Torre turns down the Yankees

All they can spell in Tampa, is:

'86 proof"

and

"I'll have another one"

 

Joel Sherman in today's Post said Torre made a mistake.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10192007/sports/yankees/his_biggest_mistake_comes_off_.htm

If I didn't know any better, this column might have been written by John Sterling or Michael Kay (i.e. don't hate on my Yankees).

For the record, this is the first (and so far only) article I've found that says Joe erred in his decision.

 

RIP Joe Torre

Must have been the shock from getting fired. His death was so important that ESPN interrupted WSOP for chrissakes last night, for a special Outside the lines on him. It was all Torre on ESPN, and they promised more Torre coverage today.

I haven't wall to wall coverage like this since JFK Jr. died.

I'm going to miss that tough ol' Italian SOB.

 

Re: RIP Joe Torre

Heaven must have needed a manager who couldn't win anywhere except when he had a team with 3x or 4x the average major league payroll.

 

Don't neglect Randy Levine -- possibly the very biggest tool in the toolbox -- in this sustained derision festival.

Fair's fair.

 

Mustard, while $5 million would be more than I would ever see, it's an insult to offer it to a man who earned a guaranteed $7.5 million last year. With incentive clauses? Another insult? A manager with the resume of Joe Torre doesn't need a carrot dangled in his face to try and win. He always tries to win. Unfortunately, not all of his players were able to succeed this year.

I don't believe Randy Levine and those two snot-nosed Steinbrenner kids have any idea what Torre bought to an organization that lived with the shaky personality Buck Showalter gave it before Joe got there. He brought class, dignity and success, things the organization don't always have. Believe me, they will miss him.

I personally am happy Joe is away from the headaches working there can cause. Yes, the pay was great, but everything else that went with it wasn't -- the second guessing and the back-stabbing out of Tampa for someone who brought them four rings still amazes me. So he "only" won four World Series? Okay, tell me a manager who has won as many in the last 40 years.

Good for Joe. Bring on the network analyst job.

 

Whoever succeeds Torre will have a difficult time. This is an aging team which has a couple of superstars (ARod, Jeter) but pitchers who are too old or too young. Clemens is a guy in his mid-40s who is going to get hurt frequently - it's one thing for control pitchers like Greg Maddux and Hoyt Wilhelm to pitch into their 40s; it's another thing for power pitchers. The pitching isn't there and Torre deserves credit for getting this team into the playoffs. If A-Rod doesn't have the monster season that he had, the Yankees are a .500 team.

Unless Hughes and Chamberlain step up and become capable starters next year, the Yankees are probably not a playoff team no matter who manages the team. I think what the ownership committee doesn't understand is how the goodwill and class generated by Torre took some heat off management.

They will find out in 2008.

 

Given Clemens' craven needs, he's Plutoesque in his out-of-range unaffordability for anyone with a feel for the value of money.

On the other hand, anyone who feels $4 mill+ per win is fair value received . . . have at it.

I also have several bridges to sell you, when you're done.

 

I think that when Joe went to Tampa he knew he was going to get shot. Otherwise he would have gotten his agent involved.

I still feel that the trip to Tampa was window dressing to allow both Joe and Yankees to save face.

Neither party would have benifitted by mud slinging. I guess we'll truly find out at Joe's presser.

 

How did Torre "save face?" He was essentially kicked in the balls publicly, right?

If Steinbrenner came out, announced pay cuts for all top management and donated a big chunk of his profits to charity to show that the organization, from the top down, accepts blame for what has gone on the past few years and is committed to making change, I could see Torre coming back.

As it was, Torre was made the fall guy and would have had to manage next year with his balls in George's top desk drawer. This is the perfect prologue to the next revival of The Bronx Zoo. Please, please, please ... let LaRussa be he heir. His thin skin would be worn away by the time they break camp.

 

Excellent points, Casty. Didn't the "shaky personality" of that organization go back well before Showalter, too? I don't think anybody was attaching the term "classy" to the Yankees for a long time before Torre took over.

 

12 consecutive playoff appearances, 10 divisional titles, winning the World Series an average of every three years, PLAYING in the World Series an average of every other year (6 trips) when they hadn't even reached the fall classic since 1981 before his arrival, second most wins in Yankees history, rallying the team into the 2007 playoffs despite a decimated pitching staff.

... I remember the "Clueless Joe" headline when the Yankees hired Torre. Now it should be "Clueless George"