Joe Torre is gone as Yankee manager, which I think is the right move. It is time for the Yankees to start anew...however.
The way the Yankees handled the Torre situation will for years to come be the case study on how to bungle a situation.
It's pretty clear the Yanks didn't want Joe back by the things they said in the post decision conference call. No one seemed too upset by the decision. No one would say if they even cared about the decision, other than "we respect Joe and his decision".
C'mon.. this is a guy who's consistantly brought class to the Yankee name. He's a guy who's won 4 World Titles and been to 12 straight post seasons. The you say we needed to go to something performance based. Here's the quote from Yankee president Randy Levine:
"Under this offer, he would continue to be the highest-paid manager in major league baseball. We thought that we need to go to a performance-based model, having nothing to do with Joe Torre's character, integrity or ability. We just think it's important to motivate people."
Like Joe was just sitting there during the playoffs, not caring about the outcome, instead counting his million. That's ridiculous and insulting to Torre.
The Yankees had to know Torre wasn't going to take a $2,000,000 plus salary cut, even if the incentives would put him to as much as $8,000,000.
By getting on the plane and flying with Brian Cashman to Tampa, Torre made it clear he was still interested in coming back for another season. But Joe does things his way. When the incentive talk came to the forefront, it's a good bet Torre said, thanks, but no thanks.
Who's next? Don Mattingtly, Joe Girardi, Tony LaRussa. A Cardinals swap of LaRussa to the Yanks and Torre to the Cardinals would make sense. Although making sense and the Yankees don't often go together.
One other question to be answered - doesn't Brian Cashman share an responsibility for the state of the Yankees? Just asking.
If you want to give the Yankees credit, consider this. Maybe, to let Joe down with dignity and how fire him, they made an offer they knew he'd reject. He looks like the tough guy, then look like the bumbling idiots.
If that's the way it went down.. the Yankees sure played their part perfectly
