End Of An Era As Torre Turns Down Yankees Offer
Perhaps it was time. After all Walter Alston to Tommy LaSorda, and Chuck Knoll To Bill Cowher are aberrations, far from the norm. The average duration for a professional sports team manager or coach is about 3 years, and usually that's about the right time to make a move. The message at best after years of repetition from the same voice at best grows tired and muddled, and at worst is not even heard at all. New York Yankees manger Joe Torre had been the skipper of the team for 12 years, and perhaps it was time to make a change, and that was New York owner George Steinbrenner's prerogative. He who owns the team makes the rules, but as all things that King George does, it should have been handled better.
Reports out of New York Thursday confirmed that Torre turned down the Yankees offer of a one year deal, at a pay cut from what he made in the 2007 campaign. Torre who has as much pride as anyone who ever walked the planet, of course turned it down. New York will be looking for a new field boss for the 2008 season, and Torre will have to decide what road he wants to travel next.
If you are a regular reader of mine, you know that I grew up in the Boston area, a devoted Red Sox fan. You also know I have a very strong connection with the Cleveland Indians having covered them as a beat reporter from the mid nineties through last year. That being said I am not a fan of the New York Yankees, far from it. However I have always held a great amount of respect for Torre and the way he has conducted himself during his tenure at the Yankees helm. Am I sorry to see him go as a fan? No way, I think New York will automatically be a weaker team without that voice of experience in the dugout. But again, King George if you wanted to make a change, issue a press release stating that you appreciate what Torre accomplished but it is time to move on. As Your son put it last week nothing lasts forever. But to do it in this backhanded manner, to try to spin it that Torre turned you down is just dirty pool, it has a slimy feel all over it.
Joe Torre was the ultimate good soldier for the Yankees for 12 years, he deserved a classier exit than the one he got. One would hope after all these years of being in the New York spotlight, Steinbrenner would have learned from past mistakes. Thursday showed that in spite of all the "mellowing" talk the last few years, he's still the same old George.
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Joe Torre is a class act all the way - king george really dissed Torre with the way he handled Torre's contract negotiations - as a hardcore Yankee fan, Joe will be sorely missed and the team will suffer from his absence.
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