$5 Million Not Enough To Stop Manager Torre From Quitting Yankees

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.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[JewishJesus]

08:06 PM on 10/19/2007

The weasel here is GM BRIAN CASHMAN...who had all the money in the world....and still couldn't put a winning pitching staff in the Bronx!!! This shmuck couldn't put a winning little league team on the field...even if he had $50 million to do it !!!Add to that the yankee players stopped busting their asses for Torre 3 years ago...it all spells gloom and doom in THE HOUSE THAT RUTH BUILT!!! Great...I hate the Yankees...hope they lose every game next year!!!

[BUSHsurvivor]

06:03 PM on 10/19/2007

Although I am no fan of Torre's I have to say he did the right thing. The nerve of the Yankee organization, especially after shelling out $27 million for Clemmons with his what, 6 wins??? Give me a break. Torre's record over the past 12 years should speak for itself. Now enough about the yankees (media hogs) there are other teams out there who are still in the payoffs!

[JerzGirl226]

02:57 PM on 10/19/2007

Maybe they will come to their damn senses.

[LeonFreilich]

12:09 PM on 10/19/2007

TORREN-UP CONTRACT

A 25 percent reduction--

An offer meant to kill!

Did Steinbrenner think it possible

For Torre to live on 5 mil?

[mjjcpa]

10:48 AM on 10/19/2007

I think Cashman has been in over his head for a long time. The starting rotation was joke in spring training. The Yankees had one of the best second halves of the season after a beginninning plagued by injuries. He should have gotten a raise not this insult. The Yankees gave Roger Clemens $14 million to go 6 - 6. Steinbrenner didn't want Torre back and thought they be cute instead of men.

[Trevor51181]

09:41 AM on 10/19/2007

Meh. It was a hell of a run. Torre has a buttload of money, all the time in the world in which to spend it, and the adoration of the wretched Yankees and their fanbase. He might take a front office position or even a PR position, but he's effectively retired, I think.

[JerzGirl226]

09:03 AM on 10/19/2007

As a huge Yankee fan and Joe Torre fan, I have to say that this annoys me. This offer was an insult. As was threatening his job during the playoffs. For the Yankees to even get to the playoffs this year was remarkable. Stop screwing around Yankees, give Joe the contract he deserves.

[FDRbyGodDemocrat]

12:33 PM on 10/19/2007

Here's hoping Boston hires Joe, and he whips Yankee ass for the next 12 years.

[JimR]

12:44 PM on 10/19/2007

I'm a Red Sox fan, and I agree!

[Americano]

08:53 AM on 10/19/2007

Please the guy was offered 5 million base to manage a team, that after 12 years Torre's can do the job in cruise control which at times looks like that is exactly what he is doing. Plus incentives of plus 3 million if he carries the team into the World Series. Note the 5 million base keep Torres' as the highest paid manager in BB. I think it was a very good offer. Joe's vanity got the better of him.

[Ping]

10:15 AM on 10/19/2007

Joe won 4 World Series in 12 years. That's a helluva accomplishment even for the Yankees. Joe Torre is a Yankee legend, he could run for Mayor of NYC. A 2 1/2 million dollar paycut is an insult no matter how you spin it, but the Yankees needed a change. And that's baseball.

[JimR]

12:53 PM on 10/19/2007

$5 million certainly is a lot of money, but he was right to turn it down. Would you accept a pay cut at your job, if you felt you were still doing your job well? And the fact that it was a one-year deal reeks of "we have no confidence in you."

Your "cruise control" jab seems to indicate you have no clue what a great job he did with that team, especially this year. They were 12 games out of first place at one point, had weak pitching, and numerous injuries, but he still got them to the playoffs.

The Yankees knew full well Torre would reject that offer. They lack the guts and the class to just tell him they don't want him around anymore.

[NyPrincess]

08:37 AM on 10/19/2007

Thanks for everything Joe! I am truly sad to see you go...

[Americano]

08:55 AM on 10/19/2007

Please the guy was offered 5 million base to manage a team, that after 12 years Torre's can do the job in cruise control which at times looks like that is exactly what he is doing. Plus incentives of plus 3 million if he carries the team into the World Series. Note the 5 million base keep Torres' as the highest paid manager in BB. I think it was good offer. Joe's vanity got the better of him.

[newamericanrobot]

02:02 AM on 10/19/2007

i love it. i am not a fan of the yankee's but, i am a fan of torre's. for the yankee's to threaten his job durring a playoff series is completely ridiculous, especially after he brought pride, class and respectability to an ailing team. shame on the yankees, and cheers to joe torre!

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

02:02 AM on 10/19/2007

All this hooey about Torre being over the hill reminds me of the Mark Twain line about thinking, as a kid, that his dad was an idiot, and marvelling at how much the old man had learned by the time Mark Twain himself was a grown-up.

