My Winter Vacation - The Off-Season

winterball
Originally uploaded by dangunderman.

Since most of my nephews and solitary niece live overseas, I'm taking it upon myself to introduce them to the best America has to offer -- baseball. So for Christmas presents, the missus and I brought the France-dwellers a baseball, a bat, and a couple of mitts.

There are some good signs for the upcoming season in northern France. My niece has a wicked throwing arm. She's a natural fielder and her enthusiasm for getting muddy and sacrificing her body to make the play will only help her improve. My nephew can bat both right and left, clearly taking after his American uncle, although unlike me, he's equally strong from both sides of the plate. And fortunately, France doesn't have any Little League coaches to tell him to stop showing off, so the ambidextrous batting can be appropriately encouraged and fostered.

Now, if I can just get him to stop chasing his own hits and circle the bases instead, we'll really get somewhere.

Meanwhile, on our side of the pond, the Mets have traded the outstanding Jae Seo and re-signed (and given a raise to) Victor Zambrano, who's been a complete bust. Most of the Mets' winter moves have been pretty solid, but that combo amounts to about the worst, most boneheaded decision the Mets have ever made.