You Do Not Want To Get Between Gary Sheffield and Jim Leyland

Please let Gary Sheffield keep talking about his situation in Detroit. He already has manager Jim Leyland "flabbergasted" and we all know how he can lose his shit at the drop of a cigarette butt.

Sheff is pissed off again. Detroit is nowhere close to being a winner and he has to play DH.

"I can be in the outfield and play every day. I don't want to DH. I don't feel like a baseball player when I DH. I don't know how to be the leader that I am from the bench. I can't be a vocal leader. I can't talk to guys from the bench because I don't feel right about it.

"I don't prefer platooning here, but I understand because I got off to a slow start, that's part of it, but I feel I'm playing better now. I'm back to being a threat I need to be.

That doesn't sound too bad considering some of the other things Sheffield has said over his career justified or not. Too bad Leyland doesn't see it the same way.

"I told him that all I had here for him was a DH. If he did not want to accept that, do not accept the trade," Leyland recalled. "I'm still confused by the article because it talks about 'platoon doesn't set well.' Gary Sheffield never platooned here.

"Platoon is when you have a left-hand hitter and a right-hand hitter. One plays against right-hand pitching and one plays against left-hand pitching. That is a platoon."

"Anybody that has a brain knows that's not a platoon," Leyland said.

Leyland also claimed that Sheffield couldn't throw from the outfield because he wasn't fully healed. It seems as though they both have a point but it depends on whether Sheffield is healthy enough to play the field.

It doesn't sound like Leyland's going to do anything about it and GM Dave Dombrowski doesn't care either. It's a safe bet that Sheff won't quit when he does play unlike Manny but he'll raise a stink until the end of the season if he doesn't get his way. Smoke 'em if you got 'em, Jim. It's gonna be a long month and a half.