My spring mission statement

I've kind of hinted at this a couple times, but I'm going to try and shift focus here for Spring Training. Basically, I've accepted the fact that Dave Littlefield has horribly misspent the team's money and there's nothing left that I can do about that. I can't say anything about Burnitz or Randa that either myself or someone else hasn't already said, so I'm going to put the bitching about signing them to rest.

Anyways, I'm going to try and challenge myself this spring. I'm going to try and find positive things to say about the Pirates. Not the typical Spring Training fluffy stuff, but actual things to be positive about, because honestly I don't think this team will be all bad. I've mentioned all of these things before, but here's my starting points, the reasons I think the Pirates will be better in 2006 (not as good as they could be if DL had spent his money correctly, mind you, just better than the '05 edition).

1. Addition by the subtraction of the Redmans, McClendon, Lawton, Mesa, and probably Wigginton.
2. Addition by the maturation of Maholm, Bay, Doumit, Duke, Castillo, and hopefully Duffy or McLouth.
3. Addition by the "they couldn't possibly suck more this year than they did last year" corrolary applied to Oliver Perez and Kip Wells.
4. The faint hope that maybe grit and determination will actually be enough to return Jack Wilson to some semblance of his 2004 form.

So there you have it, the basic outline of how I'm going to try and be positive this spring. It probably won't be easy, but we'll see how long I can last. Remember, position players have to report by tomorrow, the first full squad workout is Wednesday and the annual ritualistic beating of Manatee County Community College is scheduled for a week from then. Spring is here.