I’m covering over at MLB Trade Rumors tonight, so I’m going through the normal channels to find the latest transactions. You gotta believe this bit from RotoWorld made me snarf my beer:
Dodgers signed RHP Tanyon Sturtze
Yeah, there were 10 other names on that list — including former Yankee farmhand John-Ford Griffin.
The only remaining question: How’s Joe going to burn out Proctor’s and Sturtze’s arms? He’ll be pulling his starters in the fifth inning every game!
Joe Torre is going to write a book about his 12 years managing the Yankees. Not included in this tell-all memoir will be chapters concerning Jeff Weaver and the 2003 World Series, Kenny Lofton’s role keeping the bench warm during the last four games of the 2004 ALCS, the decision to not bunt against Curt Schilling or an epilogue by Brian Cashman on why, when you stop to think about it, Torre’s time in the Bronx should have been up three years ago.
While we had our own brand of excitement at RAB this afternoon, nothing happened in Yankeeland, and it is more and more likely that nothing will happen until next week. Fun times.
“What we’re looking for is a guy that’s maybe going to be one of the greatest managers, maybe, of all-time, over a period of 10, 20 years, who knows?”
Now without getting into the utter absurdity of such a statement or the argument over whether or not Torre should be managing the Yanks in 2008, doesn’t Steinbrenner realized they just fired a guy who was one of the greatest managers, maybe, of all-time over a period of 12 years? Does he know that these guys don’t grow on trees? Just wondering if anyone’s pointed that out to him.
So Joe Torre. Let’s talk about him. It’s been hours days.
In the aftermath of Torre’s dismissal/firing/decision to quit, the New York sports media, ready to collectively fire Joe in May, were anointing him a saint. He was the Manager Who Stood Up to Steinbrenner. He stuck by his guns and made fools of those Steinbrenner sons and Randy Levine. Hell, even we got into the act last week.
But what if Joe isn’t exactly the saint he was made out to be? He did, as many of you are wont to point out, turn down a $5 million offer to manage the Yankees for another year and could have made up to $8 million. He claims he was insulted by the incentives, but I’m beginning to doubt the man.
Take a look here. In April of 2004, Joe Torre signed a three-year contract extension with the Yanks that carried him through this season. As part of the deal, he would be retained as a senior adviser with the club - the one he called “the last major league team I’m going to manage” - for six years following his retirement. But that’s not the important bit.
The important bit focuses around incentives. Tyler Kepner wrote: “He will also receive bonuses for winning the American League pennant or the World Series, as he did in his last deal.”
Well, well, well. That certainly changes things quite a bit, doesn’t it? Was Joe Torre really that insulted by an incentive-laden deal this year if he had basically been managing on an incentive basis for the duration of his last two Yankee contracts? I find that hard to believe.
Meanwhile, last night on Bob Costas’ show, as Cliff Corcoran details here, Torre said he would have taken an incentive-based deal with a pay cut had the Yankees been willing to offer a second year.
So then, this whole issue boils down to one of two things. Torre, who had long seen the writing on the wall, must have known the Yankees wanted him out of New York, but he wanted to go out on top. So when they publicly offered him a pay cut and a one-year deal, he highlighted the incentives - something in all of his deals - as the kicker for him. He was able to look good while backing out of a deal he probably just should have accepted. With an unstable ownership situation, Torre would most likely have kept his job in 2009 also had the Yankees made the playoffs next year even without a World Series ring. That’s one.
The second piece is pride. Joe Torre always wanted to be the last Yankee Manager at the old stadium and the first at the new one. When the Yankees couldn’t yet guarantee him that experience, he bailed. While the team didn’t need help in making themselves look bad, he took the contract negotiations public and came out unscathed. I’m beginning to think we should question the purity of St. Joe as the Yankees move forward with their managerial search. He surely is not that innocent.
Joe Torre is still fielding questions about his meeting yesterday with the Yankee executives. But his prepared comments are over, and Joe pretty much spoke as you would expect him to do. He was fair and kind toward the Yankees, and it’s clear he still considers himself to be part of the organization. The door is also not yet fully shut if the Yankees come back and make him another offer.
