Pitchers and Catchers Report Today - Welcome to Spring

As 12 degree lows have given way to 70 degree highs over the last week, and news has shifted from Jerry Jones' mess to the Rangers/Michael Young mess, it is now officially time to flip the baseball calendar to 2011.  Today the Rangers pitchers and catchers are reporting to Surprise, Arizona and will begin drills tomorrow.  All other players are due in on Saturday and will begin workouts on Sunday.  Actually, these are the deadlines, as some players are already at the complex and have started their workouts before they were required to.

Obviously, the news over the next week will focus mostly on the Michael Young situation.  Will he be traded before Saturday?  If not, will he show up?  If he shows up, will it be a peaceful reunion or a stressful battle that drags his teammates down, too?

As a side note, remember last year that the Spring got off to a bit of a rocky start as it was made public that Ron Washington had failed a drug test.  To the team's credit, the issue was quickly dealt with and everyone moved on and almost forgot about it all together.  Michael Young was a big part of that scenario from the clubhouse perspective.  Because of that and other situations in the past that we know about Young, I'd bet on the positive over the negative if indeed Michael isn't traded and he reports on time.  It's his deal, and he isn't the kind of guy that would want his teammates answering questions about him and his problems with management when the focus should be on other things.

There are other storylines to this Spring, though.  Here's a sample of what you'll be reading about between now and Opening Day, here and elsewhere:

• Will Neftali Feliz continue his role as the closer, which he excelled at to the tune of the Rookie of the Year Award and a new saves record for a rookie, or will he earn a spot in the rotation similar to CJ Wilson last year? 
• Can this pitching staff earn another trip to the playoffs without Cliff Lee at the top? 
• Is the addition of Adrian Beltre and the subtraction of Vladimir Guerrero a seemless transition in the clubhouse, and at the plate? 
• What kind of indirect backlash will Beltre and Mike Napoli face if indeed Young gets traded? 
• Can Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, and Josh Hamilton avoid the disabled list this year? 
• Is Mitch Moreland the real deal at first base, or will Chris Davis, Napoli, and/or Young chip away at his at bats? 
• Is Brandon Webb healthy, and what kind of numbers can he put up if he gets 30+ starts? 
• How much will the bullpen miss Frankie Francisco and how much does Arthur Rhodes improve things?

That's not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea.  Most of these questions won't be answered over the next month and a half, but will be played out over the next seven or eight months.  Rare is the season when pre-season predictions fall in line without any hiccups over the course of the Summer.

Over the next few days, I'm going to work on a few posts that will recap the off-season's transactions to let you know where some of our guys went and who some of the new recruits are that will be charged with filling some of those big shoes.  Later on in the Spring I'll share my thoughts on our competition in the A.L. West to see what we're going to deal with this season.  When there is transaction or injury news, I'll have my thoughts here about those things, as well.

But today is special.  It's a baseball holiday, and that three and a half month lull that has been in place sense that last out of the World Series is lifted.

Happy New Year.