Leyland Knows He's On A Rapidly Ticking Clock As Tigers Manager

I like Jim Leyland as Tigers manager already.

He speaks with urgency, which I suppose is easier to do when you're in your 60's and getting another manager job after being fired from your last one, a job in which you admittedly didn't give it your best shot.

"We better get better quick. Mr. Ilitch is running out of patience. The fans are running out of patience," Leyland said as the Tigers winter caravan loaded up its diesel fuel and set out to roam the state, beating the bushes looking for fans who will buy the propaganda once more.


Leyland: no time for five-year plans


But there is no propaganda, in the brainwashing sense, when it comes to Jimmy Leyland. He may shoot it from the hip, but he shoots it straight. A refreshing change from the "Gee whiz" saccharin that came from the Tigers dugout the last three seasons.

"I'm going to have fun with the players. I'll never slam them publicly. But behind closed doors, there will be accountability," Leyland says. "We got good players, so let's go out and perform."

But back to the urgency. Leyland sees the need for it, has it, and wants to transfer it to his players. He hasn't managed in the American League, and he admitted at his introductory press conference that he didn't know all that much about his new team. But he hasn't been living in one of Saddam Hussein's spider holes, either. He knows the Tigers haven't compiled more wins than losses since 1993.

"Alan Trammell isn't here because the players didn't perform," Leyland says with perhaps a bit too much of a nod to professional courtesy. "And if the players don't perform for me, I'll get fired."

Yes, it's all about the players, Sparky Anderson always use to say. You have good ones, you're a good manager. If you don't....

Speaking of wins and losses, Jim Leyland has an overall record that is below .500. But his resume includes three straight divisional titles with the Pirates, a World Series win with the Marlins, and two Manager of the Year Awards. Being on the wrong side of .500 as a manager is easier to forgive when you've done that kind of winning in the process.

Early indicators are that his new players are buying into the Leyland administration, although there's not really a choice for them at this point. But it's always good to have them on your side, I suppose. Makes the medicine go down easier if there's some sugar in the clubhouse.

"He's a throwback. He's a no-nonsense guy," third baseman Brandon Inge says.

No-nonsense? Good! There's been plenty of that stuff around Michigan and Trumbull first, then Brush and Madison second, during the past 12 years.

Longevity in the managerial/coaching positions is a dying commodity in professional sports. Gone are the days when men managed or coached teams as if they were Supreme Court justices: as long as they damn well wanted. Now, a guy who is in place for three or four years is a "dean" of his brethren. Look no further than Joe Louis Arena to the south, the Palace to the north, and Comerica Park and Ford Field in between, to understand that coaches get the ziggy at dizzying rates nowadays. Mike Babcock, in his first season as coach of the Red Wings, is the senior guy in town. And he was hired in early July 2005. Detroit performed a quadruple coaching bypass -- all four of them getting the ziggy within four months and some change.

So it's no surprise that when a legend leaves, the rock of consistency leaves with him. The Dodgers were managed first by Walter Alston for 20+ years, then Tommy Lasorda for another 20. Since Tommy resigned, no man has been able to keep the job for longer than five years. Sparky's last season in Detroit was 1995. Since then, the Tigers have spirited five men in and out of the dugout. Jim Leyland will be the sixth.

The Tigers are in dire need of a firm hand on their ship's wheel. Last season the clubhouse was a disaster. Alan Trammell isn't not here just because the players didn't perform. He didn't perform, either. The Tigers, toothless on the field, need a manager with teeth. Jim Leyland blows into town with that reputation. This is a man who took on Barry Bonds, don't forget, in a very public display one spring.

Jimmy Leyland talks of getting better quickly and everyone's lack of patience when it comes to Detroit Tigers baseball. He knows his honeymoon is going to be short.

The Tigers should have been hiring older dudes as soon as the Sparkster left, after all.