It's March, and the first signs of spring are… frankly, nowhere to be seen. Snow is everywhere and insists on falling every second day. If this keeps up, the Jays should keep the Dome open and have a "Memories of '77" retro day for the home opener. Sufficed to say, the next person who mentions global warming will have an interesting time telling the emergency room staff how the Eric Hinske Bobblehead Doll got lodged up there.

One way to pass the cold days leading up to actual baseball is to create your own roster. All-time teams are always fun. They can range from the obvious Greatest Team Ever, to the more abstract, like the All-Holiday team, featuring the likes of Luke Easter, Steve Christmas, Bug Holliday and Aurelio Roshhashanah (ok, I made that last one up).

Then you have the downright wacky, like the All-Hey-Weren't-You-Guys-Obscure-Star-Wars-Characters team, which includes Tanyon Sturtze, Jerrod Riggan, Wilkin Ruan, Terrmel Sledge and Esix Snead (good thing he's not a shortstop).

For this particular team, I decided to get alphabetical: 26 letters, 25 spots on a major league roster. My goal was to see what kind of team I could put together, limiting myself to one all-time Blue Jay per letter. I didn't want to end up with 14 right fielders, but rather a plausible team, so it wasn't simply a matter of picking the best guy for each initial.

Here we go:

A: Roberto Alomar 2B This might have been the easiest choice in the bunch. Alomar is the best position player in club history and miles beyond any other second baseman the Jays have ever fielded.

B: Jesse Barfield RF One of the bigger surprises on the team. George Bell has the team's only MVP, but Barfield's '85-86 seasons were truly outstanding. When you factor in his walks and far superior defense, I think you have to give the nod to Jesse. Tony Batista was also a consideration.

C: Roger Clemens SP The best free agent signing in club history knocks Joe Carter off the team. You can't argue 41-13 and a pair of ERA titles.

D: Carlos Delgado 1B/DH/C With apologies to Rob Ducey, there's no serious competition among the "D's" for perhaps the best home-grown Jay ever.

E: Mark Eichhorn RP Memo to current Blue Jay management: It's been far too long since we had a submarine reliever. They're fun to watch, and usually pretty effective. It's Eichhorn, not Henke or Ward who owns the single greatest relief year in Jays history: 14-6, 1.72 ERA and 166 Ks in 157 IP. Thankfully he wasn't pigeonholed into the role of closer, or 2/3 of those innings disappear.

F: Tony Fernandez SS Another no-brainer. Far and away the club's all-time shortstop.

G: Kelly Gruber 3B It came down to Green and Batista or Gruber and Barfield. Green and Batista had bigger individual seasons, but a lot of that is due to the offensive paradise of the mid-late 90s. Gruber and Barfield were Jays longer, and Gruber has a defensive edge over Batista, waterskiing hi-jinks be damned.

H: Tom Henke RP This was a tough one. Henke or Hentgen? I'm a great admirer of Pat Hentgen, and here's hoping that he's the Orioles rep at the All-star Game this season, but in the context of this team, what's more valuable, a fourth starter, or a closer? And I don't mean a Roberto Hernandez, Kelvim Escobar closer, I'm talking about the fiery, lights-out, games-are-now-only-eight-innings-long killer that Henke embodied for eight seasons as a Blue Jay. It's a close call, but I gave the nod to the Terminator. And who am I kidding, Tony Batista will be the O's all-star. Who'd we get for him, again? Riiiiiight.

I: Garth Iorg IF Take that Cesar Izturis. You too, Alexis Infante. The Dave Berg of his day, Iorg could play second, third and even a little shortstop, so he's a nice backup infielder on this squad. Apparently there is an "I" in team after all.

J: Cliff Johnson DH/C This battle came down to Cliff against Roy Lee Jackson, and I didn't really need another reliever. Johnson can also fill in at catcher, which is cheating a little bit, because his catching days were long over by the time he reached Toronto, but, hey, I needed another catcher. The all-time leader in pinch hit homers, Johnson makes a nifty addition to the bench.

K: Jimmy Key SP The most graceful Jay ever has no trouble claiming the #2 starter's spot. It's always nice to have a lefty in the rotation.

