At this time on Monday, we'll be celebrating the reporting of pitchers and catchers, and the beginning of Spring Training...and all will be right with the world. We're also going to kick off our team previews on Monday, and over the six weeks following, we're going to give you a information overload on every team in the league, along with our usual batch of excellent coverage.

Over the past couple of days, we've taken a look at the risks taken by the Reds and Blue Jays this winter and compared characters from The Walking Dead to MLB teams, while also looking at Todd Helton's DUI, Curt Schilling's PED accusations, and Felix Hernandez's contract extension. Today, we've got some stuff in the pipeline that will be interesting, so keep your eyes out.

Enjoy your offseason, everyone.

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The Seattle Mariners have ensured that their ace Felix Hernandez will be going nowhere for the foreseeable future, inking him to a seven-year, $175 million contract extension that will keep him in Seattle until the 2019 season. This extension eliminates the final two years on Hernandez's five year, $90 million contract that he signed in January of 2010. He was owed $39.5 million over the next two sesons under that contract.

Hernandez, who will turn 27 in April, will be with the Mariners through his age 33 season under this contract. Over the last four seasons, the right-hander has been one of the best pitchers in baseball, accruing 24.1 fWAR over the four seasons while never throwing fewer than 230 innings or striking out fewer than 200 batters. He's never had any major injury issues during his career, and the signing looks like one that could work out pretty well for the Mariners, despite it being the largest contract ever handed out to a pitcher in baseball history.

However, there's a warning flag in Hernandez's velocity. His fastball velocity has dropped over each of the last two seasons, and was two miles per hour slower in 2012 than it was in 2010, and two and a half miles per hour slower than it was in 2008. A lot of that can be attributed to general aging and wear on Hernandez's arm, but it could be a sign of something more serious, and is worth keeping an eye on.

Another question that will come up regarding the extension: would the Mariners be better served in trading Hernandez for prospects rather than using him as the franchise cornerstone? It's a valid question, and one that will be asked ad nauseum over the seven years of the deal, but one that won't be able to be immediately answered. On paper, Hernandez seems like the best possible candidate to get a contract like this...but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a great thing.

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In an interview on Wednesday with Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio, former Boston Red Sox starting pitcher and current ESPN analyst Curt Schilling claims that members of the Red Sox organization encouraged him to use steroids while injured in 2008. WEEI has the quotes.

“At the end of my career, in 2008 when I had gotten hurt, there was a conversation that I was involved in in which it was brought to my attention that this is a potential path I might want to pursue,” Schilling told Colin Cowherd.

Asked for more details, Schilling said the conversation occurred in the clubhouse and involved “former members of the organization — they’re no longer there. It was an incredibly uncomfortable conversation. Because it came up in the midst of a group of people. The other people weren’t in the conversation but they could clearly hear the conversation. And it was suggested to me that at my age and in my situation, why not? What did I have to lose? Because if I wasn’t going to get healthy, it didn’t matter. And if I did get healthy, great.

“It caught me off guard, to say the least. That was an awkward situation.”

That's a pretty damning accusation towards the Red Sox, and who really knows how truthful it is? There's also a layer of mystery as to just who the quotes came from. Could it have been a member of the front office, like former general manager Theo Epstein? Could it have been someone in the clubhouse, like former manager Terry Francona? Hell, could it have been a former teammate like Manny Ramirez? When you initially read Schilling's quotes, you immediately jump to the conclusion that "the organization is peddling drugs to players and they're a disgrace!", when in reality, it might just have been a rogue employee. Unless Schilling starts naming names, we really don't know anything concrete and shouldn't jump to any conclusions...but that's not going to stop people from doing that.

UPDATE: Michael Schmidt of the New York Times reports that MLB investigated the incident after it occured in 2008, and the employee was fired.

[WEEI]

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On Sunday, February 10th, AMC's acclaimed show The Walking Dead returns for the second half of season three after taking the last two months off. The show averaged over ten million viewers during the first half of this season, and is unquestionably a smash hit, regardless of plotholes, inaccuracies compared to the comic book, and other flaws.

With the show coming back this weekend, we decided it might be fun to compare some of the characters on the show to MLB teams for the upcoming season. I could only come up with 20 characters, so apologies to fans of teams that aren't mentioned...it's nothing against your team, it's just that there's only been so many characters in a show that's 26 episodes deep.