Torre did not have an easy time of it. “I just felt the the terms of the contract were probably the thing I had the toughest time with,” he said. “The one year, for one thing. The incentives, for another. The fact that I had been there 12 years and I didn’t think motivation was needed. I felt pretty well renewed every year, and we knew exactly what was expected here.”
He also spoke about how this decision would impact the players. While he appreciated the sentiments, he did like how the Yankees players were pressing because they felt they were playing for his job in the playoffs. It created too much pressure on the team. “I didn’t think it was the right thing for me,” he said. “I didn’t think it was the right thing for my players.”
He spoke about how the guys in Tampa didn’t want this to be a negotiation. It was a one-time offer, and in response to Bob Klapisch’s question about whether this was an offer he was supposed to refuse, Torre was non-committal. It’s up to us to decide that he said, and I’ve decided that he probably was supposed to refuse it.
I know many of you have spoken about the money, but Joe said the money, while it weighed on him a little, was not the motivating factor. He was simply insulted at the belief that the Yanks would make the playoffs and literally give up. He was insulted over the performance-based clauses. He feels that the first six years - making the World Series five times - put undo expectations on the club. It’s hard to disagree with that.
Later on, Torre said that it was not about the money. A two-year, $14-million deal wouldn’t cut it. He wants the commitment from the Yankees execs that they won’t mess with him, and he wants them to have faith in his ability after 12 very successful years at the helm.
Torre questioned the time frame for the decision during the question and answer session. He wondered why it took the Yankees brass two weeks to decide that they wanted him to be in charge. It made him a little suspicious of the offer once he heard about it. That’s yet another notch for the argument that the Yanks never wanted Joe to take this offer. I wonder how public response to this move and Torre’s press conference will impact the Yanks.
There is no doubt that Randy Levine and Joe Torre do not like each other. Torre’s vague answer during the press conference and laugh said it all.
Joe Torre is hosting his own press conference at 2 p.m. ESPN plans to carry it live after an hour-long special on his managerial tenure in the Bronx. You would think from the coverage that Torre had died.
Now, I’m not sure what to expect at this press conference. Torre has always been the consummate professional in New York City. He’s been praised for handling the team, the Boss and the media in a way that had Larry Bowa gushing about him yesterday.
So what happens at 2 p.m.? My bet is absolutely nothing. He’ll thank the Yankees for his tenure, explain why he turned down a $5 million deal and say he’s moving on with his life.
But I could be wrong. What if Joe is simply so fed up with the Yankees and their inept hierarchy of management that he snaps at the press conference? Nothing is stopping Joe from railing into Randy Levine and Levin’s assinine comments yesterday. Nothing is stopping Joe form telling us how he really feels about Steinbrenner. For once, I’d love to see a press conference where something happens.
I doubt honesty would impact Joe’s future job prospects. He already holds a near-legendary status among the rest of baseball and is widely considered one of the most respected faces of the Bronx in this age of chic Yankee hatred. Some people would even laud him for daring to stand up to Steinbrenner.
No matter what, the media circus of the Yankees that has consumed the playoffs this year continues. This, more so than a Cleveland-Colorado World Series, is good for baseball even if it’s bad for the Yankees.
With one poorly-worded statement, the Yankees turned Joe Torre, the man who just refused $5 million to manage, into a sympathetic figure. They could have fired him easily; he could have walked away a week ago. But instead, the Yankees tried to save face, and they failed utterly.
Today, as Buster Oleny detailed, Torre flew down to Tampa this afternoon to meet with the Yankee big wigs. At the time, it even looked like Torre would be coming back. But when Joe landed in Tampa and heard the offer, it was all over.
Torre, as we now know, said no, shook hands and went back home. George Steinbrenner, the outgoing head of the Yankees, told Joe he would be a Yankee for life. Steinbrenner was singing a different tune a week ago when he threatened Torre’s job if the Yanks couldn’t outlast Cleveland, and for a few minutes, it seemed like the Yankee gambit worked.
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With one poorly-worded statement, the Yankees turned Joe Torre, the man who just refused $5 million to manage, into a sympathetic figure. They could have fired him easily; he could have walked away a week ago. But instead, the Yankees tried to save face, and they failed utterly.
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