Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
Magglio got what now?
[More] (61 words)
Success in the draft is a key component of the “plan” for the low budget Blue Jays; “poor” teams cannot afford to sign top free agents and must develop them themselves. JP Ricciardi is a former scout; was Director of Player Development in Oakland; and lists player evaluation as one of his strengths. JP, and his team, must utilize their player evaluation skills to draft and develop major league talent to strengthen the Blue Jays from the inside. The Jays would like to emulate Oakland’s success in the draft; when JP was working for Oakland they drafted Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Eric Chavez.
[More] (2,220 words)
Here are a few of the things going on in the Tepid Lukewarm Stove League ...
[More] (181 words)
Yes, it's time for the All-Julio Hall of Names team, inspired by Mike Green's typically oustanding Hall Watch item on Julio Franco -- and perhaps forecasted by the All-July team several months ago.

Did you know that Julio Franco is the only Julio in the history of MLB to make an All-Star team? Actually, the odd thing about entering "Julio" as a search term in the always-fabulous BaseballReference.com site ...

[More] (450 words)
Anything new to talk about today?
[More] (21 words)
John Sickels 2005 Baseball Prospect Book is now shipping. In addition to the book, some of you might be familiar with John's work from his Down on the Farm columns for espn.com. The book includes scouting reports and grades for hundreds of minor leaguers including, for 2005, 36 Blue Jay prospects. Any fan interested in minor leagues and prospects should invest in a copy of John's book.

[More] (1,197 words)

I've heard from all the owners, thirty-eight of whom are returning. We have lost one Alomar owner (Jordan "Dad" Furlong's SABR Magicians) and one Barfield owner (Mike Hansen's Springfield Isotopes, relegated from Alomar). It speaks well of our league that everyone responded quickly and that almost everyone can continue to play. Kudos to the returning owners, and thanks to Jordan and Mike for playing the last two seasons.

[More] (353 words)
Let's say that we all agree to watch the same 3 games one weekend. Our job will be to keep track of all BIP, and, by IF/OF, say "was that a routine play or not".

Routine would mean that even putting Manny Ramirez ( or Derek Jeter!!.. just kidding you thin-skinned Jeter lovers... ) at SS or CF would make that play.

Then
[More] (244 words)
He may not be a Hall of Famer, but Julio Franco's story will be told long after he hangs up his spikes. Even if that doesn't happen for another 10 years.
[More] (680 words)
So, did anything happen yesterday?
[More] (117 words)
It's Groundhog Day, and you know what that means ... it's time for 2004 pre-season nominations for the Annual Batter's Box Joaquin Andujar Award. The player who will eventually be awarded the 2005 Andujar will be the epitome, in retrospect, of a low-risk, high-reward transaction. (If those two sentences sound Bill Murray-esque Groundhog Day familiar, well they should.)

Batter's Box authors and readers are invited to cast their ballots for the top five pre-season candidates for the 2004 Andujar. Points will be tabulated on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis and balloting will conclude, after a second round of reminders, near the end of Spring Training, at which time the pre-season list will be published.

To win an Andujar ...
[More] (1,196 words)
Gitz asked me whether I thought Barry Zito, following his down year in 2004, was a good candidate for the "buy low, sell high" theory of player acquisition.
[More] (641 words)
Some tidbits to start you off:
[More] (131 words)
Thanks to Dilbert empathizer Jonny German, who clearly knows my prediliction for Personal Anagrams and Anagramatics, along with the ubiquitous "Baseball's Hall of Names" teams -- we have a mind-bending ...

Quirky Puzzle of the Day: What's the smallest collection of players you can name whose first and last names cover all the letters of the alphabet? (Full names and nicknames are fine.)

Example: For instance, Douglas Mientkiewicz and Xavier Nady are a nice start, leaving you hunting for a combination that covers b-f-g-p-q. So there's our first answer: Minky, Nady, Biff Pocoroba and Guillermo Quiroz. Thats four. Can anyone beat that? Bonus points to anyone who can at least tie the total of four while using Ed Ott as one of them.

And of course, keep those Make Your Own Roundup links and comments coming!

- King George of the Bronx doesn't want Derek and Alex to be friends any more. Write your own punchline.

- The Mets signed relievers Scott Stewart and Eric Junge and infielder Jed Hansen -- but really, Dave Stewart pitching, Carl Jung psychoanlyzing and Hansen singing "MMMets Bop" probably wouldn't do it for these guys.

- I'm ashamed to admit I got this nugget from the latest Jayson Stark I'm So Clever I Can Call Myself Useless column, but it's kinda cool given the variety of Ranges, Twins and Expos fans around here; see if you can answer before hitting the link: Who's the only player in history who has played for all three franchises to pass through Washington? (HINT: "Hello ... Jerry.")
This article, the second in a series, results from the joint efforts of Jonny German and Mike Green. It began with Mike's Hall watch series on shortstops and the search for more reliable objective measures of Barry Larkin's defence than were otherwise available. In the first piece, we attempted to evaluate Barry Larkin's efficiency in converting ground balls into outs. This time, we attempt the same thing for the double play ball, again using a play-by-play analysis.
[More] (1,767 words)