Jim Leyland Quotes (214 Quotes)

One thing I'm not going to go through (is) worry about having to take Carlos out after five innings of every game. I would consider other options.

He's taking good swings, and he's swinging at more strikes. He's showing a little bit more patience at the plate and not chasing bad balls like he was a little earlier in the season.

I grew up as a baby in this organization mind if I smoke.

I was very encouraged. Two times today he had more on his throws. The ball carried well.

We don't know whether he's going to be on the team. We don't if he's going to start or relieve. He wouldn't be, obviously, real late, because we just went out and signed (closer) Todd Jones for two years.

I think he's one of those guys that Earl Weaver talked about, when you get into the car, you come to the park and know that he's pitching for you, you feel pretty good. I certainly feel pretty good. I feel pretty good with all of them right now. They're all doing a good job. Hopefully, it's contagious and we can keep it up.

I was frustrated after a Florida State League game back in 1977 and threw my spike up against the wall. Unfortunately, it hit the picture.

I had 11 years of managerial experience and four years of coaching before I managed a big-league team. To me, it was important, because I learned a lot through trial and error. And it's tough to have to go through trial and error when you're a big-league manager.

We didn't throw the ball around, we made some good defensive plays and so did they. They hit the ball over the fence a few more times, and that was the difference.

I'm tickled. At the same time, you have to be realistic. We have a lot of work ahead of us. But it's better than going home for Opening Day 0-6.

This is good. I don't have any problem with this stuff. This kid gets to start in a Major League game. You look at the bright side. And I think our guys will be OK.

I was calling for Brownie, and he thought I said Bobby. He was in there in about two seconds. He's a nervous wreck, and I said, 'Well, how do you think I feel' I'm a little nervous myself.

Jeremy was not going to see the middle of the order again, under any circumstances. You can't get caught up in that stuff. That's exactly why we got Todd Jones.

Baseball. It's time to play some baseball.

Everybody's got 10 people penciled in here, 10 people penciled in there. Wow, we've played three games and I don't know what the hell we're doing yet, to be honest with you. But I'll tell you one thing We're not going to give jobs away.

He was all smiles when he came in. I learned a long time ago that when they say they're ready, to probably give them two more days and then do it. He's ready to go.

I thought he looked a little more comfortable today. I thought he threw some good change-ups, too.

If I was an infielder and I was having a little trouble, I'd at least say hello to the guy. If you're a major league outfielder and you've got Al Kaline and Andy Van Slyke standing there, I'd have to think you might have a question for them at some point.

Shelton will hit sixth, period. End of the conversation, for now.

I know it's only spring training. But if you're not careful and you get greedy, or if you're pushed up against the wall because of the situation, you can make a major mistake. What I'm afraid about is the guys that are here are going to play too many innings. And this early on, that could be a disaster.

It's well known that I interviewed with Philadelphia last winter, and I'd like to manage again.

When we were in Pittsburgh, we had a decent pitching staff. But it became a damn good pitching staff because we had five Gold Glovers.

This is a big boys' game. We swear once in awhile, we throw helmets. We're not all Sunday-school guys. That's part of it. It's been going on for years, and it'll go on for the next 100 years.

It's the same old song and dance. I'll be honest, I really wanted him on the club. But I can't let my personal feelings get involved in it. At this time, he wasn't one of the 12 best. These (batters) will hit a bullet unless it's doing something.

You don't find many arms like that. Those are extra-special arms, not ordinary-prospect arms.

If somebody put a gun to my head and said, Give me your 25 players,' I could do it.

This is something all of baseball should be celebrating and it's probably unlikely that they're going to be, to be honest, a lot of people.

Kenny gave us a shot. We didn't do anything wrong. They just played a little better than we did.

I don't want his attention divided. I want it on one or the other.

I really like him -- he's very smart. We've got ourselves a hell of a big league pitcher.

It just breaks my heart.

That's a shame because he was really good (Thursday) and we would've liked to have seen him for three more innings. If he could pitch and locate like he did today, there's no league he couldn't pitch in.

I thought he had a good slider. He had pretty good command all night.

It doesn't seem to be serious, but you never know. I thought it was all better a few days ago.

He's the real deal, there's no question about that. It's spring training, so you've got to be careful. I'm not making my judgments on a home run or two that he hit. But let's face it, over the years every now and then but not very often you see a player in his uniform and you know that guy's a big league player. It doesn't happen very often, but he certainly looks the part to me.

Hell of a job. I'm proud of them.

I'm excited about it. We've got something to work with. The cupboard is not bare. We've got some ability. We don't have a lot of depth.

I like 'em. They seem to be pretty good personalities. It's a lot looser than I thought it would be, which I'm glad. I think they like to have fun, and I like to have fun.

He's got power and he can hit, and he's improved his defense. I can tell you this He'll get plenty of at-bats. I don't have starters or nonstarters. I have 25 players, and every one of them has to be ready to make some kind of contribution to a winning cause, and he'll be one of the 25, I'm sure.

That would be a good sign as they only bring it out when they're behind. I could do without those thunder sticks, but the Rally Monkey, I sure would like to see him.

Schedule-wise, it will be to-the-minute. It all starts tomorrow and we're preparing for the long haul.

I think there's no question we got the right guy for the situation. I've been impressed. I've had good (coaches). I've been lucky throughout my managerial career with that kind of stuff. He's very good at what he does. He came highly recommended by some very bright baseball people. He's quickly become a friend, a nice buffer between me and the pitchers, a good guy to hang out with.

It's a Catch-22 situation. With a club like ours trying to reestablish that we can win and compete, we have to win every game we have a shot to win. But I'm not going to do that at the expense of hurting our pitchers.

He's all right. We're just being precautionary. He was feeling better today when I talked to him.

We're not deep enough to be able to handle all these injuries.

I've said it a million times, If it hadn't been for injuries, Alan Trammell would be sitting here today instead of me.'

Something like that probably won't happen again for a long, long time. It's just one of those freak things. They hit it, got it up in the air, the ball was carrying and they popped it on the good part of the bat.

This is just the perfect example of a very talented player with a lot of determination. He's a manager's dream-type player. Not only does he come to the park to beat the other team, but he does the little things to beat the other team. To a manager, he's

He's a versatile guy, a four-pitch guy who can use any pitch at any time. He's a proven quality major league pitcher and a proven quality major league person.

Jeremy wasn't real sharp. His rhythm wasn't real good. He was kind of out of sync, overthrowing some. He didn't really have command of the strike zone.