Joe Torre Rejects One Year Deal With Yankees

[some18mybrain]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Joe Torre is out as manager of the New York Yankees, rejecting a substantial pay cut after the team failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.

Torre turned down a $5 million, one-year contract Thursday that still would have made him the highest paid manager in baseball.

Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre, who led the Yanks to 12 straight playoff appearances and won four World Series championships. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL Manager of the Year with Florida in 2006, is another top contender.

"It's a difficult day," general manager Brian Cashman said.

But it was a day Yankees' fans could see coming.


After losing the first two playoff games to Cleveland, owner George Steinbrenner said he didn't think Torre would be back if the Yankees didn't advance.

Torre, who took over the team to start the 1996 season, made his decision after traveling fom New York to the team's spring training complex in Tampa, Fla. He was accompanied by Cashman and chief operating officer Lonn Trost.

"It is now time for the New York Yankees to move forward," Levine said.

Torre made $7.5 million this year, the final season of a $19.2 million, three-year contract. His new deal would have included substantial bonuses for each round of the playoffs the team reached.

"We felt we needed to go to a performance-based mode," Levine said. "We thought it was very fair. It clearly was at the top of the market, but we respect Joe's decision."

Torre led the Yankees to the postseason every year he managed them, winning the AL East 10 times. But the Yankees have gone without a Series championship in the last seven and haven't even reached it since 2003, a stretch of futility that finally prompted Steinbrenner to make a change.

With 2,067 regular-season wins, Torre is eighth on the career list and was third among active managers behind Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals (2,375) and Bobby Cox (2,255) of the Atlanta Braves. Torre's four World Series titles are likely to earn him a place in the Hall of Fame -- every manager with three or more has been inducted.

As for salary, he led all managers -- Lou Piniella of the Cubs was second at $3.5 million a year.

Torre's was the longest uninterrupted term for a Yankees manager since Casey Stengel held the job from 12 years from 1949-60. Stengel was pushed out, too, let go after his team lost a seven-game World Series to Pittsburgh.


Under Torre, the Yankees went 1,173-767. He trails only Joe McCarthy (1,460) for wins among Yankees managers.

"This has been a great 12 years. Whatever the hell happens from here on out, I'll look back on these 12 years with great, great pleasure," Torre said after his final game, his voice quavering as he tried to avoid choking up. "The 12 years just felt like they were 10 minutes long, to be honest with you."

He wouldn't address his future.

"If I have some options, I'll look at it because I'm certainly not ready to move somewhere and not do anything," the 67-year-old New Yorker said.

When Torre succeeded Buck Showalter, the Yankees had not won the World Series since 1978, the longest drought since the team's first title in 1923. It was the 20th change in manager following Steinbrenner's purchase of the franchise in 1973.

Torre never had much success as a manager before landing in New York, and many predicted he would be gone in no time. But he turned out to be a rock and a buffer to the blustery Steinbrenner. He was calm, stoic and brought an unprecedented period of stability to a team accustomed to constant turmoil.

The Brooklyn native was a former NL MVP and a nine-time All-Star. Before joining the Yankees, he had unsuccessful managing stints with the Braves, Cardinals and Mets -- the three clubs he played for. When the Yankees hired him, one New York paper dubbed him: "Clueless Joe."

But New York won the World Series in 1996, led by a group that included Bernie Williams, rookie Derek Jeter, setup man Mariano Rivera, Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez. With catcher Jorge Posada added in, they won the Series from 1998-2000, the first team to win three straight since the Swingin' Oakland A's of 1972-74, and advanced to Game 7 of the Series in 2001, when they failed to hold a ninth-inning lead at Arizona.

Since then, despite baseball's largest payroll, there has been only frustration: a first-round loss to the Anaheim Angels in 2002, a World Series defeat to the Florida Marlins in 2003 and a painful exit the following year, when they allowed the Boston Red Sox to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the AL championship series.

They lost to the Angels in five games in the first round in 2005, were eliminated by the Detroit Tigers last year and were knocked out by Cleveland this year.

Communication between Torre and Steinbrenner deteriorated in 2005, and it wasn't clear that Torre would return for 2006 until after the pair met in Tampa. Steinbrenner meddled less with the team the past two seasons -- even during a 21-29 start this year -- giving almost unprecedented authority to Torre and Cashman.

Mattingly became the Yankees' bench coach this year following three seasons as hitting coach. A six-time All-Star and a former AL MVP, he starred for the team from 1982-95 and is a fan favorite whose No. 23 was retired by the Yankees in 1997.

Girardi is a Torre protege who kept a young Florida team in contention until late in the 2006 season with a no-nonsense approach.

[DJRider]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Joe Torre is out as manager of the New York Yankees, rejecting a substantial pay cut after the team failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.

Torre turned down a $5 million, one-year contract Thursday that still would have made him the highest paid manager in baseball.

Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre, who led the Yanks to 12 straight playoff appearances and won four World Series championships. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL Manager of the Year with Florida in 2006, is another top contender.

"It's a difficult day," general manager Brian Cashman said.

But it was a day Yankees' fans could see coming.


After losing the first two playoff games to Cleveland, owner George Steinbrenner said he didn't think Torre would be back if the Yankees didn't advance.

Torre, who took over the team to start the 1996 season, made his decision after traveling fom New York to the team's spring training complex in Tampa, Fla. He was accompanied by Cashman and chief operating officer Lonn Trost.

"It is now time for the New York Yankees to move forward," Levine said.

Torre made $7.5 million this year, the final season of a $19.2 million, three-year contract. His new deal would have included substantial bonuses for each round of the playoffs the team reached.

"We felt we needed to go to a performance-based mode," Levine said. "We thought it was very fair. It clearly was at the top of the market, but we respect Joe's decision."

Torre led the Yankees to the postseason every year he managed them, winning the AL East 10 times. But the Yankees have gone without a Series championship in the last seven and haven't even reached it since 2003, a stretch of futility that finally prompted Steinbrenner to make a change.

With 2,067 regular-season wins, Torre is eighth on the career list and was third among active managers behind Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals (2,375) and Bobby Cox (2,255) of the Atlanta Braves. Torre's four World Series titles are likely to earn him a place in the Hall of Fame -- every manager with three or more has been inducted.

As for salary, he led all managers -- Lou Piniella of the Cubs was second at $3.5 million a year.

Torre's was the longest uninterrupted term for a Yankees manager since Casey Stengel held the job from 12 years from 1949-60. Stengel was pushed out, too, let go after his team lost a seven-game World Series to Pittsburgh.


Under Torre, the Yankees went 1,173-767. He trails only Joe McCarthy (1,460) for wins among Yankees managers.

"This has been a great 12 years. Whatever the hell happens from here on out, I'll look back on these 12 years with great, great pleasure," Torre said after his final game, his voice quavering as he tried to avoid choking up. "The 12 years just felt like they were 10 minutes long, to be honest with you."

He wouldn't address his future.

"If I have some options, I'll look at it because I'm certainly not ready to move somewhere and not do anything," the 67-year-old New Yorker said.

When Torre succeeded Buck Showalter, the Yankees had not won the World Series since 1978, the longest drought since the team's first title in 1923. It was the 20th change in manager following Steinbrenner's purchase of the franchise in 1973.

Torre never had much success as a manager before landing in New York, and many predicted he would be gone in no time. But he turned out to be a rock and a buffer to the blustery Steinbrenner. He was calm, stoic and brought an unprecedented period of stability to a team accustomed to constant turmoil.

The Brooklyn native was a former NL MVP and a nine-time All-Star. Before joining the Yankees, he had unsuccessful managing stints with the Braves, Cardinals and Mets -- the three clubs he played for. When the Yankees hired him, one New York paper dubbed him: "Clueless Joe."

But New York won the World Series in 1996, led by a group that included Bernie Williams, rookie Derek Jeter, setup man Mariano Rivera, Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez. With catcher Jorge Posada added in, they won the Series from 1998-2000, the first team to win three straight since the Swingin' Oakland A's of 1972-74, and advanced to Game 7 of the Series in 2001, when they failed to hold a ninth-inning lead at Arizona.

Since then, despite baseball's largest payroll, there has been only frustration: a first-round loss to the Anaheim Angels in 2002, a World Series defeat to the Florida Marlins in 2003 and a painful exit the following year, when they allowed the Boston Red Sox to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the AL championship series.

They lost to the Angels in five games in the first round in 2005, were eliminated by the Detroit Tigers last year and were knocked out by Cleveland this year.

Communication between Torre and Steinbrenner deteriorated in 2005, and it wasn't clear that Torre would return for 2006 until after the pair met in Tampa. Steinbrenner meddled less with the team the past two seasons -- even during a 21-29 start this year -- giving almost unprecedented authority to Torre and Cashman.

Mattingly became the Yankees' bench coach this year following three seasons as hitting coach. A six-time All-Star and a former AL MVP, he starred for the team from 1982-95 and is a fan favorite whose No. 23 was retired by the Yankees in 1997.

Girardi is a Torre protege who kept a young Florida team in contention until late in the 2006 season with a no-nonsense approach.

I love Joe and respect his decision because they treated him the last week like crap.
My gut feeling is in 2 words is "this sucks".

[some18mybrain]

I agree. I can't believe they're treating him the way that they are, with all that he's done for Yankee baseball in the last 12 years.

[kulnet]

I say good for him. I'm glad that he went out on his own terms.

[fakeguy]

With all the crap he had to put up with its gonna be tough to replace him.

