MLB Rumors: "Speculation" Around Old School Manager If Phillies Replace Girardi

The Philadelphia Phillies continue to lose, and the pressure continues to mount on manager Joe Girardi. Although he's not worried himself about losing his job, MLB Insider Jon Heyman said today that "the name that I've heard most, speculated by Phillies people... is Jim Leyland." Now, that's old school.

Could Jim Leyland be a possible replacement if the Phillies move on from Joe Girardi? @JonHeyman and @JoelSherman1 discuss the speculation and if teams are starting to pivot back to more experienced managers

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"If (GM Dave) Dombrowski is going to make a change—and again, I don't think he's going to make an immediate change—it could be Jim Leyland."

Dombrowski had Leyland as his manager with the Florida (Miami) Marlins, where they won a World Series together in 1997, and with the Detroit Tigers, where they won two AL pennants (2006, 2012).

But Leyland is 77 now, and was last in a major league dugout in 2013.

As Heyman notes, Leyland's 77-year-old contemporary Tony La Russa is in the second year of a 3-year deal to manage the Chicago White Sox, and got them into the playoffs last season.

But when Heyman reached out to Leyland with the possibility, his reply, for now, was short and sweet: "No, thank you."

Heyman says there have been teams reach out to Leyland in the past 5 years, and his answer has always been "no". But if his very good friend and longtime colleague Dombrowski came a-calling.... Stranger things have happened.

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