June 5
Let's talk about managing in the big leagues, baby!

Recently, the Toronto Blue Jays decided to get rid of manager Buck Martinez. The former ESPN analyst was given the ziggy, sent to the sidelines. He did a great job on the TV side, but things just didn't work out in the dugout in Toronto.

I read a number of comments saying Martinez's lack of experience as a manager hurt him. I heard Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi talk about that subject playing a role in Martinez's failure to make it.

Comments like that are mind-boggling. Ricciardi obviously knows his baseball or he wouldn't be in his current position. My question is, how do you justify that statement when you consider the Diamondbacks won the World Series last year under Bob Brenly?

	(Martinez's) dismissal wasn't about experience; it was all about the players not performing to the level of expectation. They did not execute fundamentally while making loads of mistakes.

Mr. Brenly came from the same place Mr. Martinez came from, the TV booth! Do you think two gentlemen named Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson had a role in that? The one great asset of having two dominant pitchers is the ability to avoid long losing streaks. It was the same for the Dodgers when Walter Alston went to the mound and had the 1-2 combination of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

I get a big kick when changes are made and there are alibis and excuses galore. Martinez has a wealth of baseball knowledge as a former major-league catcher, a position where you had to be involved in the game. There are a lot of managers who are former catchers, around a dozen currently in the majors.

His dismissal wasn't about experience; it was all about the players not performing to the level of expectation. They did not execute fundamentally while making loads of mistakes. Sure, the manager is responsible overall and has to pay for those failures.

It will be interesting to see how Carlos Tosca fares. I recently spoke to someone close to Tosca, a man who praised the new Blue Jays manager because he worked with him on the Florida Marlins staff.

I got to know Jimmy Leyland when he was the Pirates manager and the team trained down in Bradenton, Fla. Leyland knew how to handle players as well as anyone. A man of great integrity who worked with so many great players, including guys named Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla in Pittsburgh, Leyland feels Tosca has great leadership ability.

Leyland, who in my opinion didn't have enough time as a manager, is currently scouting for his buddy Tony La Russa while enjoying life helping with his son's Little League team. At age 57, Leyland loves working with kids.

I thought when the Tigers job opened, Leyland would be the ideal candidate. He told me managing is no longer for him. Leyland said he loved being home with his kids, sitting in the stands watching Little League. He was tired of being away from his family, being a regular guy, enjoying life.

Leyland said he did miss the competition. He said if he could be involved and not have to deal with the travel, that would be one thing. It's nice to see a guy who could be making millions in the limelight since his résumé would get him to the head of the line when managerial jobs opened, who would rather be working with his son's Little League team.

That's love, my friends! I salute Leyland as a good man as well as a good baseball man.

Managing and coaching is not easy work, my friends.