JP (and others) .. Joe Torre quits

[GraphixNPrint]

Well Yankee fans, its official. Joe Torre just tuned down his contract offer.

[Seapony]

Rub it in, whydontcha. ;)

As someone told the press, the Yankee Execs know how to "commit a murder and make it look like suicide."

He's got nothing to be ashamed of. And I certainly appreciate his tenure here. It'll be interesting to see who they hire next. I shudder to think Tony LaRusa has a chance.

:)

[GraphixNPrint]

I think they should hire Pete Rose and really raise a stink in the press (here is where I would need a good little roflmao smiley) :D

[JPnyc]

Well I'm not a yankee fan, but I consider it impossible not to like Torre. This is a very sincere, genuine, and thoughtful man. I can't see how anyone could NOT like him. The Dark Days of the 70s are returning for the yanks. After careful consideration, I think I'll giggle here (giggle).

[GraphixNPrint]

When I titled this, for some strange reason I had your avatar stuck in my head as being a Yankees logo and not the Rangers.... damn I need to pay more attention to these things in the future! ;)

[JPnyc]

I hate brats, and George Steinführer is the world's oldest spoiled brat. I'm hoping the Sox win another WS because I think that would bother him the most. Anything with helps George's ulcer grow, that's for me!

[Virgo Nightingale]

Steinbrenner really is spoiled. I don't follow baseball all that much anymore, but I what I do know is that the Yankees have one of best records (if not the best record) in baseball, and make it into the postseason more often than they don't. I understand that you also have the highest payroll in baseball and thus expect the best out of your team, but your franchise is still making you tons of money and on a whole, your team still does consistently better than the rest of the league. Don't be a sore loser just because you don't win every single World Series. What a crybaby.

[JPnyc]

There's a rumor that he even complained WHILE they were winning rings, that they weren't hitting enough HOME RUNS! George will spend any amount of money to win, but he never figured out that most of the time when they DIDN'T win, it was BECAUSE of his personal preferences of type of player. When they won it was in SPITE of him.

He wants a Home run hitting allstar at every position, and nothing but fireballing pitchers throwing 95+ mph. That's not what wins. Teams win.

[seamas]

I'll miss Joe terribly.

He was a perfect fit.
Sure the team has a HUGE payroll, but the REAL job as Yankee manager is to pit yourself between the bosses in Tampa, the NY press (which is 10X bigger than any other market's press), the fans, history, and the assortment of egos among the elite players.

Quite a storm to navigate.


As for the organization:
We can't rest this act at the feet of George Steinbrenner. If George wanted Joe fired, he would NEVER drag it out.
He'd have fired him right after the series loss to Cleveland (who I am now rooting for to beat the Sox - I despise Manny Ramirez).

George Steinbrenner isn't running things anymore (apparently he has a touch of Alzheimer's), and the team is now "run" by a comitee of Yankee President Levine, Hal and Hank Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman. They don't seem to be doing a very good job.


I don't love Steinbrenner, but I don't hate him either.

When he bought the team, they were in a shambles. Losing games, losing a ton of money, and attracting small attendance.

He turned all that around in short order.
It's a business and he created a HUGELY successful one. He pays not only for his own team's salary, but in "luxury taxes" he even pays the whole salary of other teams (whose owners pocket the profits.)

He has made all the owners in MLB a ton of cash - for good and bad.

As for Joe Torre, I wish him the best of luck. He was always a class act around here.

[GraphixNPrint]

I keep hearing class act mentioned every where (huge news junkie here). From what I watched of the press conference I agree.

[JPnyc]

Exactly, and that's what Joe did with such excellence. He absorbed so much of the nonsense of the 3 ring circus which is NYC, and deflected it away from his players. That won't be so easy to replace.

[Virgo Nightingale]

George Steinbrenner isn't running things anymore (apparently he has a touch of Alzheimer's), and the team is now "run" by a comitee of Yankee President Levine, Hal and Hank Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman.
Then I take back what I said about Steinbrenner. It's those managing in his stead who are the spoiled crybabies.

[JPnyc]

Well that doesn't change what he's been for the past 40+ yrs. He was still the world's oldest brat all that time. Now, well he's STILL that, he just doesn't remember it.

[GraphixNPrint]

I just wish I had the money he does .. well, I guess we all do.

[Kool]

Is Billie Martin still alive? The yanks haven't hired and fired him for a while. :D

[Red Kittie Kat]

There's a name from the past :D

[Virgo Nightingale]

I just heard his name on the radio, he's doing some kind of appearance tonight I think at a local store or something where he's signing autographs and such.

[doubting_thomas]

I find it interesting that Joe Torre's going to be a Hall of Famer after his
stint with the Yankees. It wasn't all that long ago (in baseball terms), that
he was run out of St. Louis on a rail for being such a terrible manager. I have
no love at all for the Yankees, but Joe's always seemed like a class act. At least
that's how it looks from 2000 miles away ;)

[JPnyc]

NEWSFLASH: the new York Yankees have just announced that their new manager for the upcoming season will be... Darth Vader .

[GraphixNPrint]

haha

[Red Kittie Kat]

lmao Joe :D

[urstwile]

While I have nothing to say about Joe Torre, there is a book I'd highly recommend, called "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning", which goes into a lot of the story behind Steinbrenner's ascendancy as Yankees owner, his drama with Billy Martin, Billy Martin's drama with Reggie Jackson, and lots of other cool fascinating stuff about New York in the mid-70's, when all kinds of stuff was going down.

I think it was also an ESPN series.