More on Leyland in Detroit
"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.