Countdown to the New Year

Some people consider will try to tell you that the new year has already begun, but I prefer to make my countdown to the new year match up to my countdown to the first spring training game. This means that we have 40-ish days until the new year begins.*

*I’ve forgotten the exact amount of days. It’s written on the board in my classroom.

This means that in just over a month, I will be able to watch the Royals play again and despite all the oft-questioned moves of Dayton Moore in the last month, I’m very excited to watch this new team. I’m also very aware that the whole thing could blow up in my face, but nonetheless, I’m excited. I can’t help it.

This is causing me to come to two very important realizations for the coming year.

• I’m becoming more and more confident that Jeff Francoeur is going to be our everyday right-fielder this year. I’d much rather there be some sort of platooning option, much like the Dyson-esque idea put out there on the site a few days ago. I don’t know that Dyson will ever establish himself as a serious contender for consistent MLB time, but at this point I don’t think Francoeur should be garner a starter’s portion of at-bats. Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more an inability to find some way to cut ties with Frenchy’s contract, means the Royals are going to play him consistently in right.
• I’m resolved to being disappointed about the production from the 2nd base, both offensively and defensively. I really don’t know why we signed Miguel Tejada, but I’m thinking that whether it’s Getz, Gio, or even the old man, there’s a lot more that could go worse at that position than positive.

Hmmmmmm

It’s easy to have high expectations going into a new baseball season. Everyone is on the same page. However, I feel like I’m going to treat this year’s team like I treat that movie everyone says is awful. I’ll go into it with severely low expectations and that way I can possibly end up pleasantly surprised. The same mentality goes towards the two aforementioned positions. I will not expect much production from either and if and when some modicrum of production appears, I will be pleasantly surprised.

40-ish days until baseball, People!