Leyland lays down law
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.
I don't know what he said but I honestly think that they needed something said. They've played pretty good D, so that's probably not it though they need to stay right at that aspect of their game. The major thing that I see is not taking many more pitches than they do when they are several runs down and need base runner pressure. That is a most glaring fault when so many come up when trailing and hack at the first pitch. Hacking away at just about anything as if they think all they need to do is get the bat on it to get a hit. Some of them appear to be giving less than 100% even though it may be me judging to severly. It may be time for a lineup shakeup also. Lastly would love to see Infanti hitting somewhere even at DH or LF. Maybe Thames should be playing more too since Monroe, Gomez and Ordonez are not doing much.
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I think that anytime we have Alexis Gomez batting in the #5 spot in the lineup, we are in big trouble. We are definitely swinging at way too many first pitches and not making the pitcher throw a hittable pitch.
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Although not everyone expects the Tigers to contend, almost everyone expects them to be competitive. I think Leyland blew up because he realized that he's got a team that has the potential to fall short of that expectation (the second one I mentioned, not the first one).
Despite the 5-0 start, I think a lot of people thought that we'd find out what kind of team we've really got once they got through the ChiSox series and the Tribe series.
What we've got is a team that still needs to improve in a lot of areas if they want to be better than a sub-.500 team. What remains to be seen is how they react to adversity or how they adjust after hitting a bump in the road.
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I have been concerned with the Tigers ever since opening day at KC. While they might have acquired two good pitchers in the offseason, their basic lineup and, hence, their approach is relatively the same as last year's. I couldn't help feeling while watching the past few games, "Why aren't they walking, bunting and hitting singles more?". It is, after all, small-ball that won the ChiSox their World Series title. Instead, everyone from number 1 thru 9 in our batting order is swinging for the fences. It's really bad baseball! Where are the "basics" that Leyland had preached so much about during Spring Training?
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I say amen to all the above statements. There are a lot of us seeing a lot of the same things. It's pretty bad when you bring a guy from AAA because his manager says he's closest to being ready and he's only hitting a buck 48 at that level. Then he shows up in the 5th spot in your lineup against one of the better teams. Somewhere I must be missing something. If I had to go as low as (A) ball to find an outfielder with a little warmth, I would. I won't forget Al Kaline as long as I live and he was 18 years old when he played his first game. In truth the players that are most likely to fill the bill were right on the roster without going to Toledo. I say lets see if Thames can be a factor in the big leagues or lets get Infanti's bat in the lineup. It's apparent that Monroe is not getting it done and that Ordonez is having a rather cool start. I guess you have to say with Mags but I think you have options with Monroe. We need Inge to hit too but as long as he plays fabulous D he must play. These early games count and these guys must approach them that way.
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Months later, I can't help but admire not only Leyland's skills but the vision of Jason Beck who wrote, "This isn't the end of the world for the Tigers. If anything, this is the beginning."
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