Baseball

Enrique Rojas (ESPN Deportes baseball newsbreaker extraordinaire) has reported that Jose Bautista and the Toronto Blue Jays are closing in on a 5 year, $65 million extension that will keep the Major League Baseball home run champ in Toronto through 2015.

It's more than worth it.

As I posted almost a month ago, even if Bautista undergoes a Brady Anderson-like decline, he'd still be worth $13 million a season.

Entering Spring Training, the Atlanta Braves only have a few questions surrounding the depth of their team, something manager Fredi Gonzalez will surely keep an eye on throughout February and March.

Over the course of the next month, Gonzalez will decide on the club's fifth starter — likely Mike Minor — and also evaluate the team's relievers, as they are looking for someone to occupy the final bullpen spot.

Pitchers and Catchers Report.

For many, those four special words signal the beginning of the end of the long winter months and the unofficial start of the new sports calendar. 

In the recent weeks, I have been compelled to think about the current commissioner, Bud Selig, and his impact on the game of baseball.

The St. Louis Cardinal's Hall of Famer Stan "The Man" Musial, along with Boston Celtic legend Bill Russell, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.

The Medal of Freedom is the highest honor a civilian of the United States can receive for making an exceedingly great contribution to the interests of our country.

He has a career 3.66 ERA and a sparkling 1.19 WHIP to go with it.

Not yet 31 years old and a top 10 pitcher in both leagues at one point or another, Dan Haren has already proven his mettle. A typical year for Haren is a 5-plus WAR and 2011 should be no different, even with a fluky 2010 thrown into the mix. 

Haren had a 4.60 ERA in the launching pad that is the D-Backs yard, he allowed 23 jacks in less than 150 NL innings (before his trade and subsequent sub-3 ERA with LAA).

With all the hype and hope the Blue Jays injected into their fans with their play of last year, there is one thing everyone is forgetting when looking forward to this year. The simple way of putting it: they are going to fail this year.

Generally, I'm one to stick to the team and players and project big years from all involved. However, it seems like the doom and gloom media and fans have all either had a change of heart with Anthopoulos' steady hand at the helm, or they have all finally given up.

This season will mark Ron Gardenhire's 24th with the Twins organization and his 10th as manager.

In the 110 years of the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise, Gardenhire ranks third all time with 803 coaching victories with the third longest tenure as manager.

His .550 winning percentage is also third best for the franchise behind Billy Martin (.599), who only coached the 1969 season, and Walter Johnson (.570), who coached from 1929 to 1932.

In early February I wrote about the A's stadium frustration and that the time for MLB to make its recommendation is now.

Unfortunately, I do not have an update on any progress Lew Wolfe and company may or may not have made in persuading Bud Selig to release the findings of the blue-ribbon committee that he commissioned to make a recommendation on the Oakland Athletics stadium issue.

It seems that everyone, at some point, references the “Good Ol’ Days.” Like how gas was 50 cents a gallon in the good old days, and how a loaf of bread was a nickel.

Of course, no one really ever points out that hourly income was a lot less in those days, too. And that proportionally, we aren’t as far off as what we make it seem in our minds.

There is a media circus brewing in baseball. It has just begun and will continue to build and grow into an unstoppable force in the months of the season to come. I am not talking about the Mets finances. Not immediately anyway.