Turn the Page

The silence that greeted my offseason round-up post could not have been any louder, so nothing to do now but dust myself off and stare  boldly into the future.

Baseball is coming!

And if baseball is coming then new content is coming, both on the blog and over on MiLB.com. My Southern League preview and prospect guide runs tomorrow (not my bread and butter, but I do what I can), followed by Thursday’s Opening Day guide as well as 2012′s first edition of Promo Preview!

2012's premier edition: Coming soon!

2012 marks Promo Preview’s seventh season of existence (what have I done with my life?) and this year the format will differ from what it has been in year’s past. As opposed to 10 capsule write-ups, there will be one lead promo featured each week and this portion will be followed by a more free-wheeling run-down of everything else of note that is going on. But the more things change the more I am obliged to resort to hoary cliches: much of the column will continue to rely on your input. Never, ever hesitate to get in touch with your promo related tips, leads, and scuttlebutt.

The resumption of Minor League action means the cessation of my Minoring in Business and Offseasoning columns, but joining Promo Preview on the weekly roster is Farm’s Almanac. This is, quite simply, a feature about nearly anything related to the Minor Leagues — player profiles, book reviews, historical explorations, on-location travelogues and so on and so forth. And, again, I am always amenable to your suggestions regarding what would make a good Minor League story.

Always on the lookout for a good story...

And, of course, I’ll be hitting the road several times during the course of the season. (I’ll dedicate a post to Trip #1 early next week. It kicks off April 27). The plan, tentatively, is to embark on four week-long trips in addition to more incidental visits within the greater NYC area. And not to be a broken record or anything, but your suggestions/invitations are always appreciated.

And, finally, I’ll be tweeting as often as time and space constraints allow. Our weekly series of Twitter souvenir giveaways has gone well thus far, and will continue into the foreseeable future (every Friday at 2 p.m.). I’m currently sitting at 1899 followers (a number that, for me, always brings to mind the Cleveland Spiders), and would like to get to 2012 by Opening Day.

Teams, can you help me out with that? I’ve (most likely) scratched your back, and now I’ve got an itch that you can assist with. Tell your fans to follow @bensbiz!

A Twitter background most beautiful

Apologies for the excessive housekeeping here, but it is the time of year for such things. Stay tuned both here and MiLB.com for what will (hopefully) be another season of unprecedented Minor League coverage and, most importantly, thanks for your support!

benjamin.hill@mlb.com

twitter.com/bensbiz