Even better than it looks?

Billfer already wrote about this at The Detroit Tigers Weblog, but I wanted to chime in on the subject, as well. In Saturday's Detroit Free Press article about Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya making the trip north to Detroit, Jim Leyland explained one of the influences on this decision:

"Our 13 position players -- and this is a big factor -- would look at me like I was nuts if I didn't take those two guys.

"I think I would lose some credibility. They'd look at me and say, 'What are these guys doing? What are they looking at?' "

Like Bill, I think Alan Trammell made a mistake when he gave Bobby Higginson a spot on last year's team instead of Marcus Thames, who'd clearly outperformed him in Spring Training. And that may have been the beginning of Trammell's end as Tigers manager.

I think he lost the team before they even left for Detroit, thanks to that decision. Not only did it obviously divide some players in the clubhouse, but sent the wrong message of status over merit to a largely young clubhouse - especially once it became clear that Higginson just couldn't play anymore.

I have no idea if this is something that factored into Leyland's thinking. I doubt it. And even if it did, he wouldn't say so. But it seems to show that the new manager has a better read on his clubhouse than the former manager did.

It's difficult not to note Leyland's approach and praise him for it without at least indirectly criticizing Trammell. And I know Leyland's been very conscious of that. But in an offseason that made few changes on the roster, thus demonstrating what the Tigers' front office thought the problem really was, it's virtually impossible not to point out the differences in philosophy. It'll be interesting to keep track of whether this decision will have as much of an influence on the upcoming season.

▪▪ If you haven't read them already, check out Big Al's painful rehashing of the Mike Ilitch and Tom Monaghan ownership reigns in Detroit at The Wayne Fontes Experience. You might have to bite down on something while you read them. It'll hurt. But talk about thorough. The man didn't miss a point.

▪▪ Does it matter whether Carlos Pena was released yesterday or today? Probably not. But Pena forced the Tigers hand a bit by asking where he stood with the team, according to Tom Gage. (And if the Detroit News' website could figure out what the #@$% it's doing with its blogs, I could give you a proper link. It's the 03/26/06 entry.)

▪▪ Danny Knobler puts the Pena saga in financial terms: The Tigers spent $4 million trying to figure out if he could play. Ouch.