With the Steinbrenners, it's the opposite.

[ICantBeBothered]

12:37 AM on 10/19/2007

"They're considering $300 Million over 10 years for A-Rod"

That's freaking absurd!

[MadxAsxHell]

10:36 PM on 10/18/2007

It is SO sad to see the best manager in baseball since Casey Stengel leave. But Joe leaves with his head held high and a great record.

George Steinbrenner has been the WORST owner the Yankees has ever had. From the 20's to the 70's the Yankees won World Series in EVERY decade--multiple World Series.

Then the 80s--the ONLY decade the Yankees did not win a World Series in. Classy Dave Winfield, treated like shit. And Steinbrenner rather than building a team threw money at quick fixes...

In a move of pure, dumb luck, Steinbrenner hired "Clueless Joe" Torre. WOW! WHAT a turnaround! The Yankees cooked, the Yankees burned, and, in 1998, the Yankees became the winningest team ever in baseball. The 1998 Yanks were every bit as good as the 1927s, doing EVERYTHING right that magical season. They started a Three-peat of World Series wins ending in the first Subway Series since the day the Giants and Dodgers left town.

Throughout, Joe has been the calm, cool rock the Yankees were built on. Coaches like Mel Stottlemyre and Don Zimmer stuck as long as they could, until the insanity of Steinbrenner inevitably, got to them. This was the man who insulted Yogi Berra.

But it took Joe Torre to get Yogi back.

In George Steinbrenner's twisted mind, winning the World Series is the only thing that matters. The Yankees have been in the playoffs for almost every year of Joe's management. For the last several years the Yankees have gotten there without an effective starting rotation, with 3 starters well past or (in Clemen's case) LONG past their prime. I've been a HUGE fan of Mike Mussina since he was a rookie with Baltimore and the local press was always talking about Big Ben MacDonald while Moose was building up a GREAT consistent record. But Moose is long past his best, as is Petite, and, of course Clemens.

He leaves the Yankees with his head held high, with his dignity, and the love of every Yankee fan.

Thanks, Joe! It's been a great ride!

[lisakaz]

12:00 AM on 10/19/2007

Joe got Yogi back? You got a source for that? For the longest time, I understood that it was Suzyn Waldman who engineered that.

And Torre can't live on winning last in 2000 forever. He couldn't get past round 1 for the last 3 years. The team has been 3-13 since going up 3-0 against Boston in '04. He let loyalty get in the way perhaps.

I thought the Yanks lost the killer instinct and lost desire. Cleveland wanted to win more.

It was time to turn the page already, as you note regarding starters who are getting (or are) old. Fresh blood did a lot. The Yanks need it in a manager too.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

01:59 AM on 10/19/2007

Good point re "old." Applies to PITCHERS the GM and front office hired more than managers.

Letting Pettite go was the beginning of the end.

[zendem1]

12:20 PM on 10/19/2007

The Yankees haven't been the same since Gonzalez fisted a Mariano Rivera cutter into the cool Arizona night. Joe was a man of dignity whose calm demeanor helped steer a sometimes sinking ship through very rough seas. he knew how to handle that whacko boss, and he could handle the media. However, after losing Stottlemyre and Zimmer,Torre's gameday decision making wasn't all that good. You are correct:he was loyal to a fault, and in the postseason, Joe tended to play not to lose rather than to win. It was time for him to go,but the Yankees should have said from the beginning that they weren't renewing his contract, and moved on. I don't pity Joe Torre. He's mega-rich, with a beautiful family and a mansion in Hawaii. I pity the guy who takes his place. God help him.

[argentino]

06:03 AM on 10/19/2007

Excellent post MadxAsxHell!

[manuscr1pt]

09:54 PM on 10/18/2007

good for him. the guy made the playoffs 12 years running under constant scrutiny in one of the toughest coaching positions with no job security in the toughest media town with the most stubborn owner (tie, see: al davis) in america and they offer him a pay cut? damn right he walked. anybody with a brain and a backbone would do the same. kudos, joe, from a small market fan who has hated you for 12 years simply for your job title. it was an enviable tenure in an unenviable position. (i hear we may have an opening in milwaukee.)

[jbcowan]

08:23 PM on 10/18/2007

As a long-distance Yankees fan, I'm saddened that Joe Torre has been "shown the door." Torre will be remembered as a GREAT Baseball Manager....what will Steinbrenner be remembered for? The idiot that let Torre get away ! THANK YOU JOE ! We wish you well.

[JimR]

12:55 PM on 10/19/2007

I'm a Red Sox fan, so it's kind of my job to hate Steinbrenner, but...

I don't think he's running the show anymore.