Leyland has done a great job in Detroit. And sure he makes mistakes sometimes, but thats the minority of the time. We have been contenders year in, year out for a few years now even with a team that is so diverse in talent (handful of players are all-pro while the rest of the team is average). If Leyland was so bad we would be worse than the Indians, but were not.
Think about the players outside of Verlander, Fielder, Jackson, and Miggy. Its a crapshoot every time any of those other hitters/pitchers are in the game. We don't have defense, our bullpen is very erratic, our lineup has many holes in it, we don't have speed on the basepaths, and our rotation is iffy.
Leyland does his best to get enough out of the rest of the team to create wins. And thats what the other managers see when they voted him the best manager in baseball. And very every hater of Leyland, think about that those managers voted him in. So if you don't like Leyland the best manager in baseball, then I guess your fucked.