More on Leyland in Detroit

Now that Jim Leyland is in Detroit, the parade of failed Pirates managers is soon to follow, the PG reports. Not surprisingly, Gene Lamont is believed to have an out-clause in his contract with the Philles (he's currently managing AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre) to join Leyland if he got a job anywhere, most likely as his trusted sidekick/third base coach. Lloyd McClendon is rumored for the bullpen coach position. The part about this article that intrigues me the most is the Leyland/Pirates dialogue that never took place. Since we made no contact with him from the time McClendon was fired it was mostly assumed we weren't interested. I know I assumed that as did many of the sportswriters and even Leyland himself. But then on Monday, Littlefield called Leyland as he was on his way to Detroit. Then he called him again yesterday, after Leyland accepted the Tigers job. Now, I don't think it's a bad thing that Leyland isn't our manager, don't get me wrong, but something is fishy with this situation. Leyland's take is also interesting.
"I'm very flattered that the Tigers asked me to be their manager," said Leyland, who managed the Pirates from 1986-96 before moving on to Florida (1997-98) and Colorado (1999). "I didn't want to wait for a job I knew I wasn't going to get, a job that in my heart I truly believed I wasn't going to get."

Leyland's reference was to the Pirates' job.

Why was Leyland so sure he wouldn't become the Pirates' manager?

"Because people have a tendency to hire people they know and have worked with and are comfortable with," he said. "It's common sense. That's one reason I'm [with Detroit]."

That's interesting if only because he made it pretty clear he wanted the job, Littlefield called him about the job, and he took Detroit's job without ever even hearing Littlefield's offer. My guess? Littlefield knew public opinion wanted Leyland so he called him to interview him with no intentions of hiring him. Leyland knew this and didn't want to play DL's game so he more or less gave him the finger, making Littlefield look indecisive.

Again, I'm not upset with Littlefield for not hiring Leyland, in fact I'm happy he didn't. I'm just intrigued by the understory here. There was clearly something going on that the public doesn't know about. I assumed part of the reason Littlefield fired McClendon when he did was so that he could get a jump on the field on hiring a new manager, which makes it highly unlikely that he was just "too late" in contacting Leyland. We may never hear the full truth though, unless we hear it from Jimbo himself when he comes to town next June/July.

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