Joe Torre Removed Himself From Yankee Past
July 20, 2010 · Bronx Baseball Daily · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
This is going to be about Joe Torre and Tim McCarver, but before I even get into it, I should start by saying that I don’t really like Joe Torre. I’m not talking about the man, just the manager. He inherited a great team built by Gene Michael with help from Buck Showalter, and he won a lot of games. As he should have.
Once he lost Don Zimmer as his sidekick in 2004 though, the wheels really started to come off and he made a number of questionable decisions. His bullpen management was atrocious, though he was helped by the fact that he had access to a once in a lifetime talent in Mariano Rivera .
Throughout the 2000’s though, Torre consistently had the best team in baseball and quite often came up short. Fans always gave Torre the benefit of the doubt and rarely held him accountable, despite the fact that getting the most out of the talent on the team is precisely what the manager is there to do. People will disagree with me on this and that’s fine; I’m just putting it out there before I get into anything else.
Anyways, unfortunately on Saturday we were forced to listen to the inane rantings of Tim McCarver, who routinely competes with Joe Morgan for the title of worst commentator in the world (unlike my opinion on Torre, I will not hedge my opinion on those two).
On a day when the Yankees were paying their respects to Bob Sheppard—and still mourning George Steinbrenner—McCarver decided it would be a good idea to complain about how the Yankee organization treated Joe Torre. McCarver went so far as to compare the Yankee brass, which obviously includes the late Steinbrenner, to various despotic regimes. Of course, this was after McCarver speculated that maybe AJ Burnett cut his hand on whip cream and towel the night before, so clearly the man is a bit insane, but still, he made those comments and while he is now saying he chose some poor words, he is not backing down in his defense of Torre .
Now two things.
1) I don’t think the way Torre was treated when he left was all that terrible. Again, you may disagree based on how much you love Joe Torre, but the man was offered a one-year deal as the highest paid manager in baseball.
If he got to the World Series, it would have vested him another year. He was insulted at the performance bonus idea, but he hadn’t won a World Series in a number of years. I know the late 90’s were great, but the Yankees wanted someone committed to winning it all every single year. Torre was renowned for spending the least amount of time on baseball amongst managers. The Yankees really wanted a change, but out of loyalty, made that offer to Torre. You can call it insulting if you want, but I respectfully disagree.
2) Torre wrote a tell-all book where he trashed many Yankees and the Yankee organization. So what should the Yankees be doing, throwing him a parade? Of course they’re not going out of their way to honor him. Would you? When Torre made the decision to write that book, he effectively cut ties with the Yankees.
So there are rumblings that the Dodgers aren’t too pleased with Torre’s work ethic, and his teams have continued to flame out in the playoffs. The Yankees reloaded their roster last year for Joe Girardi, and he won a World Series.
Clearly, the Torre myth is beginning to fade. I understand that McCarver is friends with Torre and I respect standing up for one’s friend, but McCarver is being naive if he thinks this was a one-sided decision. Most of all though, he picked a terrible time to try to pick a fight with the Yankees.
Related Stories
Read more New York Yankees news on BleacherReport.com
Yankee Tickets
Shop Yankee
