There sure are a lot of folks in the Yankee organization, and these folks are want to talk to Joel Sherman about Joe Torre’s job.
In a short piece today for The Post, Sherman heres from a whole bunch of anonymous folks about whether or not Torre was fired, will be fired or should be fired. Here’s what the folks said:
Torre would have been fired already this season a) if a worthy heir were available or b) if Torre had not been such a valuable prop in the seduction of Roger Clemens, a lure beyond the pro-rated $28 million to convince The Rocket back to pinstripes. Clemens told Yankee management he was expecting to come back to play for Torre, not Don Mattingly, not Larry Bowa, not Joe Girardi.
Perhaps those two factors are season-long salvations for Torre. Some people in the Yankee organization will tell you the Torre crisis has passed, that George Steinbrenner’s tepid statement of support on April 30 provided season-long amnesty. But you also will find folks in the organization who are not quite so sure about that.
So now, this whole Roger Clemens thing is coming back to kill the Yankees. They are paying a pro-rated $28 million for an old pitcher with rumors of a PED past growing louder and louder. He will give them six innings tops and may or may not be the pitcher this team needs. He can’t play right field; he can’t produce the offense they need.
And with Clemens on the team, Joe Torre stays. And right now, the consensus seems to be soundly against Joe Torre.
The Yankees could still come back. It’s improbable but not impossible. All of our complaining could be for naught. But for now, Roger Clemens and Joe Torre are just more nails in the coffin of a frustrating season.