Well, another season has come and gone. Another losing season is in the books. It was a bad year pitching wise and a bad year in the wins-loses category. But there were some good points....Junior returned to form; Aaron Harang and Brandon Claussen emerged as solid pitchers that can hopefully help the team for years to come; Felipe Lopez finally seperated himself as the official "shortstop of the future; the organization has some very nice looking prospects in Travis Wood, Homer Bailey and others.
Most importantly, we were able to just enjoy the game of baseball. Sure, we'd all like to be able to support a winning team but the fact that so many can come together to root for a common cause is a wonderful thing. We may have different methods and/or ideas about how things should be done, but in the end we all want the same result.
So here we are, October 3rd....the first day after the baseball season. It is always a sad feeling no matter how bad the team was on the field. So many of us put so much into this team that we are left with somewhat of an empty feeling. But rest assured, the Reds will be back come February ready to try and put together a run at something great. And we'll be right back in thier corner rooting them on. They may not be a 100 win team come 2006, but by God we'll sure root for it. We'll argue about how bad the pitching is. We'll argue about the importance of batting average. We'll argue about Adam Dunn's strikeouts. But more importantly, we'll all be coming together as Reds fans to root on the team we all love so much. It will be here before we know it.
This offseason should prove to be very interesting. Will we have new ownership? Who will the fill out the coaching staff? What players will the Reds try and bring in, and possibly the most intriquing part of this winter will be what outfielder (if any) will be traded and what do the Reds get back?
I hope everyone has a safe offseason and enjoys the football and basketball seasons. Heck with the Bengals on everyone's mind it will make the winter go that much faster. For those that leave Redszone for the winter, stay safe, have a happy holiday season and we'll see you again come Spring Training.
So, here we are. I did this last year and hope we can keep it going again this year. We'll count down every single day until April 3, 2006 against the Chicago Cubs in Great American Ball Park.
182 days.