LAKELAND, Fla. — Oh, what could have been.

Jim Leyland might be the envy of every manager not named Terry Francona or Joe Girardi. He has a deep rotation in Detroit, a lineup loaded with All-Stars and a stadium that could be sold out almost every night.

And to think that when his adopted hometown Pittsburgh Pirates were looking for a new manager 2½ years ago, Leyland was convinced they needed an old manager just like him. They haven't had a winning season since Leyland was writing Barry Bonds' name on his lineup card in 1992.

Leyland's consolation prize when Pittsburgh chose Jim Tracy instead? The Tigers, who, with a re-energized Leyland in charge, went to the World Series in 2006 and go into this season as one of baseball's best teams, at least on paper.

He might have given up all that to manage the Pirates again.

"This is the only job I probably would have gotten. I think basically the new wave of general managers don't want a manager like me," the 63-year-old Leyland said Sunday before his Tigers beat Pittsburgh 9-7 in 10 innings. "Dave (Dombrowski, the Tigers' general manager) was a veteran, we were fortunate to win a World Series together (with Florida in 1997). It's probably the only reason I got the job."

Since the Pirates rejected the opportunity to bring back the man who managed them to their only three division titles since 1979, they have lost 189 games in two seasons, fired yet another manager and overhauled their ownership and front office.

"I have wonderful, wonderful memories, but the Pirates are better off without me and I'm probably better off not managing there," Leyland said.

The Pirates' scenario is nearly identical to that when they brought in Leyland in 1986, except that this team is only one losing season from tying the major league record of 16 in a row.

"But I mean this sincerely — I think they've got some nice pieces. When I saw the Pirates down here last spring, I thought they would play .500," Leyland said, pointing to their promising rotation and established players such as Jason Bay and Jack Wilson. "They're like anybody else, if you finish out the puzzle with the right piece and it fits, they've got a chance to be real good. I don't think it will be very long."

The key to solving that puzzle, to Leyland, is not being afraid to trade any veteran or prospect for the players a club needs to finish the job.

Leyland wasn't telling the Pirates what to do, but was explaining how they emerged from a 104-loss season and a clubhouse drug scandal before he arrived in 1985 to contend again in three years and reach the 1990 NL championship series.

"You look at the scenario you're dealt and you start looking around, that's what (former Pirates GM) Syd Thrift did. Who do we need to trade? What do we need to get this thing (going) over the long haul? You have to do things that aren't instantly popular, but make sense down the road," Leyland said. "We traded one of the most popular players in the history of Pirates, Tony Pena (in 1987). Somebody told me, `You can't trade him, he's our most popular player. I said when we average 100 losses for two years, you ain't got no popular players."'

Now, 21 years later, Leyland has a contending Tigers team.