Bob Wojnowski: Spring training

Leyland: No looking back

Last season's magic won't help Tigers take next step

LAKELAND, Fla. -- It was very early on the first day, not too early for Jim Leyland to start stirring.

Outside his office, players were unpacking, cheerfully greeting new arrivals. Inside the office, Leyland was preparing for what was ahead by capping what was behind. The Tigers didn't win the World Series last fall, but they did almost everything else, rising and thrilling and shocking and stumbling and regrouping and shocking again.

They became a gigantic story and remain a big story, returning as one of baseball's best. But when Leyland's eyes narrowed and his voice rose, you knew happy-happy time was over.

"This is going to be a tough camp for our guys," he said. "There's gonna be a lot of focus and we're not going to back off one bit, I can tell you that. There's going to be no slack. When I came in last year, they probably thought they were getting some grumpy old manager, and now they know I'm a softie. But I can be as hard as I need to be."

That was the chilling question on a chilly Friday morning here (48 ridiculous degrees), as pitchers and catchers went through their first official workout. How hard will it be for the once-anonymous Tigers now that everyone knows their names? How hard will it be to let go of last season and grab hold of this one?

How hard will it be to realize adulation comes with an expiration tag? How hard will it be in the rugged American League Central now that the Twins, White Sox and Indians know all about the Tigers?

Leyland figures it will be more difficult than his players even know. He especially will be attuned to their mind-set this spring because there are few positional battles to monitor, making it easy for players to get too comfortable.

No nonsense

The roster essentially is the same, with the addition of slugger Gary Sheffield. So much is the same. And so much is unbelievably different.

"I'm just trying to find a pair of cleats that aren't stained by champagne," said reliever Todd Jones, digging through his old equipment bag, spotlighting the issue perfectly. "We better not rehash things. Everybody's gunning for us now. Everybody knows how good Justin (Verlander) and (Joel) Zumaya are. That's why we have the perfect manager for this situation. He's not going to take any (garbage). He's going to put his thumb down early, and he should."

Before we paint Leyland as some kind of euphoria-crushing ogre, we should point out he relished everything about last season. He spent most of the offseason traveling and accepting awards and giving speeches.

It's just that, at 61, Leyland knows how it works. And nobody in baseball can explain it as eloquently (and explicitly) as he, the walking, barking Ego Deflator.

"I don't want 2006 even mentioned this spring," he said. "This is 2007 and we're moving forward. Put last year in a wonderful memory bank and that's the end of the conversation. This is gonna be tricky. These guys are gonna get more attention, more national media, more fans. And I don't want them caught up in all the pats on the back."

There's a reason Leyland is concerned. Good teams win. Really good teams keep winning and don't bask in past successes. Leyland believes these Tigers have a chance to be really good, too good to be defined by one season.

"We will not be a flash in the pan, I'll tell you that right now," he said. "I don't know if we'll win anything because there are a lot of good teams, especially in our division. Other teams might beat us but no one can keep us from being good. The only way we'll screw this up is if we self-destruct or get a rash of injuries."

How, exactly, could they self-destruct?

"By listening to how (bleepin') good we were, by jealousies if you're not careful. Being such a great story, that's old, it's history. The only way we'll be destroyed is if we destroy ourselves, by not going about things the right way, by thinking it's easier than it is."

So Friday morning, Leyland made the point, first to the media, then to his team. Players said he wasn't loud, just firm. He didn't strictly forbid references to 2006 but he sure made it clear dwelling time was over.

Looking ahead

During the workout, the only sound was the pop of the ball striking the catchers' mitts. Before the much-anticipated PFP (pitchers fielding practice), Leyland didn't mention the Tigers' incredible rash of throwing errors during the World Series, although he couldn't avoid the questions. Pitchers joked about it but you got the sense the jokes were coming to an end.

The Tigers should know by now they're too good to look back. Leyland knows it, which is why he's intent on charging straight ahead.

"We have players who have just scratched the surface," he said. "We haven't reached the ceiling at all. We've got guys who have a chance to do very well, even financially, at this point of their careers."

The Tigers do have older stars in Pudge Rodriguez, Magglio Ordonez and Kenny Rogers. But many others, from Carlos Guillen to Placido Polanco to Craig Monroe to Curtis Granderson to all the young pitchers, are approaching possible primes, on a team perhaps approaching its prime.

The assumption is, the Tigers are better so they should take the final step, right? Leyland wasn't biting. He'd prefer to chomp.

"That's for people gullible enough to think, hey, you got close last year so you'll automatically win it this year," Leyland said, shaking his head. "Just look at history. The thing I like about this team is, they got a taste of it, and they liked it."

They should remember how good it was, and how good they were. And then they should forget about it, if they want to be safe from one grumpy ol' softie.

You can reach Bob Wojnowski at bob.wojnowski@detnews.com.