Spring brings hope to baseball fans... uh... well... maybe not in Kansas City

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Whew! This is not good.

In the spring everybody thinks they have a chance. Everybody finds something to be optimistic about. This is our year. This is our time.

It has something to do with the season. And baseball, more than any sport, is organic. It has seasons. It lives in seasons. Hope spring eternal and springs brings eternal hope. Everybody has a shot at the World Series -- or at least a 50-50 finish -- in spring training.

So spring training has just begun, pitchers and catchers are just now limbering up and... guess what.

No hope. No hope at all.

Fans got a peek this week at the Kansas City Royals' potential batting order. Well... it had all the pizazz, all the hope, of the sound of a bat held together with screws and electrician's tape against a waterlogged baseball.

Splat.

And, to top it off, the brain trust -- as usual -- wants to move a guy who put together a darn good defensive season in left, who had just agreeably made the transition from center, to right field for 2010. Shades of Mark Teahan. It's a good guess the White Sox won't be shifting positions on Teahan every six weeks. David DeJesus? Well... you probably better start breaking in that first base mitt, buddy.

--Lofflin, wishing for hope... really ...