Ok chico's and chica's...It ain't 2009 quite yet, but it's close and I have insomnia, so we get this little diary or fanpost or whatever a little early.

Now that football is mercifully ended, it is now time to focus on baseball 100%.  This got me thinking of what I would like to see in 2009 both on the farm and at the Major League level.  I know a lot of these wishes are based on a hope and a prayer, but wishes are wishes and I held mine to 10 apiece in order to not angerto the baseball Gods by being too greedy. 

So...What are everyone else's baseball wishes for the new year?

My Wishes for 2009 for the ML roster (in no particular order)

1. Davis, Josh and Kinsler replicate (if not improve upon) last year's production

2. Hurley stays healthy and shows us what he is/can be (good or bad)

3. Madrigal owning the 7th inning role

4. CJ exorcising his demons and returns to his lefty dominance

5. Franky Frank assumes and owns the 2009 Closer spot

6. Jack Benny returning to his dominant 8th inning role.

7. Harrison giving us the same results as last year, minus some of the horrid outings and more of the solid-to-good outings

8. Nellie Cruz sticking in the line-up because of great production, not because of a last-ditch effort for him to live up to potential

9. A season of GOOD and smart Catcher utilization (no matter the combo)

10. Scooter Feldman showing us that 2008 was not a fluke.  We could all stand to be able to pencil in a reliable #4 starter for a few seasons.

My Wishes for 2009 for the Farm System (in no particular order)

1. Holland and Feliz each log at least 100 effective innings in OK City.  This makes early or Sept call-ups less of a gamble.

2. Michael Main stays healthy and effective for all of 2009.

3. Beavan getting consistent visits from his old friends 93 and 94 mph

4. Elvis developing his offense to prove to Goldstein that he will be a better than solid SS in the Major Leagues (even though a solid SS ain't a bad return).

5. Engel Beltre learns to take an effing BB.  Seriously, carnal, work on that shit!

6. Christian Santana nails down a spot in the field whether at C or OF.  This guy's bat needs to stay in the system SOMEwhere.

7. Matt West shows he can hit with or without PEDs.  I have high hopes for this kid....no pun intended...

8. Wilmer Font and Fabio Castillo have much better seasons than last year and show us why we like them so damned much. 

9. The Kiker-Poveda-Phillips trio continue to improve and pronounce that they shall NOT be forgotten

10. Justin Smoak is a RoughRider by Juneteenth.

My Wishes for 2009 in the Media category

1. By popular demand, the DMN brings Evan Grant back to the Rangers Beat

2. Hindman continues his great work and gets more exposure, and maybe even some space on the actual print side of things (although, not sure if that would be considered a "win" in these days of declining print media demands)

3. The greatness that is the LSB/Newberg/BTIA/Lucas/Cole community continues to amaze us with their hard work and knowledge of the game

4. SOMEbody on the radio dial, whether 105.3's emergence or better Ranger play forcing the issue, actually talking Rangers baseball with some sort of consistency and insight.  That is a lot to ask for, so I'll take either or at this point.

5. The DMN axeing all comment capabilities from their blogs.  The decline in aneurysms would counteract any negative feedback from this.

And for some more MessageBoard wankery...My 2009 Best Moment (projection)

August 27th: Rangers @ NY Yankees.  Teixeira goes 0-4.  Two k's by Matt Harrison in the 1st and 4th innings.  In the 7th inning Tommy Hunter induces a weak pop-up to the shift to Elvis Andrus in short RF (Andrus is subbing in for an injured MY.  Andrus's play in the field and at the plate in OK City thus far is just too obvious to ignore).  In the 9th Tex comes up with 1 out and a runner on 1st and 3rd.  Neftali Feliz comes strolling out of the 'pen (he's filling in at Closer while Franky Frank nurses a little arm fatigue, since, y'know...saving 40 out of 45 games is a little taxing) to the music of Elvis Crespo and proceeds to throw two fastballs of 98 and 99 mph past a bewildered Teixeira. The third pitch is a perfect change-up which forces Tex to hit a slow dribbler out in front of the plate.  Salty pops up, picks the ball up cleanly, nails the runner at second and Andrus, with seemingly one motion, catches, jumps and fires to first, gunning Tex down by a few steps, prompting a few salty Yank fans to proclaim (in my best Bobby Digital voice) that "THAT'S a fuckin' jump throw, son!".  

A little elaborate and probably a little too fantastical, but that is my projected Best Moment of 2009