Evan-and-Jaime

For the past week, certain places on the internet have been become rigid with speculation that Tampa Bay Rays slugger Evan Longoria and Playboy model Jaime Edmondson were dating. Sure, the public could see the circumstantial evidence, like this photo of the pair apparently enjoying themselves at Disney's Animal Kingdom. And there were the tweets of Edmondson and Longoria teammate David Price — something about a doggie sleepover at Price's house. But it proved nothing.

However, just like with Woodward and Bernstein exposing the shenanigans of the Nixon White House and Watergate, we didn't know until a reporter actually asked Longoria. Ladies and gentleman, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times is today's Woodward and Bernstein. Woody Bernstein, if you will:

In addition to the fame and fortune he has from playing baseball for a living, Longoria confirmed Tuesday he is dating model Jaime Edmondson, who was Playboy magazine's Miss January 2010.

"Yes, we are dating,'' Longoria said. "It's been a secret for long enough; it's not really been a secret, but nobody has asked about it. We are dating.''

Gotcha, Longo!

Matt Moore has pitched 9 1/3 major league innings. (AP)PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — With almost no major league track record on which to base his decision, manager Joe Maddon chose left-hander Matt Moore to open the 2011 playoffs for the Tampa Bay Rays. Moore was 22 years old with three appearances and one start to his credit for the Rays, who would be facing one of the toughest lineups in the league.

By now you probably know that Moore dominated the Texas Rangers, allowing two hits over seven innings and striking out six in a 9-0 victory, Tampa Bay's only win of the playoffs. Who knows? Moore could have been the best pitcher in the postseason, had the Rays given him a chance to keep going.

Further, in December, the Rays signed Moore to a contract extension, the biggest deal ever granted a pitcher with less than a year of service time. He could make as much as $40 million over the next eight seasons if he earns all of the incentives.

But there's nothing in Moore's contract, or his dazzling if small-sample size stats, that guarantee him a spot in Maddon's pitching rotation.

"Everybody's expecting the moon out of this guy," Maddon said Tuesday. "I just want him to go out and be 'Matt Moore: Left-Handed Pitcher,' and to get ready for this season. Of course, his name has not been etched in the five-man rotation yet. I have him still competing."

That's how Moore sees it, too.

(@jeffpearlman/AP)You'd think a $250 million contract would be enough for a guy to overlook a few of the things he doesn't like about his employer.

But Albert Pujols is already objecting to the "El Hombre" billboards that have recently been posted by the Los Angeles Angels around Southern California. The Halos' star first baseman had previously told his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals, that he felt uncomfortable being called by the nickname because its English translation "belonged" to Stan "The Man" Musial. Pujols had a close relationship with the greatest Cardinal of all time before bolting to the Angels and a 10-year contract this offseason.

From ESPN Los Angeles:

(Getty Images)

The request we're sending to bloggers of all 30 teams this spring is a simple one: What are the 10 best things about being a fan of your favorite team? What features of the franchise have you excited for opening day and what keeps you coming back year after year?

Over the next few weeks, we'll give each of the 30 teams a day in the spotlight, showcasing the icons and traditions that make each big-league hamlet special. Up next is our old pal Dave Tobener, proprietor of Golden Gate Giants and the best Bay Area sports tweeter (@gggiants) around.

1. Tim Lincecum's windup: Every pitch he throws looks like it might break him in half. His small stature belies the ferocity of pitches fueled by a twisting mass of torque and fury he calls a windup. Tim Lincecum is a sight to behold when he pitches, and his mechanics are the definition of contradiction: utter chaos leading to absolute precision. There's nobody like him in baseball. Watching his starts is something every baseball fan should get to experience, but we Giants fans will gladly keep him to ourselves.

Rays GM Andrew Friedman (left) and manager Joe Maddon hope to have assembled another playoff team. (AP)

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — By the look on Joe Maddon's face, you'd swear Tampa Bay Rays GM Andrew Friedman just told him the team had re-signed Manny Ramirez. But this is not 2011, when the Rays brought in ManRam with hugely disappointing — and disorienting — results. This time around, the Rays aren't vulnerable to Manny being Manny. They're not vulnerable many places on the roster as they try to make the playoffs (and do better once they get there) for the fourth time in five seasons.

