Pointlessness was down in 2011, way down. Heralded rookies Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer made their debuts, as did a raft of relievers. The Royal outfield, riddled with question marks headed into Opening Day, was surprisingly strong, and after the extension of Francoeur, less pointless.

Nevertheless, the Royals were a bad team with a roster still amidst a long rebuild. When we look back on this in five years, who will be the most pointless member of the 2011 Royals?

What do I mean by pointless? Well, why exactly was Doug Waechter on the 2009 Royals? What was accomplished by having Kip Wells around in 2008? In 2010, Gregor Blanco played 49 games with the Royals. Umm, why? If you can't find a reason for their existence other than "we had to field a team" I'd say, in a nice way, they were pointless. We may have talked about them excitedly at the time, but as the years pass, they just seem like random moments in time.