"With only three games remaining before the NFL season wraps up (no, the Pro Bowl doesn't count), baseball will take the stage shortly, when spring training begins just ahead of March Madness. We still don't know if Prince Fielder will be among the Washington Nationals reporting to Viera, Fla., but at least pitcher Gio Gonzalez will be settling in for a while.

Signing Gonzalez to a contract extension that bought out his four years of arbitration, and potentially three years of free agency, involved some risk for both parties. But the strategy helped the Cleveland Indians become a perennial powerhouse in the mid-'90s, winning five consecutive AL Central titles and six in seven years."