I hope all our readers had a Merry Christmas, and are enjoying a Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanzaa or in fact, anything at all. Perhaps you’re just enjoying some time off work (for some of us, anyways), and that’s great, too. Enjoy! And all the best for a super 2006 with fantasy championships galore for our readers. I’m still working away on my ultimate Holiday gift – The Second Annual Spikes Up Top 25 Prospects List. But it’s slow slogging, with us also working feverishly on the CREATiVESPORTS.com 2006 MLB Draft Kit (stay tuned for more details about this soon; it promises to be our best kit yet) right now, so I will complete my list as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I will continue to regale you with fantasy-worthy notes and comments in our Random Notes series.

So the Royals finally opened up their wallets and signed…Reggie Sanders? Um, bringing in a recently-turned-38-year-old outfielder for two years at a $10-million price tag doesn’t seem like the best allocation of money to us. According to GM Allan Baird, KC is looking at Sanders as much for his leadership as his performance.

Well, I’ll give Reggie this: he consistently winds up on winning teams and he was actually having a super year (49 runs, 14 doubles, 21 HR, 54 RBI, 14 SB, .271/.340/.546 in just 295 ABs) before a broken leg ended his 2005 campaign early. Of course, injuries are nothing new for Sanders. He’s had exactly one season of over 500 at-bats since breaking in back in 1991, at it’s not because he walks a lot. Want more to worry about? How about an OPS that was more than 200 points lower on the road last year? Or what about a .176 BA with no homers at Kauffman Stadium since 2003? Pursue at your own risk.

Although he’s still a member of the Orioles’ organization as far as we’ve heard, the end of the line must be nigh for one-time prospect Midre Cummings. Now 34, his Triple-A numbers – and playing time – are diminishing (just 74 games and 264 ABs, .284 in 2005) while the Orioles only brought him up for a week and change this year to replace a suspended Rafael Palmeiro on their roster. He only got two at-bats, and was hitless. If this is in fact the end of the line for the 34-year-old outfielder, considered the best player the Virgin Islands has produced, his final MLB totals would be 161 games, 391 at-bats and exactly 100 hits (including 21 doubles). Cummings never did live up to his status as a first round (29th overall) selection in 1990 by Minnesota.

Coming off their worst season (71-91) since 1992, kudos is in order to the Dodgers for a serious makeover this offseason, one that could position them to challenge for the NL West Crown. They’ve brought in plenty of veteran talent in Nomar Garciaparra, Brett Tomko, Bill Mueller and Kenny Lofton; they got rid of problem-child Milton Bradley in a deal that adds a top prospect in Andre Ethier; and they outbid several top clubs (notably the Cubs, who wanted him bad) for the services of Rafael Furcal. And word is, they may not be done yet. There’s talk that LA will also add J.T. Snow, although where he’ll play if Garciaparra is in fact playing first base, remains to be seen. Still, having a great gloveman like Snow as a late-inning replacement for Nomar wouldn’t be a bad idea. And should Mueller get hurt (not an uncommon occurrence) and Garciaparra had to shift back to third, Snow could capably man first base on a full-time basis for the Dodgers.

Erubiel Durazo is still out there for any teams (naturally, an AL club) looking for a left-handed stick. This season was a write-off for the A’s DH as he was limited to 41 games because of an elbow injury and his usual excellent on-base skills eluded him (.305 OBP). Toronto was apparently interested, but has yet to make a move. Other possibilities include Seattle and Baltimore.

Another veteran minor league outfielder that looks about done is Jason Conti. Signed as a free agent by the Rangers a couple of years ago, he got 55 at-bats with Texas in 2004, but did not see the light of day in the majors this year. Conti will be 31 next month and his Triple-A numbers are in decline (just a 746 OPS this year after recording an 851 mark in 2004), so it’s not as if he really deserved a call. He did manage 80 runs, 26 doubles, 15 homers and 40 walks, but his once-abundant speed is gone (just four steals) and he strikes out way too much (116 times) to think he’ll ever again be able to succeed in the majors. Conti’s failures in five seasons of big-league ball can be attributed to his inability to get on base (.296 OBP) and horrible strike zone judgment (110 Ks against just 29 walks). Assuming he is still in the Texas organization (no reports suggest otherwise), whatever limited plan the Rangers had for him has dissipated even further in the past year.

NEXT: Spikes Up will be back next year, returning on January 9, when we’ll be back with more offseason notes and rumors. Basketball fans should check out Three in the Key, next appearing January 3.

Comments? Questions? Criticisms or witticisms? You can reach me at rob@creativesports.com if you’d like further information or have a question you’d like me to answer in an upcoming column. Have a suggestion for a column or want to hear analysis about a particular player? Feel free to write. I might even answer!

Rob Blackstien is a freelance writer and the principal of Pen-Ultimate (www.pen-ultimate.ca), a Toronto-based writing and editorial services firm.