Yanks lose Torre

[Hurmoth]

Joe Torre turned down the New York Yankees' offer to return as manager on Thursday.

The Yankees offered Torre a one-year deal with a base salary of $5 million and incentives that would have increased his salary to $8 million based on postseason performance. Under that offer, if Torre reached the World Series in 2008, an option for 2009 would have vested.

News Source: ESPN

[vincent]

About time a decision was made, got tired of hearing about what was going to be done.

[MGS4-SS]

Good decision on his part. **** Steinbrenner.

I wonder who will fit his shoes now...

[Budious]

Oh, Fox News just reported that he had signed the deal. Which is true?

[Veedems Veteran]

Well, it doesn't say they've given up trying, just that he declined their current offer. I think it's silly to expect him to take a pay cut considering how he managed to get them to the post season with all the issues they had to deal with in the first half.

[Budious]

Seriously though, if you can't win with a $160M payroll you need to find a new manager or better players. The Rockies and Indians have team payrolls around $50-60M respectively if I remember correctly.

Update: Fox News just announced that he had rejected the $5M base deal w/ bonus of $3M if they won ALCS and World Series citing it as a pay cut over his previous contract.

[spacer]

This doesn't affect me one way or the other. Stay or go, I don't care what Torre does. He's a great manager though. Now it's on to the hall of fame!

[Veedems Veteran]

Seriously though, if you can't win with a $160M payroll you need to find a new manager or better players. The Rockies and Indians have team payrolls around $50-60M respectively if I remember correctly.

Update: Fox News just announced that he had rejected the $5M base deal w/ bonus of $3M if they won ALCS and World Series citing it as a pay cut over his previous contract.

It's not just the manager. Look at the teams of the late 90's when he lead them to 4 championships. He worked with far fewer superstars. The problem is, I believe, they are in a rebuilding period as they shed those over paid stars and trying to work on younger pitching, again. They're about two years away, IMO.

[Hurmoth]

UPDATE

Joe Torre rejected a $5 million, one-year contract to return as manager of the New York Yankees on Thursday.

The Yankees offered Torre a one-year deal with a base salary of $5 million and incentives that would have increased his salary to $8 million based on postseason performance. Under that offer, if Torre reached the World Series in 2008, an option for 2009 would have vested.

"We felt we needed to go to a performance-based mode," team president Randy Levine said. "We thought it was very fair. It clearly was at the top of the market, but we respect Joe's decision."

Torre, who had held the job since 1995, made an unannounced trip from New York to the team's spring training complex in Tampa, Fla., accompanied by general manager Brian Cashman and chief operating officer Lonn Trost. Levine said Torre turned down the offer during the meeting, which lasted about one hour.

"It is now time for the New York Yankees to move forward," Levine said.

Torre made $7.5 million this year, the final season of a $19.2 million, three-year contract.

Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL manager of the year with Florida in 2006, is another top contender.

Cashman said there will be a full search for a replacement.

Just 10 days ago, the Yankees were bounced out of the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.

News Source: ESPN

[Veedems Veteran]

Mattingly is not ready. I think they need to bring in Girardi and see what he can do. My buddy at work disagrees, arguing that a few of the guys played with Girardi and wouldn't be able to see him as a manager, but I really disagree. These are professionals.

[Hurmoth]

Mattingly is not ready. I think they need to bring in Girardi and see what he can do. My buddy at work disagrees, arguing that a few of the guys played with Girardi and wouldn't be able to see him as a manager, but I really disagree. These are professionals.

My boss thinks that Torre will go to the Cardinals and Tony La Russa will be picked up as the manager for the Yanks.

[Purple Haze]

I can see that happening; as soon as LaRussa was available, I had a gut feeling that was what would happen.

I hate the Yanks, but have utmost respect for Torre. To offer him a paycut and only a one year deal is stupid and insulting.

[Hurmoth]

Torre isn't the one who needed to go to begin with. It is Cashman. Cashman's a ****ing. Buying old washed up players who are getting ready to retire, he should have started building a descent farm system, but anyone who has any prospect of having a long productive career, he trades them for someone old and washed up.

I hate this, Torre is one of the best Managers in Yankee history, let alone baseball history. He's done an incredible job getting the Yankees to the post season with the amount of injuries and washed up players he has to work with.

[Veedems Veteran]

It wasn't Cashman going after those old players. Why do you think, in his new contract, he requested full control over who gets signed? It was George making him sign those washed up stars.

