A lot has happened in Major League Baseball since the last Hanging Curve, including an injury to a future Hall of Famer (Mariano Rivera), the benching of another (Albert Pujols) and a career-week for a slugger (Josh Hamilton) on a path that could lead to Cooperstown.
If the Jays front office thinks they can form a starting rotation worthy of contending in the East in the next couple seasons, there is no reason to believe that they will not make a run at Prince Fielder.
Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki talked to RealGM about LeBron James and starting their own big three.
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Over the next few weeks as the NCAA Tournament and Spring Training dominate the month of March, we have combined the two for our own March Madness, which will determine who the readers of RealGM will select in the second edition of our 'Be The GM' series.
Though there are many different potential answers, the question is simple; If you were to start a MLB franchise from scratch and had the option to pick any player in the world, who would you pick?
The Angels and A's have dominated the AL West over the past few seasons, but many of their best players have either departed or aged. But the A's imported a franchise talent via a rare trade and the Angels enjoyed a breakout season from a young starter in 2008.
Matt Holliday, LF, Oakland Athletics
Other players considered from the A's: Carlos Gonzalez, Trevor Chaill
Why he's a franchise player: We will find out a lot about the kind of hitter Matt Holliday this season, as he moves from Coors Field where he has a career OPS of 1.068 to the pitcher friendly, massive foul territory confines of Oakland. His career road OPS is .803, which is also Glenallen Hill's overall career mark.
Holliday is 29, but has had a fairly healthy career, steals bases and should remains productive well into his mid-30's.
Ervin Santana, RHP, Los Angeles Angels
Other players considered from the Angels: John Lackey, Howie Kendrick
Why he's a franchise player: After inconsistencies in his first three big league seasons, Ervin Santana was one of the finest starters in the game in 2008. He had a 3.49 ERA and 314 strikeouts in 219 innings.
Santana had always been comfortable pitching at home in Anaheim, but pitching on the road was problematic until 2008 when he had a 3.02 ERA, a full point better than at Angels Stadium. That figure compares to 8.38 in 2007, 5.95 in 2006 and 7.43 in 2005; all the while his home ERA was in the 3.00's.
His stuff is electric and with such an excellent strikeout/walk ratio, Santana should remain amongst the AL's best.
