Earlier today, Jim Leyland, manager of the Detroit Tigers, announced his resignation. His departure follows the Tigers elimination from the American League Championship series last week. The Tigers were eliminated by the Boston Red Sox in six games in spite of a stellar starting rotation and the big bats of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder in the lineup. The 68 year old skipper leaves Detroit with three consecutive division titles and two World Series appearances. Leyland’s 1,769 career wins land him 15th on the all time wins list for baseball managers. An impressive resume to say the least.
Likewise, the Cincinnati Reds manager, Dusty Baker, was recently released by the Reds after failing to advance beyond the Wild Card playoff game against the Pittsburg Pirates. Since the release of Baker, the Reds have spoken with or about several potential replacements for Baker, but no hire has occurred. It seems to me that the best possible candidate (unless Tony LaRussa decides to un-retire), just became available. Though Leyland stated that his tank lacked the fuel to continue managing, surely a talent laden roster in one of baseball’s first and finest city’s is enough to “top off” his interest.
The way I see it, the Tigers owe the Cincinnati Reds a proven winner such as Leyland. After all, the Reds lost the winningest manager in Cincinnati Reds history to the Tigers when Sparky Anderson went north in 1979. He then went on to become one of the winningest managers in Tigers history and won the 1984 World Series along the way. Now the Tigers have the chance to return the favor. Perhaps the Tigers front office wouldn’t mind filling Jim Leyland’s gas tank for the four hour drive south to the Queen City.
Related articles
- Jim Leyland Retiring As Detroit Tigers Manager (huffingtonpost.com)
- Leyland won’t return for Tigers: ‘It’s time’ (espn.go.com)
- Leyland won’t return for Tigers, reports say (espn.go.com)
mike buckamneer 