[Hurmoth]

Torre breaks silence

Joe Torre told his side of the story Friday, saying the incentives in the New York Yankees' contract offer were an "insult."

"I just felt the contract offer, the terms of the contract, were probably the thing I had the toughest time with -- the one year for one thing, the incentives for another thing," Torre said of his reasons for declining the offer. "I've been there 12 years and I didn't think motivation was needed."

"We knew exactly what was expected here," he said, "So, I just didn't think it was the right thing for me, I just didn't think it was the right thing for my players."

Torre, who won four World Series with the Yankees and made the playoffs each of his 12 seasons, on Thursday turned down a one-year offer that would have cut his base pay to $5 million, a reduction of $2.5 million, but offered $3 million in performance-based incentives and an $8 million option for 2009 if the Yankees won the 2008 AL pennant. Torre, who had just completed a $19.2 million, three-year contract, turned down the deal after meeting for an hour in Tampa with team owner George Steinbrenner, his sons Hal and Hank and team management.

Torre, who thanked the team, its fans and Steinbrenner, said that the Thursday meeting went 20 minutes and that there was no negotiation on the proposed contract terms.

Asked if he would return if the team reconsidered, Torre said he wasn't expecting that to happen. He said committment, not money, was the biggest factor.

"I like to work with people -- there's a certain trust that has to be earned and forged in order to have the commitment to follow," Torre said. "I can't answer that question because I don't anticipate it happening. If someone wanted me to manage here, I'd be managing here."

"Yes it was a very generous offer," he added, "but it wasn't the type of commitment that 'we're trying to do something together,' as opposed to 'let me see what you can do for me.'"

Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL manager of the year with Florida in 2006, is another top contender. Tony La Russa and Bobby Valentine could also be considered.

With 2,067 regular-season wins, Torre is eighth on the career list and was third among active managers behind the St. Louis Cardinals' La Russa (2,375) and the Atlanta Braves' Bobby Cox (2,255).

Torre indicated he might not be done managing, either.

"That depends on sitting with someone and discussing what the job is. I still feel the energy level," he said. "Right now my contract [with the Yankees] runs till Dec. 1 ... I'm free to listen right now."

Would he return to Yankee Stadium for a ceremonial role, such as when Yankee Stadium closes in 2008 and its successor is opened in 2009?

"I'm really not prepared to comment on that," he said.

Under Torre, the Yankees went 1,173-767, trailing only Joe McCarthy (1,460) for wins among Yankee managers. Of those, he said the team's run of World Series success stands out.

"That World Series run we had was incredible. You don't realize until you lose a three-game lead like we did against Boston [in 2004] how important it is to keep momemtum on your side," he said. "To win 14 straight World Series games was pretty special. "

Torre never had much success as a manager before landing in New York, and when he replaced Buck Showalter, many predicted he would be gone in no time. But he turned out to be a rock and a buffer to the blustery Steinbrenner and brought stability to a team accustomed to turmoil. The Yankees won the World Series in 1996, his first year as a manager, again from 1998-2000 and advanced to Game 7 of the Series in 2001, when they failed to hold a ninth-inning lead at Arizona.

Since then, despite baseball's largest payroll, there has been only frustration: A first-round loss to the Angels in 2002, a World Series defeat to the Marlins in 2003 and a painful collapse in 2004, when they allowed the Red Sox to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the AL Championship Series.

They lost to the Angels in five games in the first round in 2005, were eliminated by the Detroit Tigers last year and were knocked out by Cleveland this year.

The Brooklyn native was the 1971 National League MVP and a nine-time All-Star. Before joining the Yankees, he had unsuccessful managing stints with the Braves, Cardinals and New York Mets -- the three clubs for which he played over a 17-year career.

Signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1960, Torre was second in Rookie of the Year voting in 1961. With the Cardinals, Torre led the NL in batting average, hits and RBIs in 1971, the year he won the MVP. Four times, he finished among the NL's top 10 in batting average, hits, RBIs and on-base percentage.

News Source: ESPN

[MGS4-SS]

I'm glad with the decision he chose. To hell with Steinbrenner.

[jerzdawg]

I just don't get what the Yankees org is thinking... I mean.. no other Manager has had the success that Torre has brought to the organization. granted I do not believe that managers win games/world series... but they must have a major impact on the season..