[KootenayFlamesFan]

Pretty good piece from ESPN today.

Over the past eight seasons, Roy Halladay's team was 60 games over .500 (149-89) when he started -- and 71 games under .500 (493-564) when anyone else started. Scary.

Want to look at this another way? OK, when Halladay started between 2002-09, the Blue Jays had a .626 winning percentage. When anyone else got the ball, they had a .466 winning percentage. If you forgot your calculators, that comes to a 160-point Halladay Effect.

The building of that team won't all be up to Drabek, Wallace and d'Arnaud, fortunately. That's Anthopoulos' job. And one thing you can say for this team and its new 32-year-old general manager: At least the Blue Jays have a blueprint.

And they're so committed to improving their drafts, signings and trades, they did something unheard of this winter: They actually more than doubled their pro and amateur scouting staffs, giving them the largest scouting department in the entire sport.

So while this team may be an excellent bet to finish last this season, at least it will be a last-place team with a foundation and a plan. And you sure don't see that across the continent.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring...son&id=4999598