You will have noticed that, from February 19th until February 23rd, Batter's Box was unavailable from the url battersbox.ca. We're sorry for the downtime, but there was a comedy of technical errors, combined with some very poor customer service, and that multiplied by layers of bureaucracy, that culminated in our domain name being unavailable.

These problems should not happen again, because we're in the process of changing providers of domain names. (By the way: for those in positions of power: Never ever deal with Internet Names for Business, also known as the domain registration arm of Rogers Hosting.)

UPDATE Feb 23, 10:52 am: Our domain has finally been renewed correctly, and battersbox.ca should be coming back on the air in your vicinity very shortly.

UPDATE Feb 23, 1:06 pm: We're back, baby!

Pitchers, catchers, and just about everyone else are in Dunedin.

So what's new?

For those who have been asking, here they are.

If today happens to be your birthday, well, then, happy birthday! If you've been a reader of this site for any length or time, you know that one of the offshoots of the "Hall of Names" features is All-Birthday; we've done a number of holidays and every month of the year; last autumn, we introduced the first All-Birthday (October 20) team in honour of my dear ol' dad's annual celebration.

Now, it's mom's turn. Yep, that's right, happy birthday, mom, and here's your own All-Birthday (February 17) squad ...

John Smoltz had the most interesting year of all of the Hall pitching wannabes in 2005. Moved back to the rotation by the Braves after 3 and 1/2 years as a closer, he responded with an excellent age 38 season. There is every indication that he might have two or three more good ones left.

Prior to the offseason we had a free agent prediction contest here at Da Box.

After tallying up the results the winner is Wildrose!

There will be no pretence of objectivity today. Orlando Hudson is my favourite current ballplayer, and I was disappointed to see him leave Toronto. His heart, his unique diction and his smile are all appealing, but it is his blend of artistry and toughness around the bag which most captivates me.

While it's still Valentine's Day (barely, but we have three hours or so of it left here in Texas), it seems only right to do the whole Candy and Flowers thing, maybe a Hart-shaped box of the former and some Roses as the latter?

That's right, it's a very special reader's challenge edition of Baseball's Hall of Names as we assemble ...

Baseball Withdrawal Syndrome, written about here by Gerry, is a terrible affliction with which we here at Batter's Box are all too familiar. The cures, sadly, tend to wear thin and provide only temporary relief. I have flirted with all manner of substitute addictions in my attempts to find one that will stick: academics, hockey, politics, the Olympics, literature, the NBA, Jack Bauer, theatre, Cuban rum... nothing worked. What do Americans do to prevent the rabies-like, Trainspotting-style withdrawal lunacy that I am on the brink of confronting? How do they stave off the November, December, January, February and March madness? By staring the beast down and - much like naming your new dog after your old girlfriend - calling the cure March Madness!

Here at Superfluous U, you will be brought up to date on the favourite Baseball Withdrawal Syndrome cure of our glamourous, colourful and honourable neighbours to the south: college hoops. Not only that, this is the primer specifically for Jays fans and other Canadians.

Once again, it's been too long since the last Photo of the Week. I'm delaying GregH's pictures from the Larry Walker-Orlando Hudson meet-n-greet at St. Mary's for a few more days, but in the meantime here's a nice desktop of the no-longer-a-Blue-Jay, Orlando Hudson:

Three divisions.
Twenty teams per division.
Twenty-Five players per team.
Twelve statistical categories.
Promotion and relegation.

Welcome to Year Four of the Batters Box Fantasy League.

Believe it or not, the answer is "yes, sort of." Many times we have heard from new members (and even occasionally from someone affiliated with the Blue Jays) wondering what the official "code of conduct" is or was or will be or (insert "to be" tense of your choice here).

And Batter's Box not only has an official "code of conduct" ("What are the ground rules?") published as part of the site's FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, there's also a Privacy Policy on the good ol' Legal page. And yet, believe it or not, Da Box has never made a big deal out of pointing to these pages because 99.64 percent of the time, there is no reason to.

So why bring this up now? Precisely because ..

John Sickels is a long time minor league analyst and in his latest book he has rated over 1,000 prospects.

He recently released his Blue Jay Top 20 Prospect Ranking over at his terrific website and agreed to step into Da Box to discuss the Jays prospects further.

Then there won't be chocolates or cards or any of those other pre-fab presents for Bauxites this February 14. Nope. It will be a book. There are so many good choices.

ESPN.com reports that Shea Hillenbrand has agreed to a 1 year, $5.8 million deal with the Jays to avoid arbirtation.

Update: Pete Walker has also signed a one year contract avoiding arbitration by signing a deal for $650,000 this season.