Whoa! This is big, giant, wonderful news that’s come entirely out of nowhere!

Joey Votto and the Reds are close to a long-term contract extension. Votto confirmed a report by mlbtraderumors.com.

“I can’t comment till it’s done,” he said. “You’ll have to ask Walt (Jocketty). It’s a gray area. I’ll be much more forthcoming later.”

So the MLB trade rumor site broke the story, but honest-to-goodness, legitimate journalists and Joey Votto have confirmed that the deal is in the works.

This and Opening Day is on Thursday? It’s shaping up to be an excellent start to the season.

I missed this the other day, but just saw it on Redleg Nation when catching up on Cincinnati Reds news (or the lack thereof) tonight. Joey Votto had an interview with CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman about the large contracts that Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder signed in the off-season.

“They did great, they did excellent,” Votto said. “Prince and Albert both stayed healthy and consistent. Albert obviously performed at an incredible level. And Prince performed in his own right, and he got a ton of years. To get nine or 10 years is what most (top) players look to. … Both guys are super talented, and I hope they live up to those contracts.”

Votto, as always, comes across as thoughtful and unafraid to say what he believes is true. He noted how clubs now shy away from signing players 35 and older to big contracts as. So the best thing is for players to maximize the number of years like Pujols and Fielder did.

Of course, Cincinnati is a small-market team, and talk of contracts like those might make him seem unwilling to stay. But he says that’s not the case.

“I’m very proud I’m with the Reds,” Votto said at one point.

When asked if he’d like to stay, he answered, “I definitely do.”

That’s good news. Hopefully, the Reds can work something out to keep Votto here for a bit longer than his current contract.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter John Fay wrote a little bit about one Joey Votto yesterday, and as usual, Votto came off as more focused than your average bear.

“My only complaint is the number of meetings we have,” Votto said. “Other than that, I think the pace goes well and guys get enough work in. I don’t think there’s any excuse come season time to not be ready.”

Yup, Votto likes practicing the fundamentals, and it sounds kind of like he’d get pissed off at teammates who loafed and messed up because of it.

“It could happen in the middle of June when we’re tied for first in a big game against Adam Wainwright. It’s important to start here and build from here.”

So it’s a good thing Votto wasn’t on the team for most of the 2000s, otherwise I’m pretty sure his stare of disapproval would’ve withered everyone on that error-prone team.

Earlier this week, MLB announced the winner of the National League’s Most Valuable Player award. We all knew that Joey Votto would not be repeating for the Cincinnati Reds, thanks to their craptastic year. But we all wondered where he would place and how many votes he’d get.

As expected, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun won the award. And Votto placed sixth.

1. Ryan Braun, Milwaukee -388
2. Matt Kemp, L.A. Dodgers -332
3. Prince Fielder, Milwaukee -229
4. Justin Upton, Arizona1-214
5. Albert Pujols, St. Louis–166
6. Joey Votto, Cincinnati–135
7. Lance Berkman, St. Louis–118
8. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado—69
9. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia–52
10. Ryan Howard, Philadelphia—39
11. Jose Reyes, N.Y. Mets—31
12. Clayton Kershaw, L.A. Dodgers–29
13. Shane Victorino, Philadelphia—18
14. Ian Kennedy, Arizona—16
15. Cliff Lee, Philadelphia—12
16. Hunter Pence, Houston-Phi.—10
17. Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco—7
18. John Axford, Milwaukee—7
19. Michael Morse, Washington—5
20. Carlos Beltran, N.Y. Mets-S.F.—3
21. Miguel Montero, Arizona—2
22. Yadier Molina, St. Louis—2
23. Starlin Castro, Chicago—1
24. Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta—1
25. Carlos Ruiz, Philadelphia—1
26. Mike Stanton, Florida—1

Votto was on a majority of the ballots, and I might quibble with him finishing lower than Prince Fielder–who is grossly overrated, in my opinion–but it’s still nice to see him getting some love. He’s very, very good, and I’m going to enjoy his time as a Red as long as it lasts. In fact, I’m sure I’ll be wearing my Votto jersey this weekend at RedsFest.

I saw mention of this story come through on Facebook today in between meetings:

Another big season has earned first baseman Joey Votto the Reds’ Performer of the Year Award, as selected by MLB.com.

Of course, I thought it was a league-level award at the time I read it. Once I realized that MLB.com chose one of these award recipients for every team, I thought they ought to make a special exception in Votto’s case and change the name to the “Well, Duh” award. Consider:

Votto, the reigning National League MVP, batted .309 with 29 home runs and 103 RBIs in his second straight All-Star season. He led the NL with 110 walks, 40 doubles and a .416 on-base percentage, and set career highs for games played (161) and plate appearances (719).

A couple more years like that, and it’ll get even more incredible that this team can’t win. At least Votto will have a nice resume and presence on Baseball-Reference.com. Congratulations to Votto.