Earlier this month, with the Tigers really reeling, owner Mike Ilitch let the curious media know that general manager Dave Dombrowski and skipper Jim Leyland weren't going anywhere in 2011. And that's not surprising since they are both under contract through then.
With a lot of money coming off the books after this season, the Tigers should have a busy offseason and a different look heading into 2011. It's an offseason Jim Leyland's undoubtedly excited about after spending this season tirelessly mixing and matching young, inexperienced players on a nightly basis.
But the young talent also has Leyland yearning to ride some of it out beyond his contract:
"Yeah," Leyland said, "I want to manage. But I’ll leave that up to somebody else. This team has a chance to be good for quite awhile, but I am not going to get into that because that is down the road.
"If my energy runs out, they won’t have to tell me to go home. I’ll go home. But I feel fine."
Given what happened to the Tigers in 2007 after spending money to improve a team on the brink of winning a championship, it'd be rather foolish of Ilitch to extend Leyland beyond 2011 before seeing how he manages a freshly bought squad next season. It wouldn't be too shocking to see Leyland get an extension, but I think the expectations might be a little higher after this offseason's spendings.