Friday, October 19, 2007
Strictly business
WCBS news radio aired the entire 75 minute Joe Torre news conference. The station won't let a presidential session run past two traffic/weather reports, but then the Bush Q&A is worthless. Local TV daytime dramas also pre-empted. It isn't as if many Yankee fans are reassessing loyalty to the team. The typical Yankee fan is a George Steinbrenner. For all the credit deservedly given to Torre's success, he took over the team after sanity had already returned. Four years of Manager Buck Showalter & a near-death experience for Major League Baseball done it. Yanks were in 1st place when the strike ended the 1994 season, World Series canceled, lasting so long the 1995 season had to be shortened. That was a wild card year. Joe Torre wasn't hired to rebuild a failing franchise. He came into a sweet situation & it was reasonable to expect immediate success. None of his seasons with the Yanks was a "miracle" year until 2007. So it's somewhat ironic that this season, his best as a manager, did him in.
Yankee management is looking at two years guaranteed sellout attendance regardless of how the team finishes; the last year in the old Stadium & the first in the new one. Incentives are one thing. Offering Torre a one year deal was the big insult. He deserved two years. They wouldn't even talk, so he walked. They could've done this two weeks ago.
Yankee management is looking at two years guaranteed sellout attendance regardless of how the team finishes; the last year in the old Stadium & the first in the new one. Incentives are one thing. Offering Torre a one year deal was the big insult. He deserved two years. They wouldn't even talk, so he walked. They could've done this two weeks ago.
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
"So it's somewhat ironic that this season, his best as a manager..."
I'd have to nitpick with you on that one. The 1998 Yankees set a MLB record with 125 wins (including 114 during the regular season) and a World Championship. That was arguably the most successful year for Torre.
I'd have to nitpick with you on that one. The 1998 Yankees set a MLB record with 125 wins (including 114 during the regular season) and a World Championship. That was arguably the most successful year for Torre.
No doubt that was one of the greatest years for any baseball team. But this year had such potential for utter disaster. To keep those players focused on winning series, 2 out of 3, 3 out of 4, week after week for three months, & let him worry about the pitching & injuries & the front office. Peerless clubhouse managing.
The Yankees seemed hopelessly over and out by the All-Star break. It took an infusion of young talent and the return from injuries by some veterans to push the team towards the playoffs.
The pitching roster says a lot. But an image that sticks in my mind isn't even from the Yanks; it's Jose Reyes not running out a grounder in the last week of the season. I have never seen Jeter do that.
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