Jason Grilli Still Ticks Jim Leyland Off From 1,300 Miles Away

Before the Detroit Tigers had their bi-weekly offensive explosion on Tuesday night against Seattle (one their bullpen did everything in their power to blow), manager Jim Leyland was asked about some comments made by former Tiger reliever Jason Grilli.

Grilli was traded earlier this season to the Rockies, and was recently asked by some reporters out there what he thought was going wrong back in Detroit, where the Tigers have failed to live up to expectations. Grilli's response was that he thought the Tigers hurt their team chemistry by bringing in new stars, and letting go of clubhouse favorites like Sean Casey. Jim Leyland was not amused.

"You have to be kidding me. I mean, please," Leyland said before the Tigers' 12-8 win over the Mariners on Tuesday night. "Jason Grilli ought to just worry about Colorado.

"Jason Grilli's not here any longer because Jason Grilli didn't pitch good under pressure situations and didn't pitch very well in Detroit. You want to tell it like it is? When players want to start talking, I'll start talking."

Leyland's reaction to Grilli quickly became somewhat of a warning to the rest of his team just in case anybody gets the bright idea of popping off about the team.

"I'm a grown man. I can take my heat, and I deserve some for the performance of this club. But you better be careful when you're a player. If you're hitting .200 and .220 and striking out, you shouldn't be popping off.

"They want to play games, I'll play games. I'll quit protecting some of these guys night after night after night after night. And I'll put some names to it."

Quick, somebody get that man a cigarette! Only the soothing taste of tobacco and the calming influence of nicotine is going to keep The Black Lung from ripping somebody's heart out of their chest.

As I said in our roundtable discussion about managers earlier this week, the more I listen to Jim Leyland, the more I hear a man who's growing tired. I think the fact that he knows there's really nothing he can do to turn this team around is weighing heavily on his shoulders, and at the age of 63, I wouldn't be surprised if he walks away if things don't turn around. He did it in Colorado, why wouldn't he do it again?

Of course, that being said, a nice 5 to 8-game winning streak can do a lot to change that.

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