Beware: there are spoilers from the first two and a half seasons of The Walking Dead from here on out, so don't say I didn't warn you. I'm going to try to keep the pictures of characters from the show as non-gory as possible, but some blood might slip in.

For all of the talk about PED abuse being a huge problem in Major League Baseball, I think in reality, players getting DUIs is a much bigger problem. Whenever there's a player arrested for driving under the influence, it's usually swept under the rug pretty quickly, and penalties from the league are nearly nonexistent.

Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton was arrested on Tuesday evening for suspicion of DUI, but was released and hasn't been charged as of Wednesday afternoon. Both the Rockies and Helton released statements regarding the arrest.

First, from the Rockies.

We were extremely disappointed to learn that Todd was arrested this morning. This type of behavior is taken very seriously by our organization. We know that he clearly understands the seriousness of his poor decision, the harm that could have been inflicted on others and the embarrassment his mistake has caused to himself, his family, the Colorado Rockies organization and to Major League Baseball.

Todd is taking full accountability for his actions with his family, his fans and the organization. The man we have grown to know has strong values that are grounded in his family and hard work. Todd clearly understands the severity of the situation.

And then, from Helton.

"Last evening I exercised poor judgment and was charged with drinking and driving after driving to a gas station near my house. I am very sorry and embarrassed by my actions. I hold myself to a high standard and take my responsibility as a public figure very seriously. My entire career I have worked to set a positive example for my family and in our community and I fell far short of this standard.

I sincerely ask my family, the Colorado Rockies Organization, Major League Baseball and the community to accept my apology. I make no excuses and accept full responsibility for my actions. I humbly ask your forgiveness."

It's pretty sad that this is going to go down as a minor blip on the radar, while Ryan Braun is getting flayed by the media for simply having his name on a piece of paper at a PED-pushing doctor's office. Hopefully, the league starts treating players, coaches, and executives that are arrested for DUI a little more harshly, because their lack of response to any arrests is pretty sad. Say what you want to say about the draconian personal conduct policies of the NFL and NBA, but they're at least trying to stop issues like this from happening.

[9News]

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There have been a lot of gambles made this offseason.  The Angels are banking on Josh Hamilton putting them over the threshold.  The Dodgers hedged their Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford trade by inflating the payroll up toward $230 million.  The Royals are going for it all in the AL Central after dealing perhaps the top prospect in baseball (and then some) for James Shields and Wade Davis.  But no team has put it all on the line the way the Reds and the Blue Jays have, and who could blame them?

The AL East is up for grabs right now.  The Yankees are aging rapidly and will be depending on the 38-year old Derek Jeter to man shortstop and hold the team together, without Alex Rodriguez’s bat or glove in the lineup.  The Red Sox hit rock bottom last season and don’t appear as though they’ll be competitive again for a couple years.  The Rays may have reloaded their system with high-end prospects, but without James Shields in the rotation or Wade Davis in the bullpen, they’ll be depending upon unproven pitchers to stabilize their run to the playoffs.  Finally, I’m not sure anyone is convinced the Baltimore Orioles weren’t a fluke last season.  They lack speed and their pitching staff is comprised of a lot of pitchers that shouldn’t reasonably be as good as they were last season. 

So it makes sense for the Jays to make their move, but did anyone see them doing so on such a magnificent scale?  They didn’t just make a move here and there to put their proverbial “hat in the ring”.  The Blue Jays shoved all the chips to the center of the table and declared they be taken seriously.  They’ve raised payroll by approximately $40 million and added steroid infused MVP candidate Melky Cabrera, premier shortstop Jose Reyes, the underrated but pesky Maicer Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio, reigning NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey, potential staff ace Josh Johnson and the always dependable Mark Buehrle.  They’ll join a trio of dangerous hitters in Brett Lawrie, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion as well as the formidable arms of Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero.

