The Tigers’ Season in a Microcosm
or Why Jim Leyland Should Retire Soon
It all comes down to this. A single game to decide the Central Division crown. A chance at an early exit against the powerful Yankees. Or so the pundits would say. Regardless, a division crown is still important to both of these teams. To the Twins, who have played a nearly unconscious stretch of baseball without Justin Morneau, their MVP first baseman. And also to the Tigers, who haven’t won a division title since they were in the AL East, back in 1987.
This is why, even when you play 162 games, every one of them counts. Because if the outcome of just one of those games was different, Detroit and Minnesota wouldn’t be tied. So that’s what makes Jim Leyland’s game-to-game attitude so maddening sometimes. Because the games did matter.
There’s more than enough blame to go around if the Tigers fall to the Twins tomorrow and watch the ALDS from home. Blame pitching for faltering down the stretch. Blame Jackson for an ERA spike of nearly a full run from July until now. Blame the defense for committing inexcusable errors at critical junctions in big games. Blame Cabrera for drinking until 5 AM Friday night (Saturday morning), and subsequently laying a goose egg in a pivotal game later that night. Blame the offense in general, for making minor-league spot-starters look like Cy Young candidates more times than I care to count. Blame Dombrowski for trading away Jurrgens for one (less than) memorable year with Edgar Renteria. Blame him again for throwing millions at Dontrelle Willis. Blame Gene Lamont for holding Clete Thomas at third during the day/night doubleheader (which would have given the Tigers the lead in a 1-run game). See, plenty of blame to go around.
But today, my blame is focused squarely on Jim Leyland. To be fair, he deserves much of the credit for Detroit being a perennial contender again. (By contender, I mean a team playing meaningful games in August and September, which the Tigers have done for 3 of the last 4 years.) But he has single-handedly cost the team more games than any other individual, and his stubbornness nearly cost the Tigers a chance to even be in this 1-game playoff with the Twins.
Leyland is a throwback manager. He relies on the old baseball adages of lefty-righty matchups in the late innings, he’s conservative when it comes to baserunning and small-ball, and he doesn’t believe in momentum. I can understand the lefty-righty thing to a point. There’s plenty of empirical evidence to back it up, and it’s been a big part of the late-inning chess match for decades. But here’s what I don’t get. Leyland also insists on the lefty-righty split when concocting his daily lineups. Which meant that Granderson sat out a bunch against left-handed starters before this season. And Aubrey Huff got a ton of starts at DH down the stretch against righties, even with a batting average hovering around the Mendoza Line and as much power as your average Chevy Aveo. Why wasn’t Rayburn DHing? I don’t care about the lefty-righty thing at this point. If I’m managing, I’m playing Rayburn every day. He simply gives the Tigers more power, and he’s a bigger offensive threat than Huff, regardless of which hand the opposing pitcher uses to hurl the ball. Like I said, the lefty-righty thing does have merit, but how is a left-handed hitter supposed to improve against left-handed pitching if he’s never given the chance? Granderson’s average against lefties has gradually increased, because the added exposure to left-handed starters has allowed him to improve. Now, when it’s late in a game and you want to play the odds, then by all means pinch hit a lefty against a righty. But most of this is positioning meant to force your opponent to dip into his bullpen.
Another problem with Leyland is his insistence on keeping his starter in for (at least) an inning too long. He’s got one of the slowest hooks in all of baseball. I understand that the bullpen isn’t the strongest, so you don’t want to head there any earlier than absolutely necessary, but come on! Why trot Verlander out in the 8th after he threw 100+ pitches through seven? At least give him the hook once the first two men were aboard. He was gassed, and he wasn’t going to get out of the inning. So why let him try? You’ve got an effective setup man in Lyon and a serviceable closer in Rodney, why not just let them finish the game off? He knew that Monday was an off day no matter what, so why try to save the bullpen? Lyon and Rodney would have been fine to pitch on Tuesday after resting Monday. Why keep Jackson in there so long on Saturday? When there were runners on the corners in the 5th, pull him and try to keep the lead at just three runs. But no. Leyland left him in, and by the time the inning was over, it was 8-0 Sox, no chance for a comeback.
He’s managing these games like it’s mid-May, like it doesn’t matter if they win today, because there’s always a game tomorrow. When you’re only 50 games in to a 162-game season, sometimes you have to look at it that way, and just give up a chance at winning to ensure that you can compete for the next 3-4 days, rather than tapping out a bullpen with a crucial 3-game set against a division rival coming up. But this was October. His team was fighting tooth and nail with a scrappy Twins team that doesn’t give up and always finds a way to win. He needed victories now, not a healthy bullpen three days from now. If the Tigers don’t get these wins, the bullpen rests for another six months. That said, why was Leyland managing from a damage-control, play-not-to-lose perspective, rather than playing for keeps? It just seems like the game is starting to pass him by. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s a great manager, and probably destined for the Hall someday, I just think that he’s past his prime.
I know this is a short post, but it's been busy for me. Just know that once the Tigers' season is over (whether tomorrow or sometime in the postseason), I'm going to do a more in-depth look at this year's team. Plus I've got some other juicy topics to discuss, so stay tuned.