L: Al Leiter SP It's even nicer to have two. Between the blister and the blistering speed with which he fled town without even a "thanks," Leiter is not a popular man in these parts, but we do need a #4 starter, and he's a slight upgrade over Luis Leal.

M: Lloyd Moseby CF "Shaker" could do a little bit of everything, hit for power, average, reach base and steal them, all while playing a fine centre field.

N: Otis Nixon OF Aside from a total lack of power, and an arm that probably couldn't out-heave Queen Elizabeth, Nixon would be a near-perfect bench player. He was a switch-hitter, a decent defender, lightning fast, could put the ball in play, and was one of the best bunters in baseball. An ideal fourth outfielder for the Alphabet Jays.

O: John Olerud 1B Yeah, Delgado's already on the team, but Olerud's the first baseman you'd want in the field, and Carlos can always DH.

P: Dan Plesac RP I'm not a huge believer in the absolute necessity of a lefty in the bullpen, but it's a nice luxury to have, and Plesac was a good one. Yankee water coolers were known to inch nervously toward the clubhouse whenever Plesac was summoned to face Paul O'Neill. Hopefully, within a few years, Josh Phelps will have a legitimate claim to this spot.

Q: Paul Quantrill RP The best Canadian to wear Toronto blue. The man with the electric toboggan is reunited with Plesac in a potent bullpen.

R: Doug Rader 3B/1B Maybe the biggest surprise on the roster. I have no idea what possessed the Jays to pick up a 33-year-old third baseman in the middle of their first season – perhaps a run at 60 wins? -, but he played pretty well, popping 13 homers and drawing a few walks. Won five Gold Gloves as an Astro.

S: Dave Stieb SP Who knew that just covering first base could derail a Hall of Fame career? (A pox on your house Ernest Riles!) Stieb rightly takes his place as the team's number one starter.

T: Mike Timlin RP Ok, so he didn't exactly grab the closer's role with any kind of gusto (A pox on your house Norberto Martin!). Timlin was generally quite an effective reliever, and he remains so today. He also owns the biggest save in team history.

U: Willie Upshaw 1B The all-time home run leader among players with the last initial "U," and the first lefty off the bench.

V: Otto Velez LF The biggest surprise among the starters. Velez was J.P. Ricciardi's kind of player, posting 5 straight seasons with OBPs over .366 and some power. One of the most unlikely Players of the Month in American League history.

W: Ernie Whitt C Darrin Fletcher had a nice three-year run with the bat, but it wasn't enough to unseat Ernie as the club's top backstop. "W" is a tough letter for the Jays, with the likes of Winfield, White, Ward and David Wells. Vernon should enter into the discussion within the next few years.

X: None No player in baseball history has had a last name that begins with "X."

Y: None There are no "Y" surnames in Jays history. No Youngs, no Yates, not even a Youmans.

Z: Eddie Zosky SS The only "Z," Zosky and his paltry .179 career average can grab some pine at the far end of the bench.

We're one spot short, so I'm going to cheat a little. Just three players in history have had the initial "X," and one was a Jay for just about as long as it's taken to read this. So, Xavier Hernandez becomes the team's 10th pitcher.

To sum up:

Starters
C Whitt
1B Olerud
2B Alomar
3B Gruber
SS Fernandez
RF Barfield
CF Moseby
LF Velez
DH Delgado

Bench
Nixon OF
Upshaw 1B
Johnson PH/C
Iorg 2B/3B
Rader 3B
Zosky SS

Rotation
Stieb
Key
Clemens
Leiter

Bullpen
Quantrill
Plesac
Xernandez
Eichhorn
Timlin
Henke

Just a four-man rotation, but with those four, I'll take my chances. There are Gold Gloves at all four infield positions, and the Barfield cannon in right field. A double play combination of Alomar and Fernandez in their primes would be worth the price of admission alone.

Many prominent names didn't make the cut: Bell, Carter, Green, Hentgen, McGriff and Molitor among them, but I’d still wager that this bunch would be favoured to win any division they found themselves in.