The winds of change are blowing across Major League Baseball heading into Spring Training. Just when you think one piece of news was huge, another would come along and knock it off it's perch. Things began on Monday with the retirement of former Diamondbacks starter Brandon Webb, and continued into that evening with the trade of Jed Lowrie from the Astros to the Athletics. On Tuesday, we heard the news that Chris Carpenter likely wouldn't pitch for the Cardinals (or anyone, for that matter) in 2013 due to ongoing issues with his shoulder. Finally on Tuesday evening, we heard more bad news, this time involving Ryan Braun being linked to the Biogenesis clinic in Miami (a link which reportedly has nothing to do with PEDs, but that's not stopping people from crucifying Braun). Spring Training must be upon us...

But it's OK everyone, Spring Training is almost here,,,don't panic. To get you prepared, we took a look at some fun changes MLB should make (but never would), the shift in the balance of power across baseball to the west coast, and of course, whether or not the Houston Astros are an embarrassment in light of the Lowrie trade. Ah, baseball....so close, yet so far.

Enjoy your offseason, everyone.

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MLB's investigation of Anthony Bosch's Biogenesis clinic in Miami has turned up a name that will resonate across the landscape of baseball: Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun. Braun's name wasn't tied to any specific performance enhancing drugs, but the 2011 NL MVP has been linked with the scarlet letter in the past afterhe failed a drug test prior during the 2011 playoffs and won an appeal due to his urine sample being mishandled.

The Yahoo report about Braun's connection to the clinic does *not* tie him to any specific drugs or regiments, unlike Alex Rodriguez, Gio Gonzalez, and Melky Cabrera, among others. However, Braun's name is written on a list along with Rodriguez, Cabrera, Cesar Carrillo (also linked to PEDs in the initial report) and fellow newbies Francisco Cervelli of the Yankees and Danny Valencia of the Orioles. Also mentioned in the documents obtained by Yahoo are Chris Lyons, one of Braun's attorneys during his successful appeal of the positive drug test following the 2011 season. Braun's positive test was due to an elevated level of testosterone, the same violation that led to the suspensions of Cabrera and Colon during the 2012 season.

This isn't good news for Braun nor Major League Baseball. Braun is one of the league's most marketable stars after a 2012 season that was thought to be clean after his MVP-winning 2011 season that many claimed was tainted after the positive test. Braun, who worked with University of Miami strength and conditioning coach Jimmy Goins (named in the intial Miami New-Times report last week), could see his career absolutely destroyed if his ties to Bosch and the Biogenesis clinic are verified through the league's research. While Rodriguez and Cabrera were enough of a black eye towards baseball, a valid link between Braun and the clinic would be a knockout blow towards baseball's efforts of cleaning up the sport.

UPDATE: Braun released a statement regarding his being linked to Bosch and his clinic, claiming that him and his laywers used Bosch as a reference during his appeal last year due to his familiarity with T/E ratios and the possibility of tampering with a sample. That explanation sounds more plausible than any of the statements revealed by anyone else associated with Biogenetics, but you *know* it's not going to get spun that way.

[Yahoo!]

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With Spring Training on the horizon, the St Louis Cardinals got some bad news when they announced during a press conference today that starting pitcher Chris Carpenter was still feeling pain in his right shoulder following surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome this past July. The Cardinals have shut Carpenter down from throwing, and believe that it's very unlikely that he'll pitch in 2013 or beyond.

Carpenter made just three starts at the end of the season last year, throwing 17 innings with a 3.71 ERA. Carpenter also made three starts in the playoffs last fall, throwing 13 2/3 innings with a 2.63 ERA. Carpenter missed nearly all of the 2007 and 2008 seasons following Tommy John surgery, and earlier in his career, missed half of the 2002 season following after shoulder surgery and all of 2003 following a torn labrum.

After yesterday's trade of Jed Lowrie to the Athletics, a new narrative is popping up around the Houston Astros by some mainstream writers: the team is an embarrassment that makes the A's and Marlins look like big spenders. Much is being made about Houston's payroll in 2013, which will likely end up around $25 million on Opening Day. But because the team isn't spending money, are they an embarrassment?

The Astros haven't been to the playoffs since 2005, when they won the NL pennant. Houston hasn't finished above .500 since 2008. In 2009 and 2010, the Astros spent $195 million on payroll, and went 150-174. Over the last two years, the Astros spent $137 million on payroll, and went 111-213. Over the next two years, they'll probably spend about half (or less) than they did from 2011-12, and there's really no way to get worse than 111-213. So if you're the Astros, why *wouldn't* you divert money from the major league payroll to give the team a better future?