The Marlboro Man

He’s like that uncle you always called the “crazy one”. He smokes more than the chimney of an automotive plant. He has cursed out Barry Bonds in front of television cameras, looked about 92 in the Coors Field dugout, and holds the hopes of the ever-growing Tiger Nation within each one of his famed spikes.

I’ll be honest, I was not the first one on the Jim Leyland train when he was first introduced. I guess when talking about the Skipper there is no other way to judge him than being as honest as he has been to reporters his entire career. His comment about “not knowing his new team” and the fact he was multiple years out of his last position (a failure in Colorado), could not have made him a more interesting choice by Mr. D. How could any Tigers fan not think that this was more of the same old garbage that Ilitch had been throwing at us for years?

Unless you’ve been in a baseball fog since the end of 2005, Leyland has epitomized the basic values of what a manager needs to do in Major League Baseball. He has won games while getting his players to believe in the concepts of “nine full innings”. From the moment he managed his first game in a Tigers uniform at Kansas City, Leyland has taken a fresh approach that no previous recent manager has taken.

This spring training, Leyland has been all over the board with his approach to Brandon Inge. The fact is, both Inge and Thames could bring in some decent talent to our depleted relieving corps. I would only hope that Leyland is going up to Dombrowski and letting him know that the current batch of players in not acceptable. The recent slide is alarming. I know it is still Spring Training, but these few weeks can only hurt a team’s outlook. We’ll shortly be counting hours left until Opening Day, and the Tigers will hopefully still be thinking adjustments before they make that trip north. Oh, don’t forget to pack Jimmy’s Marlboros!