Playing Fact or Fiction with All of MLB's Hottest Week 25 Buzz, Rumors

There's nothing quite like late September baseball. The air is crisper, the ball makes a different sound when it comes off the bat, every game takes on increased importance and teams and players alike are jockeying for position in races for playoff spots and individual awards.

While all of that is enough to keep much of the baseball universe's focus squarely on the action, it hasn't kept the rumor mill from looking ahead and beginning to pick up steam in advance of the upcoming offseason.

Is a franchise fixture spending his last few weeks with the only team he's ever known? Will a former Cy Young Award winner add another trophy to his mantle? Could a three-time Manager of the Year be the key to turning around one of the year's biggest disappointments?

We'll tackle all of that and more in this week's edition of "Fact or Fiction."

Fact: Hiring Dusty Baker Would Be a Mistake by the Marlins

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

It sure looks as if Dusty Baker will become Miami's next manager, with Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reporting the two sides are engaged in discussions, a process that very well could have begun back in mid-May when the Marlins fired Mike Redmond.

According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, Baker, along with former Texas manager Ron Washington and Ozzie Guillen (yes, that Ozzie Guillen), who previously managed both the Chicago White Sox and Marlins, were on the team's short list of potential replacements.

Nobody disputes Baker's ability to motivate and lead, and there's value in hiring a "big name," both with the fans and the players. His resume as a manager is impressive, to be sure.

Some of his more notable achievements:

• Compiled a 1,671-1,504 record over 20 years in the dugout (.526 winning percentage)
• Seven playoff appearances
• Three-time National League Manager of the Year (1993, 1997 and 2000)

But if Baker has an Achilles' heel, it's his ability to handle a pitching staff, specifically one full of young talent. Just ask Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, whose arms were both destroyed by overuse under Baker's watch in Chicago.

Those issues were less prevalent when he was in Cincinnati, and it's entirely possible that he's learned from past mistakes.

That's just not a risk the Marlins can afford to take, not with Jose Fernandez and Henderson Alvarez both having dealt with arm issues in the past (and present as it pertains to Alvarez) and a pitching staff built around young arms.

Dusty Baker is a fine manager, one who could very well lead a team to success in 2016 and beyond. But he's the wrong choice for Miami.

Fiction: Detroit Will Part Ways with Bruce Rondon This Winter

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Bruce Rondon's act has gotten old in Detroit, with manager Brad Ausmus announcing Tuesday that the hard-throwing 24-year-old reliever had been sent home for the rest of the season due to his "effort level," per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.

“I knew that there were a lot of guys in the clubhouse that were unhappy with his antics,” Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos told the Free Press' George Sipple. “There’s been times where I’ve wanted to say something, but it’s not my place yet.”

Not that there's any guarantee Rondon would listen to Castellanos, as he's seemingly ignored everyone else. In fact, multiple coaches complained about his attitude going all the way back to spring training, according to Tony Paul of the Detroit News.

While Castellanos and other players support the team's decision, they'd all welcome Rondon back into the clubhouse—so long as he starts to take the advice that he's ignored up to this point.

"Absolutely. Absolutely," Ian Kinsler told ESPN.com's Katie Strang. "Everybody grows up, everybody changes, everybody makes mistakes, and if he shows that he wants to compete and compete with his teammates, then absolutely."

For all of his faults, Rondon remains a talented young pitcher with tremendous upside. He can still develop into the shutdown, late-inning reliever that the Tigers have long thought he was destined to become. It makes little sense for the Tigers to sell low on that kind of talent.

Rondon is quickly running out of chances with the Tigers—but they'll give him at least one more next season before cutting ties with him.

Fact: David Price Should Win the AL Cy Young Award

Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

For the first four months of the regular season, there wasn't a race to discuss when it came to the American League Cy Young Award—it belonged to Houston's Dallas Keuchel.

But what David Price has done since becoming a member of the Toronto Blue Jays at the July 31 trade deadline is nothing short of extraordinary.

In 10 starts for the Jays, Price has gone 8-1 with a 1.95 ERA and 0.98 WHIP, striking out 81 batters over 69.1 innings of work. He's faced the Yankees three times, going 2-0 with a 1.27 ERA and 0.94 WHIP with 20 strikeouts in 21.1 innings.

While Keuchel and the Astros have faded down the stretch, losing their grip on first place in the AL West to the Texas Rangers, Price has taken his game to new heights, helping to propel Toronto past New York in the AL East standings.

Price, who now leads the AL in ERA (2.34) and is among the league leaders in pretty much every other statistical category you could think of, has actually bested his numbers from his Cy Young Award-winning season as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays back in 2012.

Fiction: Ryan Howard Will Be in Spring Training with the Phillies

Alan Diaz/Associated Press

Another year, another offseason full of speculation about Ryan Howard's future in Philadelphia.

New Phillies president Andy MacPhail told reporters, per Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News: 

"

I anticipate he'll be in Clearwater. We'll see where we go there. I don't know what's going to happen over the course of the winter, what opportunities may be available for us and for him. We just have to cross that bridge when we get there, but right now he's somebody we have a vested interest in getting back healthy and getting him to Clearwater.

"

That's a far cry from the message the team's front office sent last winter, when former general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told Howard the team would be better off without him.

But with Philadelphia in the midst of a rebuilding process, keeping Howard around serves no purpose, especially when the team has a younger, cheaper alternative at first base in Darin Ruf, though it's not as if the 29-year-old has been overly impressive in limited playing time.

Whether it's a trade in which the Phillies eat all of the $35 million left on his deal ($25 million salary and a $10 million buyout of his $23 million team option for 2017) or simply giving him his outright release, the Phillies will rid themselves of the distraction that Howard has, through no fault of his own, become.

Fact: Walt Weiss Won't Be Managing the Rockies in 2016

Rich Schultz/Getty Images

Colorado manager Walt Weiss will be the first to tell you that he hasn't won enough over three years on the job to satisfy anyone. "I get it. It's a bottom-line business," Weiss told the Denver Post's Mark Kiszla. "As a head coach or a manager, sooner or later, you've got to win. I'm not naive to that."

To be sure, Weiss hasn't had a team full of All-Stars to lead, especially on the pitching side of things. This year is the first in which he had a completely healthy Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowtizki, only to see his shortstop traded away at the trade deadline.

And Weiss isn't wrong when he talks about how he and his staff have instilled an air of accountability in the clubhouse, where "guys on this team feel the need to show up and compete every day," per Kiszla.

But he is also a holdover from a previous regime, and most general managers want to have their own coaching staff in place, regardless of the sport. Current Rockies GM Jeff Bridich is no different, and it's not hard to read between the lines in his responses to questions about Weiss' future.

“He’s got another year on his contract, everybody knows that,” Bridich told the Post's Nick Groke. “We’ll have meetings and sit down and talk and see what the right fit is. This isn’t the time or place yet to say 100 percent yes or no. He’s got to have a part in that too. We’ll let the season play out before we make that determination.”

Translation: Another lost season is almost over, so it makes no sense for us to make a change now. We'll deal with what we've got for another few weeks.

Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs and are current through September 23. All contract information courtesy of Cot's Contracts (via Baseball Prospectus).

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