Excerpt: "Thinking Inside the Box"

"Thinking. That's what this article, all the stuff on Twitter, all of the debate dating back to Bill James' days with a flashlight in a pork'n'beans warehouse is about. Don't just do things because this is the way they're done. Think about what you want to accomplish and what the best way to get there is. There's no thought in pinch-bunting so that an overmatched left-handed-hitting rookie can face Mariano Rivera, or in a bunt that will lead you to Stephen Drew against a tough lefty, or in a bunt against a pitcher who's nine-for-nine missing the plate. All of that bunting is mindless repetition that leads a team nowhere, reflexive regression to a dusty to-do list scratched out with a quill pen on parchment."