Growing up in western Pennsylvania, young Joe Maddon idolized Joe Namath.

"You have no idea [how much]," Maddon said Tuesday when the New York Jets legend visited the Tampa Bay Rays in Jupiter for their game against the Miami Marlins. Maddon even went to the trouble of opening the gate at Roger Dean Stadium to let Namath in.

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Holland also toyed with becoming author Kurt Vonnegut this offseason.Baseball is back! Here at Big League Stew, we'll take a quick dash around the league each morning in an attempt to keep you updated on all the springtime story lines.

• Funnyman left-hander Derek Holland is about to sign a contract extension with the Texas Rangers that would last through the 2016 season, reporter Evan Grant writes in the Dallas Morning News. Such a deal would eat up a year of free agency.

General manager Jon Daniels declined to comment.

Holland, 25, was 16-5 last year but was the team's best pitcher down the stretch. He won 12 of his final 13 decisions (including the postseason), during which time he compiled a 2.89 ERA and allowed opponents a .234 average.

The Rangers have been competing with a Dallas TV station for Holland's services. They would use him as a meteorologist.

• Monday was a great day in the recent financial history of Mets ownership, which let it be known that loans of $25 million had been repaid to Major League Baseball and $40 million to Bank of America. The Mets also closed on the sales of 12 limited partnerships at $20 million apiece. (Did you get your piece of the Mets?) Earlier in the day, the Mets settled a civil lawsuit for $162 million regarding their liability in the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme. Now, if there's enough money left over for Sandy Alderson to play with, maybe the Mets can move forward again.

• Status: released.

Everybody's going to point and snicker and say, "And that's why Miguel Cabrera shouldn't be playing third base," after the Detroit Tigers slugger took a grounder off his face Monday.

Everybody should cool it. Cabrera has been receiving a lot of attention (medical and otherwise) after the impact of a grounder hitting just below his right eye caused profuse bleeding, prompting him to leave a Grapefruit League game against the Phillies. Cabrera's eye seemed to be OK, but he was taken to a hospital, reportedly for stitches and X-rays.

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As the video replay appears to show, Hunter Pence hit a sharp grounder that bounced off the lip of the infield dirt, taking a bad hop, hitting Cabrera in the right cheek after shattering a lens of his sunglasses. (Perhaps a cut by the plastic is what caused the blood.) Regardless, it's a play that could happen to anyone, even a great third baseman. Even someone who isn't a great third baseman but still has great hand/eye coordination like Cabrera does.

(AP)Baseball is back! Here at Big League Stew, we'll take a quick dash around the league each morning in an attempt to keep you updated on all the springtime story lines.

• Steve Cohen seems to be making all of the right moves to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. First, he put up a lot of cash. Then, he added some baseball credibility. Now, he's enlisted another billionaire to help with his bid.

Reporter Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes on Sunday that Cohen has added Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong as a minority partner to his potential ownership group. Cohen recently bid around $1.6 billion for the Dodgers, reportedly using his own money, and did it mostly with cash. Tony La Russa, former manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, also would get a front-office position with Cohen's Dodgers.

As the richest man in Los Angeles, Soon-Shiong already owns a piece of the Los Angeles Lakers he bought from Magic Johnson — who also is in the running to buy the Dodgers. Born in South Africa to Chinese immigrant parents, Soon-Shiong made his fortune as a pioneering surgeon and biotech investor. Soon-Shiong and Cohen — a hedge-fund billionaire from the East Coast — combine for a net worth in excess of $15 billion, if valuations by Forbes magazine are correct. h/t: Dodger Thoughts.

[Related: Tim Lincecum puts Clayton Kershaw in headlock on magazine cover]

• A trial to determine how much money Mets ownership owes in the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme mess begins Monday. Up to $303 million is at stake, MLB.com reports:

Los Angeles Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson took to Twitter on Sunday to say hello to a former teammate and wish him a happy St. Patrick's Day.

Oh, and to give out that teammate's phone number for all to see.

Apparently as revenge for some mild trash talk, Wilson asked noted Irishman Mike Napoli of the Texas Rangers to give him a call at his "new" phone number. But the number broadcast by Wilson was really Napoli's. As of early Monday morning, if you call Napoli's number — as many obviously have — you won't be able to leave a message because his mailbox is full.

Aw, he didn't.

Oh, yes he did.

As hard as it is to believe, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Napoli is not happy with Wilson:

"I don't even know why he did it," Napoli said. "You don't do that. I am not taking it as a prank.

"You know, I haven't even talked to him since the end of last season. We don't have that type of relationship."

Not cool, Wilson. Not cool at all.

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(ESPN Magazine)

The headline on ESPN the Magazine's upcoming baseball preview reads "Cy vs. Cy" and that's pretty darned clever, given the Spy vs. Spy play on words. I also like the old-school Sports Illustrated-esque nature of the pose, with Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants getting Kershaw in noogie position. One quibble: Presumably, somewhere off camera, Roy Halladay of the Phillies is standing by ready to suck the snake venom out of either pitcher from the NL West.

It's really Kersh who has Timmy in a headlock, you know, at least since 2011. Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Lincecum and the Giants 2-1 on opening day, they beat them with 12 strikeouts 1-0 on July 20 and they beat them 2-1 on Sept. 20. (The Arizona Diamondbacks really remember that last one fondly.)

Further: Did you know that Kershaw is 6-1 with a 1.25 ERA in 11 career starts against the Giants? If San Francisco wants back in the playoffs all it has to do is even that out a little.

Reporter Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle blogged about the cover, and Lincecum's feelings about going to a photo shoot with a rival:

(@KyleStuef via Instagram)

Kyle Stuef was traveling on Interstate 696 on Friday morning when he happened to notice two gigantic fiberglass tigers, each strapped to a semi trailer in the next lane over. Thinking quickly, the Ypsilanti resident snapped this photo of a 15-foot-tall beast as it sped toward Detroit.

Boy, it's a good thing Stuef wasn't driving (or else he never would have been able to get such a clear shot).

"I audibly gasped when I saw them," Stuef said.

No doubt. And this means only one thing: We must be getting close to opening day. The statues, which have lived atop the main scoreboard in left field at Comerica Park since it opened in 2000, have returned after a quick winter hibernation. They spent the past few weeks in Milford, Conn. (of all places) getting a good scrubbing for fleas and ticks, along with some touch-up paint.

But simply driving them back to the Motor City isn't enough. They have to be remounted on the scoreboard. After all, how else are they going to be in position to growl whenever Miguel Cabrera or Prince Fielder hit a home run, or a fly ball comes near Delmon Young, for the Detroit Tigers?

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Andy Pettitte in August 1995, when he was a rookie. (AP)He hasn't pitched since 2010, he's going on 40 years old, he's logged nearly 3,100 career innings and he soon must testify in Roger Clemens perjury trial (again). But Andy Pettitte still thinks he has something left in the tank. The New York Yankees must agree, and they've signed him to a one-year contract for $2.5 million. It's a minor-league deal that includes an invite to spring training — which has been going on for a month now, by the way.

Jack Curry of YES had the news first. This turn of events should not be surprising, given the Yankees' and Pettitte's inability to quit each other. But it's the middle of March, and the Yankees already have a surplus of starting pitching: CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda, Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia. Not to mention a couple of kids — Manuel Banuelos and Dellin Betances.

Here's a video of Pettitte calling into a Yankees broadcast to explain himself.

And yet, there's no way they could say no to Andy.