Thursday, October 18, 2007

Torre Intentionally Walked

Let's set the record straight - the offer was not an offer.

The official offer was not fair, nor was it done within the traditional Yankee value system. Anyone who knows anything about the Yankees and is willing to be honest about the situation knows that is case.

First and foremost, this was a game - a PR ploy trying to be pulled by the two Steinbrenner boys and Randy LeVine (Randy is a dishonest piece of shit by the way). Knowing the media and fan base would eat them alive for not keeping Torre, they opt for a fake offer that they know he'll reject, so they can walk away with clean hands. That's all it was - they didn't have the stones to walk away from Joe and face the music afterward, so they decided to put on a show so they would look like the victims - what a sad display of leadership.

On the offer: The first issue was the length. You don't re-up a manager for one year, you at minimum do a two-year deal to avoid the lame duck status and distraction on the team. Second was the comp. Every MLB franchise offers incentive based compensation. All but one franchise that is. The Yankees are proud of the fact that they don't build incentives in contracts because they expect everyone to perform at the highest level and are paid as such. By providing Joe an incentive based contract, they were essentially telling him that he has lost the right to be treated like all the other Yankees - and for someone that loves the franchise as much as Torre does, that in itself would have been enough for a deal breaker.

I would have respected the team's decision had they just come out and been up front and said thanks but no thanks. But this game that they played shows that they have no balls, no backbone, not the NY way. I hope this is not the sign of things to come. The level of disrespect shown here does not sit well with me.

Now let the circus begin over the spec on who will replace Joe, and where Joe ends up next.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

ESPN - Hillman in talks with the Royals.

Olney on Torre - Other than Mariano Rivera, he was the most important Yankee from '96 to '01.

old professor said...

Let's take a serious look at the Torre offer. $5 million base still left Torre the highest paid manager in the big leagues. Additional bonus money associated with playoff performance allowed for him to make an extra $3 million. Making it to the world series would have given him year two at a gauranteed $8 million. That is a fair offer from any direction you look. From all reports, the parting of the ways was friendly and business like - no tears. It is time for Torre to move on. He was a class act from day one, but that doesn't fill the seats or guarantee a championship.

The brass may have hoped he would have turned it down, but there is another way to look at it. Joe is 67, has a young wife and young child - The Yankee job is stressful without having to be dragged through the streets by Steinbrenner on a regular basis maybe just maybe he would like to be around long enough in life to see his daughter grow-up. This gave Joe the opportunity to walk away under his terms.

The unfortunate aspect to the process now is the Yankees have to go through a search process and interview minority candidates when it would appear the job is going to be offered in-house. The required major league process is a joke.

Anonymous said...

Required interview process is why I think Pena will be given a shot to at least be considered.

On the bonus aspect of the contract. That is not how the Yanks operate. Under Cashman, the Yanks never did incentives - its always been here's the contract now go and be the best. It was an anti-yankee offer.

Like I said, I would have respected the mgmt stance had they had the stones to just say your out, its time for us to move on and go in a different direction. Instead, they showed zero leadership and tried to take the easy way out.

57 said...

Torre paid his dues. He EARNED his incentives YEARS ago... this was a joke. Tarnishes the Yankee management...

Anonymous said...

57 you are right the Yankees management is tarnished by this incident. It shows they made an honest offer to keep someone who was emotionally attached to the team, who wasn't getting the job done. That in and of itself should tarnish the Yankees. If after 12 years on the job with the same company, you weren't getting the job done, I doubt your company would say you know let me give you a new offer and you'll still be the highest paid guy in the industry. Don't think that would happen do you? Let's for a minute step back and take a look at Torre's resume. He was a career sub-.500 manager with the Cardinals, Mets, and Braves (with Atlanta being his most successful stop with a .529 Win%). Does anyone recall what he was doing before he was hired by the Yankees??? He was broadcasting Angels games. Why...because he was a proven loser. It's amazing how $200M in player salary will make you a HOF manager. The Yankees management did exactly what they were suppose to do get the talent on the field, and Torre found a way to blow it the last 6 years.

I'm tired of seeing how Joe gets all the credit for wins and none of it for the losses. Every year he mis-handles a rotation and burns through his bullpen by the All-Star game. Until this season he never gave the kids a realistic chance at succeeding. It was only this year when he was basically forced to through injury and necessity.

I for one appreciate the way Torre handle The Boss, I liked the way he dealt with the media, loved the way he bonded with his players, they were fiercely loyal to him, and he added class to what was an otherwise classless team under Steinbrenner. But the second half of his Yankee career just wasn't enough.

The more I think about it I like Tony Pena as the successor. He has managerial experience, he's been in NY for a couple years now so he know what to expect. I think Torre has nurtured the calm side of him, but he still has the ability to spark off when needed. He's already no the coaching staff so players are used to him, respect him (at least I haven't heard otherwise). PLUS, if you can win manager of the year with the Royals, imagine what he could do with a $200M payroll...in 10 years we will be saying Tony P is a HOF manager. Holy Cow, It's deja vu all over again.

Middle Relief said...

As Old Prof pointed out, when teams look for managers they have to interview minorities and other candidates even if they don't want to.

That's why I think Pena will be given a shot, and I forgot that Pena was manager of the year.

On Torre, I thought he should have been gone after the '05 and '06 seasons. I thought he did pretty well in '07 though.

Like I said, if mgmt would have been up front and said we're moving on I would have respected that more than the no-offer offer.

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