Manager Ozzie Guillen will be one of the principal subjects of "The Franchise." (Getty)One of the worst-kept secrets in baseball was made official on Monday: The Miami Marlins will indeed be the featured team when Showtime's second season of "The Franchise" kicks off later this year.

It's a great choice, of course. With the team moving into a new ballpark and Ozzie Guillen set to manage a colorful cast of characters, the Marlins were by far the best candidates in the field.

But that doesn't mean the production staff won't need a few pointers from a noted reality TV expert such as myself. Just as I did before last year's Giants-themed run, here are five tips for the season ahead.

1. It's a marathon, not a sprint: When all was said and done, I loved the first season and the time we spent with the defending world champion Giants. But you'll remember that I originally thought the hour-long premiere episode sped through too many first-half storylines and left our heads spinning. With the Marlins facing a lot of important issues early on — from the opening of a new ballpark to Hanley Ramirez's switch to third — it'll be disappointing if they rush things at a similar rate. 

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. Starting off the series is our own Ian Casselberry, the editor emeritus of Bless You Boys and a tried-and-true Detroit Tigers fan.

Yoenis Cespedes at the 2009 World Baseball Classic (AP)A hot stove season that was full of surprises is ending with one more stunner.

Cuban expat Yoenis Cespedes and the Oakland Athletics have come to terms on a deal, Yahoo! Sports' own Tim Brown first reported on Monday morning.  Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle followed with a report that Cespedes' contract is worth $36 million over four years.

[Related: Baseball's ultimate free-agent tracker]

The agreement finally provides an end to an offseason storyline that began at the beginning of November, when a hilarious video featuring the 26-year-old outfielder hit YouTube. Cespedes was linked to almost every team imaginable in the more than three months that followed with the Miami Marlins often thought to be the front runner.

(@JimBowdenESPNXM)

Of all the Whitney Houston-related tweets that cascaded down my Twitter feed on Saturday night, there were a few from Jim Bowden that stood out from all the others.

Seattle's Justin Smoak takes a few cuts on Sunday afternoon. (AP)

If there's anything I like more than saying "pitchers and catchers!" it's catching pictures of catchers and pitchers as they magically appear on the AP wire. (First person to say that 10 times fast wins my dog-eared copy of MLB's spring training media guide.)

Seriously, though: Embedding these first photographs of exercises that will soon become mind-numbingly routine is one of the highlights of my year. If you spent the last three or four months reading posts like this one, I'm sure you probably agree.

The early birds getting the worm this season are the Seattle Mariners, whose batteries (batterys? batterii?) reported to Peoria, Ariz., on Sunday afternoon, almost a full week ahead of most of the other 29 teams. (Note: This is the part where all of you at home let out a chortle and say, "Seattle sure needs the extra work!")

You can find reporting dates for all 30 teams here, but this week will be full of ballplayers and beat writers arriving in Arizona and Florida to finally get this 2012 season started. Derek Jeter and his merry band of scriveners, for example, are already doin' work in extending the legend at Steinbrenner Field.

At any rate, we've embedded a few more pictures of Mariners pitchers and catchers below the jump to put a skip in your step this morning.

Here's to there being plenty more where they came from.

Protip: if you're posing for a picture with a future Hall of Famer, don't give your mom the camera

— @Matthewverygood, via Twitter

My grandfather was a photographer and wire operator for the Associated Press, and he always had advice, sometimes unsolicited, for others taking pictures. One of his bedrock principles: "Everybody has feet." In other words, don't necessarily worry about capturing the entirety of a person in a given photograph — just concentrate on getting the best possible photograph.

The photographer who took the picture in this post, of her son @Matthewverygood and San Diego Padres legend Trevor Hoffman at the team's recent FanFest, certainly resists the temptation to get everyone's feet into the shot. She might have taken it a little too far, actually.

Logan Morrison wore the No. 20 in his first two seasons with the Marlins. (AP)You might be thinking what I was thinking when I first saw Logan Morrison's tweets on Saturday afternoon announcing his switch to his team's retired No. 5: The Miami Marlins retired a number other than Jackie Robinson's No. 42? How did I miss that?

Well, the Marlins actually retired the No. 5 prior to their inaugural season when the team's first president, Carl Barger, passed away unexpectedly during the 1992 Winter Meetings in Louisville.

Barger had grown up a big fan of the Yankees' Joe DiMaggio, so the decision was made almost immediately to retire DiMaggio's number in his honor. That ceremony took place before their first game on April 5, 1993.

Now, 19 years later, the number will officially come out of retirement in the Marlins home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 4. A plaque honoring Barger will take its place in the new Marlins Ballpark.

"I understand what an honor it is to have a number unretired," Morrison said via Twitter. "I want to thank Mr. Loria and the Marlins for making it happen."

"I also promise to wear the number with great pride and continue to honor Mr. Barger and his family."

As it turns out, Morrison also had a tribute in mind when he requested the number change. His father, Tom, who passed away after a battle with lung cancer in the December 2010, was a big supporter of George Brett, and often encouraged Logan to emulate the Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer. Now Morrison is one step closer to doing just that, while also honoring the memory of his dad.

Legendary comedian George Carlin used to do a bit in which he pretended to be Al Sleet, the Hippie Dippy Weather Man (who brought us "the hippie dippy weather, man"). Al would say things like: "Weather tonight: dark. Turning partly light by morning."

Of course, Texas Rangers left-hander Derek Holland isn't in that league (yet?) but he does seem like an affable free-spirit who's not afraid to make himself look silly in front of everyone. Having grown tired of being a limo driver and later Kurt Vonnegut, Holland has moved to greater challenges. Naturally, his foray into TV meteorology was disastrous as far as telling viewers about the weather in the Dallas Metroplex, but it also was humorous to see him step in for actual weather man Pete Delkus on WFFA-TV on Friday:

"I went to college down in Alabama for this," Holland said after Delkus foolishly handed him a clicker to control the background images.