Ken Rosenthal reports the O’s are close to a three-year deal with Jamie Walker, whose agent predicted this week that he’d get a three-year contract. That means the Tigers are going to have to go looking for another left-handed reliever, but it’s more likely now that they’re going to have to do it through a trade. This is a good market for free-agent lefties, but Walker’s deal sets the price high for everyone else. Justin Speier was already being linked with three-year offers worth potentially $4 million a year, and while the likes of Scott Schoeneweis and Ron Villone aren’t in that same class anymore, they’re going to benefit too. And the Tigers are a team that traditionally hasn’t gone for long-term deals for many relievers. The 3-year, $10 million offer the O’s supposedly made to Walker are the same terms the Tigers reportedly offered Kyle Farnsworth before trading him in 2005.

For all the speculation about talks between the Tigers and Rangers about Mark Teixeira, which isn’t likely to happen, Texas has something for teams to covet with lefty C.J. Wilson, who allowed a .155 average and other stingy numbers from left-handed hitters this year. And they need starting pitching. That’s how the Tigers will probably have to fill the void Walker would leave. It’s not a matter of being stingy. It’s a matter of how to get the best talent for the money, especially for a team that’s going to fill an opening at first base, too.

Jim Leyland is the AL Manager of the Year. OK, not a shocker. To be honest, though, I thought the job that Ron Gardenhire did in Minnesota would make it closer than a lot of folks around here expected. No, Gardenhire didn’t have to turn around a franchise rooted in losing for the last dozen years, but he had to deal with more in-season challenges than any other contender in baseball. That said, what Leyland did is going to go down in history, even without a World Series crown.