Unfounded speculation is everywhere about manager Dusty Baker's tenuous situation. Baker had to shoot down a Friday SI.com report in which Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman cited ''multiple baseball executives'' as sources for his claim that Baker declined a Cubs management offer within the last few months to sign a multiyear deal worth $4 million to $4.5 million a year. ''I'll go on the record right now telling you that's a lie,'' Baker said. ''A big lie. A bald-faced lie, like my dad used to say. Never came up. Never offered. Never declined it. ''Why don't they leave me alone? Am I that big a news? No, really, am I?''