For anyone who missed it earlier this evening, Pirates GM Dave Littlefield finally discussed the Chris Shelton decision in an interview with MLB.com’s Pirates beat reporter, Ed Eagle. It wasn’t a lengthy explanation as to why they left Shelton exposed to the Rule 5 Draft a few years ago, but he gave his first answer on the topic since Shelton’s home run barrage:

"As we evaluated Shelton at that point in time, we definitely likedhis bat," said Littlefield. "But the thing we weren’t confident about
was his defense and where he was going to be able to play
[defensively]."

As surprising as it might seem now, the Pirates also had concerns about
Shelton’s ability to hit for power in the big leagues. After being
promoted to Double-A Altoona in 2003, Shelton did not have a home run
in 122 at-bats.

"In retrospect, it was a mistake," said Littlefield. "If I had it to do
all over again, we certainly wouldn’t have [left Shelton unprotected].
As we are now seeing, the power is obviously there."

"I tip my cap to Chris," Littlefield added. "He’s obviously performing well and I hear he’s improved his defense as well."

As I pointed out in my notes, one irony in the matter is that the Pirates and Littlefield announced a contract extension on Opening Day, the same day Shelton had his two-homer game at Kansas City.

Come on, you didn’t really think Jim Leyland had relaxed and become a kind, old professor, did you?

When every reporter in sight asked him in spring training how players were taking to him, Leyland cautioned that while everything was fine then, the real sign wouldn’t come until he had to become the bad guy or they had a losing streak. That part came Monday.

The AP report was pretty accurate; you could hear the tirade from outside the clubhouse, and they were grown-up words. He was still pretty angry for the 51 seconds he talked with reporters before getting up. There were a few players who still looked pretty surprised afterwards as reporters walked in.

This is the other side of the agreement with Leyland. He treats players like adults, lets them determine a lot of the rules, tries to be friendly with them and keep a loose clubhouse. But if they don’t play right, they’re going to hear it. Just about everybody who has played under Leyland has seen it at some point.

The greatest story I’ve heard of a Leyland tirade came from Matt Mantei, who played under Leyland during that 108-loss Marlins season of 1998. Ken Rosenthal used the description of Leyland’s reaction to a really bad series against the Astros in a great piece for Foxsports.com back in February:

Mantei recalls Leyland ripping the team for 20 minutes, then
marching out into a concrete hallway, the clicking of his metal spikes
audible in a quiet clubhouse.

"We were like, ‘Can we get up and
eat now?’" Mantei recalls. "Then here come the spikes again. You can
hear him coming back down the hallway. He’s like, ‘Every one of you
guys should be arrested for impersonating big-league ballplayers!’ He
turned around, walked back out, came back and said, ‘Every one of you!"

Yet Mantei, like so many who played under Leyland, called him the best manager he’s had. If he blows up on a team, it’s for a reason, and it’s soon forgotten. His biggest mistake managing the miserable Rockies in 1999, he said all spring, was that he didn’t put out the fires in the clubhouse. In some ways, this was a fire.

This isn’t the end of the world for the Tigers. If anything, this is the beginning.