To greet you with a smile.

When Mark Shapiro succeeded John Hart as General Manager of the Cleveland Indians in 2001, he was faced with a challenge. Hart had overseen several poor drafts and left the prospect cupboard nearly bare. By the time Shapiro took the job, the core of the Indians' championship teams was suffering from attrition - many of the old guard had left via free-agency or soon would. The Indians were at a crossroads: Would Shapiro continue to bring in veterans to prop up an aging core, or would he cash in his chips? Stay tuned.

The latest news & views from Spring Training.

Plenty of good seats are available at The Ballpark In Arlington. Every so often, I attend a game by myself and pick the best seat available on game day. Four years ago, I sat in the 3rd row behind the first base dugout. Last year, I sat in the 10th row behind home plate. This year, I expect to sit in the dugout and play a couple of innings in left field.

Plenty of good seats are available at The Ballpark In Arlington. Every so often, I attend a game by myself and pick the best seat available on game day. Four years ago, I sat in the 3rd row behind the first base dugout. Last year, I sat in the 10th row behind home plate. This year, I expect to sit in the dugout and play a couple of innings in left field.

Here's the latest from Spring Training and beyond.

Sometimes I wonder if we don't misinterpret as a sportswriter's malevolence what is actually just his ignorance.

With the ownership situation settled, and Paul DePodesta taking over as General Manager, the Dodgers can finally get down to business. While it is unfortunate that he did not arrive in time to engineer a big trade or free agent signing, DePodesta's General Managerial acumen will help. The formula for 2004 is simple enough: score more runs. In 2003, the Dodgers had the National League's worst offence and best pitching. That does not account for park factor, but Chavez Ravine is the hand that they were dealt: no Jacks. Maybe it was not such a good idea for this team to trade its Ace to the Yankees.

The K.C. Royals
Two Thousand and Four Preview
‘Building on Last Year’

I do, however, have several rivals.

Here's the 2004 season preview for the Phabulous Phils. Enjoy.

History is what happens when no one's looking. So goes the old saying, and it's certainly true at Batter's Box, because when we received our 500,000th visit yesterday, the guy designated to mark the occasion was out of town (sorry about that). We're saving the really big celebrations for our one millionth visit, but until then, this is just a short, heartfelt Thank you! to absolutely everyone who, by their visits, lurks and participation, has helped makes Batter's Box the marvellous baseball community and respected idea exchange that it is today. This one's for you, Bauxites.

In part one of this series, I presented a system for the analysis of NCAA Division I stats for hitters. In that piece, I hinted at but did not actually present a system for analyzing pitchers' statistics. This article will explain the analysis of pitchers a bit more fully and present a top 50 for 2003. A top 50 for 2002 will follow shortly.

Decisions to be made
The good advice of friends unheeded
The best of plans mislaid

Just make sure you're planning to attend our "Baseball Day in Canada"!

While procrastinating writing my A's column, I spent some time flipping through my newly-arrived 2004 Baseball Prospectus, looking for nothing in particular. And "nothing in particular" really means "anything," and "anything," as any fan of The Zero Effect can tell you, is much easier to find than "something." Or such and such, blah blah blah.