Lynn Henning

The next Tigers manager

Since much of the Tigers fan base was on Jim Leyland's case during much, if not all of 2009, I thought it might be fun to consider his successor.

Just don't expect him to show up soon. Leyland is under contract through 2011, as he should be, at least in my view, and no one is knocking him out of the manager's office just yet.

But if I were handicapping the next Tigers managerial field, I'd place Tom Brookens at 2 to 1 odds to succeed Leyland.

Brookens has done a nice job at Double A Erie after debuting deftly at the Tigers' low Class A stops at West Michigan and Oneonta. He has a Tigers pedigree, of course, from his days as a player in Detroit. And he is universally liked, which doesn't hurt a man's chances.

I don't see any other heavy contenders. I thought for a long time that Matt Walbeck, who was managing at Erie before Brookens got there, would be next-in-line behind Leyland. But when Walbeck left for a coaching job at Texas (he was fired at the end of the 2008 season) he lost his place with the Tigers.

That enabled Brookens to move into the Erie job, where he appears for now to be waiting in the wings.

Leyland will be in Detroit for a while, so there's no sense in speculating just yet.

But if you want to project a couple of years in advance, Tom Brookens is your best bet in October of 2009 to become the next Tigers manager.