[some18mybrain]

Yankees lose their nerve

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
October 18, 2007





No matter how many times the New York Yankees brain trust babbled on about their "respect" for Joe Torre, their "admiration" for Joe Torre or how Joe Torre is a "great, great person," they sure didn't want him managing their team next season.

They just lacked the stones to say it.

The Yankees have been emasculated.

The franchise whose principal owner, George Steinbrenner, became famous for his dictatorial decisions, iron-fisted leadership and back-page tabloid tantrums was busy Thursday trying to spin stories to win the PR battle against a beloved manager who just told them to take their job and shove it.

Why the Yankees decided to offer Torre a contract they knew he'd never accept – a base pay cut and the inclusion of performance-based incentive clauses – is the question, and no matter the answer it doesn't bode well for the franchise.

They claimed it was an effort to "motivate" him, which would be insulting if you actually believed anything that was said during a Thursday afternoon conference call.

The question of why begins with the question of who, as in which Steinbrenner ultimately made this decision. Was it George, or the sons he has supposedly ceded daily authority to, Hal and Hank?

At this point, we don't know for sure, but we'll start with The Boss. Perhaps this is the last hurrah for the aging King George, 77. He built his reputation on decisive decision-making, a man of complete autonomy and no patience and no care for outside opinion.

He famously axed 13 different managers 20 different times (Billy Martin was hired and fired five times all by himself) in his first 23 years of ownership. He also pursued players like no one else, sparing no expense to assemble the greatest collection of talent he could.

If he wanted someone, he got him. If he didn't, he got rid of him. That made him the most famous sports owner in the world, parodied on everything from "Seinfeld" to "The Simpsons."

But in 1996, Steinbrenner hired Joe Torre, the thrice-fired veteran who immediately peeled off four World Series in five years and became a New York icon, hailed for a level of class and dignity that matched his skills.

For Steinbrenner this was a mixed blessing. He coveted the titles but privately bristled at Torre's intense popularity. He often reminded reporters that he had taken Torre off the scrap heap, how he wasn't a success until Steinbrenner got him all that talent.

The Boss was good to Torre, no doubt. He paid him more than any other manager and his 12-year run was by far the longest of any under his watch. But Steinbrenner always implied his surprise that when things didn't go well, Torre escaped most of the blame.

Perhaps, Steinbrenner wanted him gone but didn't want to cede Torre the high ground. It was just two weeks ago The Boss was almost universally ripped by fans and media for telling The Bergen Record that Torre's "job is on the line" if the Yankees failed to beat the Cleveland Indians in the American League division series.

The Yankees lost, but Steinbrenner was reminded of public sentiment.

So maybe rather than fire, he decided to try to spin. The $5 million base salary they offered was a $2.5 million pay cut but still made Torre "the highest paid manager in Major League Baseball," team president Randy Levine pointed out. And if incentives were reached he could "make even more money than (his last deal)," Levine claimed, before adding that the performance base clauses were "what many people in the world" deal with. Torre would have gotten $1 million if the Yankees made the playoffs, $1 million if they reached the ALCS and $1 million if they reached the World Series.

"We think this contract was extremely fair," Levine said in between one his numerous praises of Torre.

If they could get the public to buy that then Torre would be the one breaking up with the Yankees, not vice versa. Then they could hire Don Mattingly, the popular ex-player, in his place and win the PR war.

But the public isn't that stupid.

No manager would take a pay cut from a franchise that never previously cared about money. And none would have his job security hinge on making the World Series, a pursuit where outside variables – injuries, luck, opponent, A-Rod's next slump – are such a factor.

What Torre saw is what Yankees fans will see; a contract designed to be turned down.

Of course, there is also the chance that George Steinbrenner had little to do with this, an even more frightening thought for the franchise.

If this was the handiwork of Hank and Hal, then their first big move raises concerns of both indecisiveness and frugality.

The one thing that could never be questioned about their father was his intense desire to win. He didn't just say it, he did it.

If Hank and Hal really believed that Torre had to go, they should have fired him cleanly. If they believed he was the best person for the job, they should have done whatever it took to keep him.

That's the Yankees way.

Instead they danced around a decision, avoided responsibility or, perhaps, just wanted to cut costs starting with the manager's salary. Steinbrenner's investment in the Yankees has been a huge financial success because the value of the franchise has grown exponentially. But in many individual years, he operated it at a loss.

No one knows whether his sons are as committed financially to do that.

If they aren't, if this was, indeed, their decision, then what does that mean for the payroll, for the re-signing of Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and, most notably, Alex Rodriguez? What does it mean for the Yankees old anything-it-takes mind set? Where is the cut-and-dried stance on things?

"The object of the Yankees since the 1920s has been to win the championship every year," Hank Steinbrenner said.

Well, if the object hasn't changed, it's clear on this bumbling, embarrassing day for the Yankees that the way of pursuing it sure has.