In the bleak mid-winter

This time of year - mid-to-late December - is usually the toughest one for baseball fans, as it's the point in time which is the most distant from both the memories of baseball past (the World Series) and the promise of baseball to come (pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training in mid-February). However, this year feels a little different - the deals that have already been done and, more particularly, the huge potential deals that are being talked about, mean that I wake up every morning eager to log on to ESPN / MLB / SI.com to find out what bombshell has been dropped overnight.

However, I do think that this whole thing might becoming a little bit too much for me - it's one thing to wake up every morning wondering vaguely if Alex Rodriguez might be wearing a Red Sox uniform next season; it is, however, another thing entirely to wake up one morning and realise that you've actually dreamed about A-Rod, which is what happened to me this morning... I'm taking 10 days' vacation over Christmas, and I get the impression that they'll be most welcome!