Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
The final No-Prize of the week goes to the Bauxite who can not only name the title of the song for which today's headline is the first line of lyrics, but can also use that song title in a sentence describing the current Blue Jay player of the responder's choice. Ready? Go!

FWIW, the All-Internet Board of Judges that oversees all Web sites has determined that this week's previous winners -- ayjackson, Chuck and ChicagoJaysFan -- are in fact eligible to win again. How exciting! Will we have our first repeat winner, or can some raw rook out there break on through to the other side?

While we wait to find out, some baseball ...
  • Robinson Cano got $30M from the Yankees
  • Luis Gonzalez got a little less than that, $1M, from the Marlins
  • Clemens/McNamee...do you care or are you bored?
  • The Royals don't wan't Sammy Sosa. Will anyone?
  • Erik Bedard is apparently in Seattle for a physical, meaning the over/under date on this trade being completed is now June 6, 2016.
What else is going on?
[More] (1 words)

Okay, today's No-Prize goes to the person who can write a headline for this catch-all thread that is from a song with "Thursday" in the title. I got nothin' ... those old "Lady Madonna" Beatle lyrics are the closest I can come.

And for today's starters ...

  • Brendan Donnelly to the Indians. Good pickup!
  • Eric Hinske signed a minor-league deal with Tampa Bay. Makes sense.
  • Bobby Kielty re-signed with the Red Sox, also a minor-leage deal. Meh.
  • Happy 53rd birthday, Damaso Garcia!

Not much else going on ... or is there? You tell us!

 

First, again an official Batter's Box No-Prize, identify the source of the title of this thread. For extra credit, give a reasonable explanation -- I can't think of one! -- that the performing artist in question should be quoted in a baseball publication.

Now, yet again, erm, what's up? And yet again (again), ere are some starting points ...

Okay, y'all seem to like these catch-all threads, so here's another. First, for an official Batter's Box No-Prize, identify the source of the title of this thread. For extra credit, provide the next several lines ...

Now, again, erm, what's up? Here'are some starting points ...

Got answers? Got other questions? Provide information backed with a link within!

Update 12:30pm:  Alex Rios signed - 1 year, $4.8 million.

[More] (29 words)
The very first Hall of Names story on Batter's Box appeared way back on March 15, 2003 ... if you don't remember (and I barely do myself), it was the All-Food Team. Since then, nearly five years have passed, a full Baker's Dozen of Bauxites (that means 13) have stepped up to contribute to the series, which as of this writing, now stands at a count of 299. (If you care, they're all archived right here. )

But on to the business at hand, a Hall of Names team worthy of baseball's magic number, 300 (does that make this more of a Lobby of Numbers entry? Nah, that's Magpie's turf. Anyway ... )

[More] (557 words)

So ... erm, what's up, then?

Super Bowl ... hoops ... hockey ... no so much baseball. Or is there? You tell us!

Okay, I'll start this Super Bowl Sunday Hall of Names exercise with a confession -- even though I now live in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, I am a New York Giants fan. And yes, I fully expect to see them completely torched by New England's Perfect Patriots today. (I hope I'm wrong, of course.)

And as much as I'd love to do a Hall of Names piece honoring XVII MVP QB Eli Manning, there have been just four MLB vets who went by "Eli," and just eight named Manning. Okay, if the Giants pull off the monumental upset, we'll see about piecing one together; but for now, as the title of this article should have already suggested, we'll focus that "honor" (jinx?) on the real probable XVII MVP QB ...
[More] (609 words)
This isn't really "Hall of Names" territory -- at least not yet. It's more of a Reader Challenge to help pass time this February Friday ...

So here's the challenge for you all -- we've played with Anagramatics here on Da Box previously, but for newcomers, "anagramatics" means ...

[More] (181 words)

Spring Training nears and roster-filling moves start to come around the majors; just in the last day ...

  • The Marlins signed LF Luis Gonzalez and 3B Dallas McPherson;
  • The Mariners signed OF-1B Brad Wilkerson.

And in the "minor league contract, with an invitation to spring training" category ...

  • The Yankees signed 3B Morgan Ensberg;
  • The Indians signed P Jorge Julio.

A few thoughts ...

[More] (37 words)
Keith Law and Kevin Goldstein rank their top 100 prospects.  Both have Travis Snider at #7.  Law had Brett Cecil at 63.  And that's it for the Jays on these lists.

Law went a little against the grain with Evan Longoria as the top prospect.

[More] (1 words)
Okay, it's not really "Breaking News," given the rumours of the past three months, but at long last, Johan Santana has changed professional addresses, moving on to the Big Apple. However, he's also, in a bit of an upset, changed leagues, as baseball's best starting pitcher -- sorry, Doc! -- is now a member of the New York Mets.

In return for Santana, the Twins will receive center fielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra -- a package which, according to ESPN.com, "some talent evaluators believe could be the fourth-best offer that Minnesota received during this process."

Thoughts, anyone?

[More] (1 words)
Entering the 2008 season, there are 96* active players I believe could someday end up enshrined in the Hall of Fame. In fact, probably only a very small percentage of them -- maybe 15-20 -- will actually do so. (*On original publication, this list had 89 names; several have been added after readers pointed out oversights.)

This is simply a prompt for discussion, not a projection. Who's going to get in? Who shouldn't even be on this list? Who's missing?
[More] (708 words)
From the Other End of the Spectrum
So we recently introduced our All-Age-39 team, following earlier looks at All-Age-40 and All-Age-41 squads. Let's look now to the opposite end of the age spectrum at a roster made up of players less than half the age of the geriatrics who made up the 39ers.

Stop for a moment and realize that in 2007, the only player in the major leagues under the age of 20 was Justin Upton, and he turned 20 in August. That should give you some perspective on how hard it is to earn a spot on this roster. So who does?

You've already thought of Doc Gooden, right? And maybe Robin Yount? But who else can fill out the ranks of a not-even-legally-allowed-to-drink (in the U.S. anyway) team like this one? Let's see ...
[More] (1,624 words)
This is kind of a cool idea:  You can buy a piece of a ball player for a percentage of his future major league earnings.
[More] (164 words)

Are we sure he has signed? The Jays have signed Rod Barajas to share the catching duties with Gregg Zaun. Barajas signed with the Jays last off-season before changing his mind the next day. This signing is a lot cheaper, $1.2 million for one year versus $6 million for two years in the previous attempt at a contract.

[More] (81 words)