City team won't re-sign a Cy Young winner and instead sells high, dumping him for prospects. Now, the Mets likely got some great ones but why are they acting like the Kansas City Royals? They're obviously throwing 2013 away but they've got great young arms (Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jeurys Familia, Jenrry Mejia and Collin McHugh are all familiar to Bisons fans) so that bodes well for the future. But big-market teams normally just reload. Another sign of an ownership in financial chaos. The Bisons needed to break away. 

Back to vacation. Happy Holidays to all and looking forward to a wild 2013 of coverage of the Bisons, Blue Jays and the rest of the baseball world. Thanks for all your support in 2012!

---Mike Harrington
Twitter: @BNHarrington 

So I know folks in places like San Francisco, Detroit, St. Louis, Washington and maybe even Toronto might argue but should I just book my hotel right now for 10 days next October for a Freeway World Series in sunny Southern California?

The Dodgers have gone completely off the deep end salary wise this offseason and now comes Thursday afternoon's shocker: Multiple outlets are reporting that the Los Angeles Angels are luring Josh Hamilton from Texas for a five-year, $125 million contract. Hamilton and Albert Pujols in the same lineup? Yikes. They'll have plenty of stories to tell from the 2011 Fall Classic! And don't forget Mike Trout in the same outfield. Crazy.

Trout's reaction on Twitter was one word: "Wow." It got more than 4,700 retweets in less than 55 minutes after posting! 

Former Angel Torii Hunter wasn't happy. He signed with Detroit and has tweeted that Angels owner Arte Moreno told him "money was tight." Of course, Hunter is 37 and that might have something to do with it too

The Hamilton deal is another huge loss for the Rangers, who didn't sign Zach Greinke either this winter or make a trade for Justin Upton. Maybe now they go back to the New York Mets for R.A. Dickey. Texas didn't want to go past three years for Hamilton and was pretty much daring him to go out and find a team that would take on the risk of his checkered past. Hamilton did and the Rangers got burned. 

And the move thus completely changes the balance of power in the AL West. Think the A's will be favored to repeat in the division next spring? Think not.

---Mike Harrington
Twitter: @BNHarrington 

Jimenez takes a rip during the Triple-A Home Run Derby here in July. (Mark Mulville/Buffalo News)

In the wake of their big deal with the Miami Marlins, the Toronto Blue Jays have some free-agent needs in Buffalo. And there may be more deals too that will create holes (still wonder if potential Herd CF Anthony Gose is going to the Mets as part of an R.A. Dickey trade)

The Blue Jays have already made a few signings for Buffalo (notably IL All-Star starting pitcher Justin Germano) and announced eight more on Tuesday -- including ex-Pacific Coast League slugger Luis Jimenez.

Jimenez, 30, represented Tacoma of the Seattle chain in both the Triple-A All-Star Game and Triple-A Home Run Derby last July in Coca-Cola Field. And the 6-foot-3, 280-pounder blasted a couple prodigious shots over the party deck in right field during the Derby.

In 125 games at Tacoma, Jimenez hit .310 with 32 doubles, 20 home runs and 81RBI. He went 1 for 17 in September in Seattle in his first big-league at-bats. 

Joining Jimenez in signing minor-league contracts with invitiations to Toronto's big-league spring camp are infielder Eugenio Velez, right-handers Claudio Vargas and Richard Thompson and left-hander Juan Perez. Three more pitchers (righties Buddy Carlyle and Chorye Spoone and lefty Greg Smith) inked minor-league deals.

Velez, 30, is another interesting addition. He had 37 stolen bases last year for Memphis (St. Louis), finishing one shy of the PCL lead. He batted .280 with 34 doubles, five triples, 11 homers and 58 RBIs in 136 games. 

Vargas, 34, has made 217 appearances in the big leagues for six teams. He had a big year last season for Nashville (Milwaukee), going 7-1 with a 3.69 ERA in 20 starts. The other known name in the list is Caryle, who has pitched 112 MLB games for four teams. He was 5-4, 3.43 with 73 strikeouts in 76 innings last season at Gwinnett. 

Among the other signees:

---Smith, 28, was 9-10, 3.97 in 22 games (21 starts) for Salt Lake City in the Los Angeles Angels chain. He had 83 strikeouts in 138 1/3 innings. His ERA was sixth in the PCL and his .257 batting average against was fifth. 

---Thompson, 28, was 4-2, 3.34 with three saves in 46 relief appearances for Sacramento (Oakland). He limited right-handed hitters to just a .198 average and had a 1.67 ERA in 21 outings after the all-star break. He pitched 44 games for the Angels in 2011 (1-3, 3.00).

---Perez, 34, split time between Milwaukee (0-1, 5.14 in 10 games) and Nashville (4-2, 3.60 in 38 games).

---Spoone, 27, was 0-2, 3.18 in 16 games with Toronto's Double-A New Hampshire team. He opened the year in Pawtucket, going 1-1, 2.79 in 14 games.

---Mike Harrington
Twitter: @BNHarrington 

Here's one that slipped by ye olde blog this week but has just been passed on by the Bisons: New Hall of Fame electee James "Deacon" White played six seasons for the Herd in the 1800s!

(Here is a case where we all really miss Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Famer Joe Overfield, the longtime Bisons historian who passed away in 2000. My phone would have been ringing a few minutes after Monday's announcement).

According to the Herd, White (1847-1939) batted .293 while playing 595 games in parts of six seasons with the team. From 1881-1885, he played with Buffalo as part of the National League and then again in 1890 when the Bisons were members of the players-run "Players League."

His full stats are here, courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. White played for eight teams from 1871-1890 and his time in Buffalo was actually his longest stint.

White was chosen by the Pre-Integration Committee (the old Veterans Committee) along with former Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and ex-umpire Hank O'Day. They will be inducted July 28 in Cooperstown along with winners of the BBWAA election to be announced Jan. 9.

White makes 20 former Bisons in Cooperstown. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the list, which includes modern-era names like Ferguson Jenkins, Jim Bunning and Johnny Bench.

---Mike Harrington
Twitter: @BNHarrington 
(White photo from Baseballhall.org)