Tigers bring back Leyland for 2013

Associated Press

DETROIT

Jim Leyland insisted throughout the latter part of the season that there would be a time and a place to discuss his managing future.

That moment came Tuesday — when the Detroit Tigers announced Leyland would be back in 2013 with a one-year contract extension.

“I really don’t know why this is such a shock to everybody, because we told everybody that we weren’t going to talk about this until after the season,” Leyland said. “It’s not even 48 hours and it’s done. I think it was pretty much exactly like we had planned it.”

The Tigers and their manager quickly ended any remaining speculation about his status, just two days after Detroit was swept by the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. Leyland was managing on a one-year deal this year as well — and he seems comfortable taking his future year by year at this point in his career.

“I’m going to be here in 2013, and we’ll take that from there,” Leyland said. “I wanted to manage, but I did think long and hard about it, because I wanted to make sure that I was going to be doing everything that you need to do to continue to keep this club headed in the right direction.”

The 67-year-old Leyland leads all active managers with 1,676 wins, a total that puts him 15th on the career list. Next season will be his 22nd as a major league manager and his eighth in Detroit. He’s led the Tigers to the postseason three times and the World Series twice.

Leyland’s coaching staff is also expected back, although some roles within it could be altered.

By the time the World Series started, general manager Dave Dombrowski had indicated Leyland would be welcome back in 2013, but both the manager and GM sought to postpone any public discussion of his status until after the season.

“I think he pretty much understood that we wanted him back, but it was not something that he really wanted to talk about,” Dombrowski said. “When you know somebody for an extended time, you know what areas you prefer to leave untouched — you don’t talk about certain things until it’s that time.”