8 days left

Okay, technically there are 8 days left until Spring Training, but according to the Royals website, we're getting a head start. The most exciting part of that article for the Kool Aid Drinker? The big three (Gil Meche, Brian Bannister, and Zack Greinke) are all expected in early. It's one thing for the guys trying to earn a spot in the rotation to get there early, quite another for the aces of the staff to do it.

Yeah, I said aces...plural...that's what this team will need if we're going to compete this year, three aces, 45 wins out of the Big 3, a sub 4.00 ERA...now don't go writing that down as a prediction, the Kool Aid Drinker will wait until late March for the official predictions. Okay, okay I'll give you one...Meche(9), Bannister(12) and Greinke(7) will all win more games than they did last year...you can write that down...in pen.

So, the head start got me excited, but not near as excited as the email I recieved today telling me that I need to register for the right to buy Opening Day tickets...Two months and two days until the Evil Empire invades the K and gets shut down by Gil Meche...until Bad Ass Billy Butler and Awesome Alex Gordon begin their assault on the 22 year old home run record of Steve "Bye Bye" Balboni...until chili cheese fries and beer...short of MU/KU at Arrowhead this will be the hottest ticket in a long time in Kansas City, a hey day for scalpers and... okay, prediction #2- Royals 7, Yankees 2.

Other musings before the Boys in Blue get started...

- John "Don't give a Buck" if you bring in Johnny Bench, he's the starting catcher and that's not going to change

- The last two spots in the rotation have Jorge De La Rosa and Brett Tomko pencilled in. The Kool Aid Drinker likes Kyle Davies to replace Tomko spot by May.

- Joey Gathright should start on Opening Day...and make it hard to yank him when Guillen's suspension is over.

- I'm saving the official prediction for later, but right now I'm thinking between 85-95 wins sounds about right

- ...so does 2 million in attendance for the year

That's all for now, I don't want to get too carried away in February...