I don't think anyone expected Nolan, but someone with a good track record at least. A good director will accept good scripts or will make changes to a **** script. I say Liebesman is the kind of director that takes anything that's offered to him and listens to every word the studios says. Even though Lebesman will be directing, Bay will have the real power behind this project.
I don't know about that seeing as Liebesman took longer to reply as he was "literally" locked in a room with Eastman kicking around ideas. Not to mention, I don't believe they are doing what the studio says as Eastman has called out on his facebook to fans asking what some of their favorite moments/episodes/storylines of the old cartoon stands out to them. Sounds a lot like they want this to be a show for the fans, despite how much the fans want to complain and rage because the unknown and embargoed information has left them to infer a great deal from very little. (Not saying you are.)
I do agree that a great director can take in good scripts, and sure, he can suggest things for mediocre ones... but at the end of the day the director's job is to interpret and sign off on scripts. He can't polish feces until it shines like diamonds, the best he could do is hire a new writing time. Seeing as we have the MI:4 guys cooking up the script, I'm not scared at all.
This project is interesting because it has the amalgamation of an action-god working the bill, his spiritual successor behind the camera, a fantastic writing team, and the more conservative and grounded of the pair that developed the franchise all working on it. We've got a changed title, and some original ideas being kicked around for an origin (of which, we're not sure what that is yet). But it's all being backed by a company that has been rather "hit-or-miss" with an audience and hasn't managed to produce a big product as of yet.
This movie will either be a home-run, or a train wreck. Honestly, the more I hear about the passion from the director/team, the more confidence I have. Michael Bay rarely, to my knowledge, talked about his giant alien robots and if he did, often times it'd be disrespectful. "I put flames on Optimus because I wanted to." comes to mind. Bay isn't one to shy away from telling it bluntly to protect himself or projects he's working on. In other instances (his producing gigs) he's never, ever, been one to talk about Elm Street, or Friday. Yet here we have him feverishly defending a project, bringing up and exuding tentativeness to fans bi-weekly as of late and the movie is a year and a half away.
...Kind of smells like he cares for the fans this time.