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Will The Yankees Regret Letting Joe Torre Go?

When Joe Torre went into his last season as Yankees manger he admitted that he wasn’t really having fun anymore.  He said however that year turned out he really didn’t expect to be back.  Despite this accurate foreshadowing many in the baseball world did feel Torre’s exit from the Yankees was very poorly handled from an organizational standpoint. 

 

The constant stress of having to win a championship every year no doubt put a strain on Torre, who just never could satisfy the demands of owner George Steinbrenner.  Torre was able to win four world championships in thirteen years with the team from the Bronx.  He also took the team to two other World Series which they lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Florida Marlins respectively.  I would venture to say that if those accomplishments were achieved for nearly any other team in baseball Torre could have chosen when to retire-with complete job security if he wanted to continue.

 

With the hiring of long time catcher and former Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi to take over for Torre it signaled the end of an era.  Not only were there changes on the bench for the Yankees, but also in the front office with Hank Steinbrenner taking over for his father George.  Hank spoke with the same type of verbosity as his father and continued to fuel feuds with their rivals the Boston Red Sox, but for other purposes he also mentioned Joe Torre on occasion.

 

Joe Torre on the other hand had decided to take the job as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He took over for Grady Little who had been fired after two seasons in L.A.  The team started out very slow and people began to wonder if Torre was really cut out to manage in the national league given his past track record with the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals.  Everyone knew and should willingly admit that the Dodgers played in a division that has been down the last few years so merely hovering around the five hundred mark or a little better was enough to keep them in contention. 

 

Joe had to be keeping a little watch on his old team the Yankees to see how they were fairing.  Although he may not say this publicly either, he surely found a bit of joy in the fact that they were not going to make the playoffs.  The pick up of former Red Sox and Indians slugger Manny Ramirez was an interesting move, but Torre credits it partially with rallying the team around each other, making the club house more enjoyable and helping them into the playoffs.

 

Once the Diamondbacks finally went on a slid and the Dodgers went on a bit of a run in a positive direction it looked likely that the Dodgers were going to be division champions for the National League West.  Hank Steinbrenner, made sure that the Dodgers and Torre knew publicly that they would not have made in the playoffs if they resided in the American League East.  He made sure to say that this wasn’t meant to be a shot at Joe, but it clearly was.  Now that the Dodgers did win the division and do have a legit shot at a World Series birth if not victory we’ll see whether the Steinbrenners will truly be regretting the firing of Joe Torre. 

By: DeanSmithLegend
Published: 09/28/08


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1 Posted Comments:

@ 9:00 pm 10/11/08 by C.D. Crowder
As with any sports team, when you let your best, more experienced players go, it takes a year or two to figure out what works with the new members. Even if the Yankees aren't doing so well now, a year or two from now, they may be even better than when they had Torre. Good article!
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