Playing Fact or Fiction with All of MLB's Hottest Week 3 Buzz, Rumors
Once upon a time, managers and players were given some time to get going once the regular season got underway, with decision-makers around the game and fans alike understanding that they were just beginning a six-month marathon, not a three-week sprint.
But that was then, and this is now. Today, those passing judgement and buying tickets expect instant gratification and results. Patience? It's all but left the yard, and with its disappearance, the rumor mill has picked up considerable speed since Opening Day.
Will a manager be looking for new work before the calendar flips to May? Will a former MVP and perennial All-Star make his way back to the field? Are changes coming to pitching staffs on teams believed to be contenders heading into the season?
We'll cover all of that and more in this week's edition of Fact or Fiction.
Scott Boras' Service Time 'Solution' Will One Day Become Reality
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Scott Boras is still outraged that he won't be able to cash in his client, Kris Bryant, will have to wait until after the 2021 season to test free agency thanks to the decision-making of Theo Epstein and the rest of the Chicago Cubs front office.
But fret not, for the superagent knows how to make sure that he'll never be this outraged again.
Boras believes that the creation of a panel, made up of former managers and baseball experts, can best decide in spring training whether a player is major league-ready should a team opt to start him in the minors, as the Chicago Cubs did with Bryant last month.
“For example, I would say that the union or somebody may come in and say that they've made a claim that this player is major league-ready. And that to place him in the minor leagues would not be appropriate from a skills standpoint," Boras explained to CSN Chicago's Patrick Mooney. "And then all of a sudden, it’s subject to review by a panel of former managers or baseball experts.”
We've already seen the MLB Players Association put a non-member's interests ahead of one of its own, so while such a proposal might seem outrageous, it's one that the union might actually get behind given its confusion over whom it actually represents.
Verdict: Fiction
There's a better chance of a team hiring Boras to serve as its general manager—or coaxing union head Tony Clark out of retirement to play first base—than there is of such a proposal ever gaining traction when negotiations between the union and MLB get underway on a new collective bargaining agreement.
Make no mistake about it—service time will be one of the focal points of those negotiations. But a team ceding control over roster decisions to anyone from outside its organization simply is never going to happen.
Josh Hamilton Will Play for the Angels Again
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Perhaps there was some heavenly intervention at play, for only a few weeks after Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno refused to say whether Josh Hamilton would play another game for his team, according to the Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin, the team suddenly has a plan in place for Hamilton's return.
According to Shaikin, Hamilton would spend a few weeks at the team's training complex in Arizona in extended spring training before moving on to a minor league rehabilitation assignment as he works his way back from offseason shoulder surgery.
Of course, Hamilton's surgically repaired shoulder is the least of his worries. The 2010 AL MVP, who has battled addiction his entire career, self-reported a relapse with drugs and alcohol earlier this year but was not subject to discipline from the team or MLB after an arbitrator's decision.
Entering the third year of the five-year, $125 million deal that he signed with the Angels before the 2013 season, Hamilton has struggled to replicate his All-Star numbers, hitting .255/.316/.426 with 31 home runs and 123 RBI over 240 of a possible 324 regular-season games.
Verdict: Fact
The only chance the Angels have of trading Hamilton is if he proves that he's healthy and can still hit major league pitching.
Nothing he does on a minor league rehab assignment is going to convince a potentially interested party to take a chance on the embattled slugger, no matter how much of the $75 million remaining on his deal the Angels are willing to eat.
Seattle's Rotation Is a Bigger Concern Than Its Bullpen
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Seattle's slow start to the season (6-9) has seen a lot of finger-pointing directed at its struggling bullpen, a unit that was expected to be one of baseball's best as it was a year ago. It has been mediocre thus far, pitching to a 3.61 ERA and 1.51 WHIP.
But as manager Lloyd McClendon recently told The News Tribune's Bob Dutton, those fingers are pointed in the wrong direction: “We've got a good bullpen. But if your starters don’t give you quality innings, your bullpen is not going to look good.”
