I haven't had the time or inclination to write about baseball lately; I work in the news industry, and have been, um, distracted in recent weeks. Nevertheless, it's gotten really cold here in Toronto, so it's time to start thinking about spring training or the WBC or Manny Ramirez' decision to quit baseball and star in a Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof or anything baseball-related.

And besides, a certain rite of winter has finally passed here the Big Smoke*; the Blue Jays have re-signed Jason Frasor. Frasor, if you're not aware, is a middle reliever whom the Jays actually really don't like very much, but always bring back the next season.

Last year, Frasor made 31 appearances in the first half, then got into the doghouse and made only 18 appearances after the break. In 2007, he threw 36 innings before the break, only 20 afterwards. Every year, he starts off as the Jays' primary right-handed setup man, falls into John Gibbons' doghouse, loses the role to Casey Janssen or Brian Wolfe or Brandon League or Dennis Lamp or somebody, and is a forgotten mop-up man by September.

And then they re-sign him to do it all over again. Of course, Gibbons is long gone - but Cito Gaston has a very large doghouse (he had it renovated in 1993 so he could fit David Wells inside) so we'll see what happens. In any case, I'll be rooting for Jason; I've always liked the kid, despite his career 4.70 ERA in save situations. He is what he is - a decent guy to run out in the 7th inning. And the Jays will certainly need that in 2009.

(and although I can't find the date, Jason once committed the funniest balk I've ever seen, when he stepped off of the pitching rubber and then threw home. The home plate umpire took off his mask and looked stunned for a moment, then his body language seemed to be asking "What the hell was that?")

As for the rest of the team... I keep going back-and-forth on the Jays' prospects for 2009. On the one hand, they appear to be dim - they've done almost nothing to make themselves better, and last week the team admitted that 2009 was a lost season. I've been asked twice in the past week about how bad the team is going to be this summer.

Well, for starters, there is plenty of discontent around baseball right now - such as here, and here, and here, and also here. The Jays may not be making an effort to compete in 2009, but that's also true of about 25 other teams. The Yankees are the only team that can be called "aggressive" this offseason.

The familiar dilemma for the Jays, of course, is that they share a division with three teams that actually do want to win, sooner rather than later. The Angels, on the other hand... they've been almost completely inert this winter, but when you win the division by 21 games I guess you can afford to rest on your laurels a bit.

I'm not going to predict a playoff run in 2009 - but a winning season is still very much in reach. They have lots of things going for them - starting with one of the best records in the league in the second half of last season. They were the only team to allow less than four runs per game in 2008 - even in the NL, with no designated hitter, every team gave up more runs than Toronto. Replacing A.J. Burnett won't be easy... but it's not like they lost Tom Seaver in his prime.

The pitching won't be as great in 2009, but the offence likely won't be as bad. They also had a terrible record in one-run games (24-32) - but then, they had a brutal record in 2005 (16-31) and the next two years went 20-10 and 29-25, so who knows how that will shake out.

So the indicators are mostly positive. Or at least, that was my thinking as recently as December. The combination of hypercompetitive division rivals, the recent death of the owner and overall economic uncertainty, and a somnambulist General Manager, are all certainly downers.

* apparently, there is some consternation about the way Torontonians brand ourselves (although in fairness to us, this didn't work out too well so we're back to Hogtown and the Big Smoke). I would humbly offer "Toronto: just like New York, except different" or maybe "Toronto: where love calls you by your name". If all else fails, there's always "Toronto (not Constantinople)".