Imagine

One of these second basemen is not like the others: Russ Adams, Aaron Hill, Royce Clayton, John McDonald, Marcus Giles.

If you guessed Giles, you’re right. He’s not a Blue Jay. And he’s also one of the best second basemen in baseball. He played in the 2003 All-Star Game, would look really nice batting in the two or seven hole, and is a serious upgrade at second over the minor-league-bound Adams, the shortstop of the future as recently as the start of 2006 Hill, “why’d the sign that guy” Clayton, and great with the leather but so-so at the dish McDonald (who also is more of a natural shortstop).

Sure. The numbers show Giles’ production has slipped at the plate. He’s still better than McDonald (and don’t get me wrong, McDonald was the best thing that ever could have happened to the Jays’ middle infield in 2006) at the dish. Adding Giles allows the Jays to slide Hill back to short, and suddenly things are looking up for the middle of the infield. His .983 fielding percentage at second was 15^th-best in the Majors, and just .001 behind NL Gold Glove winner Orlando Hudson (cough-cough-former Jay-cough-cough-cough).

Though Hill’s fielding percentage drops off precipitously when he moves to the other side of the bag, he won’t be stuck pairing with Russ Adams anymore and may be able to relax some.

Imagine a competent-to-All-Star caliber middle infield. Maybe the countless worries about pitching would be quelled just a little by some guys that can flash the leather. Imagine if the Jays had infielders as good as their outfielders.

Imagine also, spending $5 million a year for a second bagger three seasons removed from an All-Star appearance, which is so much better than spending $10 million a year on a pitcher named after part of a fish’s anatomy that nobody outside of Seattle knows anything about.

Of course, imagine the gay accountant doing the right thing.

If John Lennon can imagine, so can I.

On an unrelated note: the Montreal Canadiens made Boston’s Zdeno Chara look like an absolute fool Tuesday night. As the biggest guy in the league, every time he gets beaten to a puck, or beaten in a one-on-one battle, he’s getting beaten by someone smaller than he is. But to see guys like 6-foot rookie call-up Maxime Lapierre and 5-foot-generous-9-inch Tomas Plekanec beating him for two consecutive Habs goals has to have Bruins’ bench boss Dave Lewis scratching his head, and general manager Peter Chiarelli wondering what happened to his off-season coup.

One more hockey note: since I don’t watch the Maple Leafs, I had no idea this was happening, but after the game I read that the Leafs held a pre-game ceremony to honour their 1992-93 team. Now, I understand this team marked a significant shift in Leaf Land, in which the Leafs started being a competitive team again instead of the laughing stock they’d been through most of the 80s. But really? A pre-game ceremony for a team that lost in the conference final 13 years ago? Maybe the Dallas Stars should hold a ceremony for the 1990 Minnesota North Stars that lost to Edmonton in the conference final. Fewer of the 1989 Flames will be on hand for Mike Vernon’s jersey-retirement ceremony in Calgary than 1993 Leafs were in Toronto Tuesday night. Nicely done Toronto. Way to honour losers. The Colorado Avalanche would be better suited to hold a pre-game ceremony honouring Craig Wolanin’s contributions to their 1996 Stanley Cup win.