My column in Tuesday's Oakland Press: http://bit.ly/pjzVL3

I understand why Tigers owner Mike Ilitch gave a long-term contract extension to general manager Dave Dombrowski, and another year for manager Jim Leyland.
Dombrowski has brought organization to the Tigers, who were decidedly dysfunctional before his arrival. Don't forget, he was hired as team president first. I would have given him an extension, too.
But I would have waited.
The longstanding professional sports theory is you don't want your manager or coach to be a lame duck. If that's the case, he loses his authority and the players don't tend to respect him when things go wrong. That's why Leyland got the year.
But I would have waited.
I did think Ilitch was doing something out of the box that was refreshing. He was holding his general manager and manager accountable for results. I mean, the Tigers should win the American League Central. They are the best team in the division, by a wide margin, and have a decent lead with not that much of the season remaining.
The Tigers have had numerous second-half collapses in recent years, though, the most notably in 2009 - after Leyland's contract was extended.
In that sense, I wish Ilitch had followed through and let the season play out before making any decisions. Sometimes a sense of urgency isn't a bad thing.
This was one of those times.