SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The signs of a Cactus League eruption are everywhere. The Surprise Stadium grounds crew is painting a colorful cactus-themed logo on the grass behind home plate. The souvenir shop is fully stocked with Spring Training gear. And, in his office, Royals manager Trey Hillman is tapping out lineups on his computer.

What Hillman wants to do is to give all hands a fair opportunity to make the club. He doesn't want anyone, at the end of camp, to go away mad.

It's assumed that the Royals will carry 12 pitchers on the 25-man roster this season and the sparring for several of those spots -- primarily in the bullpen -- will begin with Wednesday's spring opener against the Texas Rangers.

"That's a safe assumption; it'll be a 13-and-12 split," Hillman said.

When you think about it, the vacancies among the 13 places on the positional side are few. Eleven of those spots appear to be pretty well filled.

The Royals will carry at least two catchers, and that's almost sure to be Miguel Olivo -- now considered the primary guy -- and John Buck.

Alex Gordon is set at third base and Mike Aviles is returning to shortstop after his impressive rookie campaign. So that's four players.

The other two infield spots are the subject of intense competition.

Willie Bloomquist, Alberto Callaspo and Mark Teahen are in a rumble around second base.

"Obviously, the other two guys speak for themselves," Bloomquist said. "Teahen can rake and Callaspo can hit and so, for me, I can't try to be someone that I'm not. I've just got to play the best that I can play. I know I bring things to the table that can help a team win. If I go out and do what I'm capable of doing, I'll have no excuses."

Bloomquist might have an edge. He's got more experience than Teahen at second base and more range than Callaspo.

Royals general manager Dayton Moore has said all offseason that Teahen, even though he's squeezed out of the outfield and might not win the second-base job, would be a valued part of the team. So count him in. That's five.

Bloomquist was signed to a two-year contract which also might work in his favor. So guess that Bloomquist will be on the roster and that's six.

Despite the logjam at first base, incoming Mike Jacobs and Billy Butler are almost sure to figure in some sort of combination at that spot and designated hitter. Jacobs hits left, Butler hits right.

"There's good competition, and as we get into these games, the challenge once again is going to be hopefully that we're splitting it up enough to give guys good looks and try to stay somewhat consistent in the at-bats."

-- Trey Hillman

Jacobs was obtained as a big bopper and signed at $3.275 million, so he'll be in the lineup somewhere. Butler, trimmer now and impressing Hillman at first base, would have to have a disastrous spring to lose his job. So that's eight players.

And then there's the three starting outfielders -- David DeJesus, Coco Crisp and Jose Guillen -- and that's 11.

Remaining are two spots up for grabs, and there's no dearth of candidates.

Callaspo -- impressive as the regular second baseman late last season -- could win the job and bump Bloomquist and Teahen into utility roles. The nice thing about the latter two is that both can move around the infield and outfield. So can Callaspo, as a matter of fact.

Ross Gload, probably the best-fielding first baseman, can also play the outfield. His glove offers nice late-inning protection at first.

Ryan Shealy logged a lot of time at first base in September and cranked seven homers, putting himself back in the mix. He's facing a numbers crunch although he has a good glove, too, and could be a big bat off the bench.

"There's a big number of guys over there that are definitely qualified and seem to be big league ready, so it really depends on how they structure the team," Shealy said. "There's obviously not enough room for all of us, but that's out of our hands. All we can control is how hard we play and handle our own business."

Esteban German has been a dependable backup player, primarily at second and third, for three years running. His hitting has slipped each season, however.

Tony Pena lost his shortstop job early last season to Aviles, but he's still a superb fielder. He faces an uphill battle.

First baseman Kila Ka'aihue put up huge Minor League numbers last season, but it's virtually conceded that he's headed back to Triple-A Omaha. That could be the same fate for outfielder Mitch Maier and catcher Brayan Pena, although they're highly regarded.

Minor League options often play a role, and Callaspo, German, Gload, both Penas and Shealy have none remaining.

"There's good competition, and as we get into these games, the challenge once again is going to be hopefully that we're splitting it up enough to give guys good looks and try to stay somewhat consistent in the at-bats," Hillman said.

"I started working with some lineups yesterday in preparation for the way I anticipate it flowing. Typically -- but not for every individual -- I'm looking at two days on, one day off, two days on, one day off."

Naturally, the situation could be changed by injuries or trades or surprising performances. In any case, Hillman hopes to have things fairly well settled by three-quarters of the way through.

So the countdown is about to begin.

"Baseball's always been about numbers and there's only 25 guys to take and there's no telling what the 25 will be," Shealy said.

Some of them anyway.