The best part of the club is the defense. The pitching staff — including James Shields, David Price, Jeremy Hellickson and rookie Matt Moore — is one of the deeper and more talented units in the league. Should the Rays score enough runs to support them, they could top 100 wins.

People expect a lot from the Rays. And Maddon welcomes it.

"We've never walked in the door with these kind of expectations, I don't think," Maddon said Tuesday. "And the thing I want to talk to [the players] about and for them to understand is, expectations should be the fuel that we need to get this done. They should serve as fuel and not a deterrent. I'm really excited that people expect a lot from us because we expect a lot from ourselves."

Expectations = Fuel. Another Joe Maddon T-shirt slogan is born.

'Hi, I'm Zim Bear. Wanna play?' (@Jonathan_Gantt)Bobbleheads beware: There's a new memorabilia item in town and it poses a risk to your status as the greatest of giveaways.

No, seriously: What you're looking at is the "Zim Bear" that the Tampa Bay Rays plan to hand out to fans attending the June 29 game against the Detroit Tigers at Tropicana Field.

Yes, it's half-crusty old coach Don Zimmer, half-cuddly teddy bear and 100 percent terrifying. It's really not too hard to imagine this fella subjugating and ruling over a score of bobbles  —  Lotso Bear in "Toy Story 3"-style — once the lights go down in your fan cave.

Honestly, though, it's a pretty cool giveaway on a Rays list that's full of them (the Evan Longoria Game 162 walkoff figurine is particularly sweet). Kudos to the team for thinking up such a neat and buzzworthy item.

I now hereby claim that I will pay $50 to anyone who attends this game and sends me their Zim Bear — plus an extra $50 if you're able to snap a picture of Pedro Martinez cuddling it before you ship it my way.

(Getty)We all have questions about the 2012 season and Alex Remington luckily has some answers. The Stew's resident stats guru will address some of the big ones as the year progresses.

The Situation: Carl Crawford didn't just have the worst year of his career in 2011. He had one of the worst years imaginable: Right after the best season of his career, which netted him a massive $142 million contract, the eighth-largest free-agent contract of all time (it was sixth until this year, when Pujols and Fielder pushed him back), Carl Crawford had a year-long slump. He hit .255 in hitter-friendly Fenway, and even slumped to the smallest stolen base total of his career. Way back in the hazy mists of 2010, I wrote that his contract might be a good deal:

If he stays healthy, he has a good chance to be worth the money. But, over the course of seven long years, that's a big if.

Now, Crawford did go on the DL with a hand injury, so I wasn't completely off base. But it still reads as an extraordinarily naive prediction. Still, back then, after Crawford had posted back-to-back All-Star campaigns and established himself as one of the best outfielders in the league, the contract seemed high but not unreasonable. Now, the 30-year-old has to prove he isn't over the hill.

The Question: Are Carl Crawford's best years behind him?

(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 storylines.

• The tallest tale of the offseason involved Roy Halladay, a trip to the Amazon and rescuing a native from the clear and present danger of a giant anaconda. It was an entertaining story to pass along even if details weren't exactly abundant. But that's how you want to first hear these stories, right? The fewer facts, the better as it allows our imaginations to run wild while building the character of a Hall of Fame, yet very vanilla, pitcher.

Unfortunately, the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher finally put an end to all our fun on Tuesday when he talked publicly about the incident for the first time. Bottom line: There was no snake-wrasslin', but it did involve a naked man under the influence of hallucinogenic bark.

• Bobby Abreu wants a trade if the Angels don't have an everyday spot for him.

• Congratulations to Evan Longoria.

• Death, taxes and Eric Chavez trying to make one last go of it. He just signed a one-year deal with worth about $900,000 with the New York Yankees on Tuesday.

• Jeff Sullivan takes an excellent look at Ichiro's move to the No. 3 lineup spot.