After J.A. Happ (2.61 ERA, 1.06 WHIP) and Felix Hernandez (2.37, 0.89), Seattle's rotation has been anything but good.
Hisashi Iwakuma is struggling to locate his pitches and, as a result, has allowed four earned runs in each of his three starts. James Paxton and Taijuan Walker, long touted as the future of the team's pitching staff, have given up a combined 39 hits and 29 earned runs in 27.2 innings of work.
Verdict: Fact
While there's plenty of time for Iwakuma, Paxton and Walker to get back on track, the Mariners aren't exactly flush with quality options down on the farm. The two pitchers most likely to be called upon, per Dutton—Roenis Elias (6.14 ERA, 1.30 WHIP) and Jordan Pries (9.20, 1.84)—have both struggled badly at Triple-A Tacoma.
Trade options are few and far between at the moment, but should the team's rotation continue to falter, it wouldn't at all be shocking to see general manager Jack Zduriencik look to bring in a fresh face or two.
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Mike Redmond Will Be the First Manager Fired
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A popular preseason pick as a playoff contender, Miami (4-10) has gotten off to a horrible start, leading to speculation that current manager Mike Redmond's job could be in danger.
Those speculative flames have been fueled by owner Jeffrey Loria's refusal to give his manager a vote of confidence, per the Miami Herald's Clark Spencer, who previously reported that the Marlins owner was looking into potential replacements.
That list includes Wally Backman, the former New York Mets second baseman and current manager of the team's Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas.
USA Today's Ted Berg believes Redmond deserves a chance to turn things around:
"Practically anything can happen in short stretches of a season. Heck, last year’s world champion Giants actually went 7-20 from June 9 to July 8. The Marlins’ slow start is isolated by the schedule, but 13 games should not be nearly enough to determine Redmond is unfit for the job if the team believed him so before opening day.
"
Verdict: Fact
Can you imagine if Loria owned the Giants? Bruce Bochy might not have made it to the All-Star break last year after that monthlong slump. After all, we've seen Loria make rash decisions before, especially when it comes to managers.
Both Joe Girardi and Ozzie Guillen were fired after one season on the job, while Fredi Gonzalez, who had guided the club to back-to-back winning seasons in 2008 and 2009, was canned 70 games into the 2010 season with the team sitting two games below .500 (34-36).
If things don't improve in Miami—quickly—Redmond will join Girardi, Gonzalez and Guillen as former Marlins skippers.
Cody Allen's Days as Cleveland's Closer Are Numbered
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A rough start in Cleveland (5-9) has only drawn attention to the troubles of the team's closer, Cody Allen, who while converting three of his four save opportunities thus far, has pitched to a 14.40 ERA and 3.00 WHIP over five innings of relief.
"It's not been great," said Allen when asked by Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer to describe his start to the season. "You sum it all up, it's been two out of five games. It hasn't been spread out where each one has been kind of bad. It's been two that have been very bad."
The eight earned runs that Allen has allowed have come in two relief appearances—four against Detroit on April 11 and four against the White Sox this past Monday, so Allen is correct in his assessment that it's only a couple of bad outings that have his numbers looking as badly as they do.
That's something that wasn't lost on Indians manager Terry Francona, who was quick to come to his closer's defense after his latest debacle: "Cody is about as trustworthy and dependable as anyone we have," he told Hoynes. "Monday night wasn't a lot of fun, but if there's anybody we believe in, he's right at the top of the list."
Verdict: Fiction
Who exactly are the Indians going to replace Allen with? None of the other members of the bullpen are what you'd call closers-in-waiting, and while there are a handful of veteran options available via free agency—including former Indians closer Chris Perez—none of them are sure to be better than Allen.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs and are current through games of April 22. All contract information courtesy of Cot's Contracts.
Hit me up on Twitter to talk all things baseball: @RickWeinerBR
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