Thoughts on the 25-man Roster

The Royals have decided to keep Mike Aviles on the big league team in favor of perennial non-roster invitee Wilson Betemit. Thank God.

I can't speak intelligently on the current "battle" going on between Dusty Hughes, John Parrish and Anthony Lerew because I don't know anything about them. I will wish them all the best of luck though and I hope they enjoy their stint on the 25-man roster as they will inevitably be sent down or released sometime before July.

Obviously the biggest shocker of the last few days, besides Trey Hillman cutting his mullet off, has been the decision by outfielder Brian Anderson to become a pitcher after not making the team as the 4th outfielder. Anderson was a former pitcher at Arizona in his collegiate career, so maybe it'll work out for him. He's going to start off in Idaho Falls and will probably be forgotten about soon enough.

I'm glad to see Mitch Maier make the team. After the spring he had, there was no option but to keep him around. I can see him getting pretty decent reps in the outfield until Josh Fields comes back. I think Maier's ceiling is around David DeJesus level, which makes the signings of Podsednik, Ankiel and Goldilocks Anderson even more confusing. Without Pods on the team, I would have pegged Maier's numbers at .270/.345/.450 with around 10 homers and a handful of stolen bases. Maybe an injury will allow him to showcase his ability.

Word is beginning to spread about the improvement of Roman Colon. I'm cheering for the guy, he's had a pretty rocky career. I'm looking for him to put up similar numbers to Ramon Ramirez in 2008 and be a steady bridge to Soria.

Back to Aviles, man I hope he can beat out Yuni for the starting spot. I think Mike is a special player. People are saying he's faster, leaner and stronger since coming back from surgery. A 20/20 season is out of reach, but maybe he'll surprise us this year. If Yuni is knocked off his perch (and he should after the stellar .283 average he posted this spring, which is up against Aviles' near .500 average) at shortstop, then I will put Aviles in the same category as Butler, Soria, Greinke as players that this team can rely on. His bat is better, his defense is tremendously better and he is faster than Betancourt. It should be pretty easy to make this decision.