According to reports out of New York, Joe Torre’s fate will be determined sometime within the next two weeks. GM Brian Cashman’s job is safe for at least another season - yet Torre is made accountable for the free agent signings that brought the Yankees busts like Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright and yes, even Mike Mussina.
The playoffs are about starting pitching, and while one might criticize Torre for not starting Andy Petitte in Game 1 against Cleveland, look at the starting staff Torre is stuck with. It was the worst of any team in the post season. Compare it to the Red Sox starters, or the Indians staff, or that of the Angels, or Diamondbacks.
Sure, Chien-Mien Wang can load up on W’s against the Devil Rays, Royals and Orioles while the vaunted Yankee line-up supports him with eight runs per game during the summer.
Come fall however, you don’t score eight runs a game, as the Yanks found out. You have to win 2-1 games in the playoffs, and the team Brian Cashman gave Joe Torre isn’t built that way.
Not right now anyway.
Finally seeing the error of his ways, Cashman has stockpiled young starting pitching that could make the envy of all baseball in two years. But at what cost, Torre’s job? If the Yankees let Torre go, they will increase the chances that Rodriguez, Posada and Duncan follow him out of the Bronx. And where will that leave the Yankees - back to the days of Horace Clark?
Torre took the Yankees to 12 straight playoffs and won four World Series - and he should have with the teams he had. Yet on closer inspection, to expect him to do more with the pitching staff he has been burdened with these last few years is unrealistic. Pitching rules the playoffs with a couple of big bats, which is why the Red Sox will win it all.
As for Torre, Angels skipper Mike Sciocia may have said it best today in LA. “I hope the Yankees do fire him. It’ll be one less team in the American league we need to worry about because no one can replace him.”
There is no doubt that the Yankees made Joe Torre. They probably even put him into the Hall of Fame. These days, however, the Yankees need Joe Torre more than Joe Torre needs the Yankees.
How would you like to be the guy who’s the NEXT manager in NY? It’ll be interesting to see if they go with an ex-Yankee (Mattingly/Girardi) or select a veteran like LaRussa who is looking for a change of scenery.
Comment by ernest t — October 10, 2007 @ 9:19 am
For once, you talk some sense. While Joe may not have handled his pitching staff well over the years, he is still a well-respected manager — and a great fit for the Yankees and the NYC media.
However, rest-assured, this Yankee era is over. And with the loss of Joe, they will be hard-pressed to even make the playoffs next year.
Keep smiling Red Sox fans!
Comment by Manny — October 10, 2007 @ 10:18 am
Hey Manny: Try to relax a little. Let’s see how your Saux do when anything other than a World Series win is a disappointment. As for the Yankees, playoffs are a birthright…..and they will continue to win championships long after You, Papi and Lowell have sailed into the sunset….
Comment by ernest t — October 10, 2007 @ 10:45 am
I’ve read some reports that when King George was bringing (buying) Prince Roger back into the palace, some sort of secret information passed between the two. Wouldn’t it be nice if Roger took the helm after Joe? Now that would be media circus. Susan Waldman would get so excited she’d need to be institutionalized. The Yankees loooose. The Yankees..looooose.
Comment by Bostonian — October 10, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
Hey ernest t, keep drinking from that OLD champagne glass. Memories are a good thing.
Comment by Manny — October 11, 2007 @ 10:58 am