Torre turns down offer from Yankees
Associated Press
Joe Torre is out as manager of the New York Yankees, rejecting a substantial pay cut after the team failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.
Torre turned down a $5 million, one-year contract Thursday — $2.5 million less than he made last season.
Rather than put up with the indignity of a salary slap coupled with a performance-based contract, the man who led the Yankees to playoff appearances in all 12 years he managed, walked.
"A difficult day," general manager Brian Cashman said.
Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre, who won four World Series championships with the Yanks but none since 2000. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL Manager of the Year with Florida in 2006, is another top contender.
Most Yankees fans could see this day coming.
After losing the first two playoff games to Cleveland, owner George Steinbrenner said he didn't think Torre would be asked back if the Yankees didn't advance.
The 67-year-old Torre, who took over the team to start the 1996 season, made his decision after traveling from New York to the team's spring training complex in Tampa, Fla., and meeting with Steinbrenner, the owner's sons and top executives for about an hour. He was accompanied by Cashman and chief operating officer Lonn Trost.
New York's offer included $3 million in bonuses if the Yankees reached next year's World Series and an $8 million option for 2009 that would have become guaranteed if New York won the AL pennant.
Torre just completed a $19.2 million, three-year contract. The Chicago Cubs' Lou Piniella was the second-highest paid manager at $3.5 million.
"Under this offer, he would continue to be the highest-paid manager in major league baseball," team president Randy Levine said. "We thought that we need to go to a performance-based model, having nothing to do with Joe Torre's character, integrity or ability. We just think it's important to motivate people."
It appeared to be an offer designed to be rejected. Scott Boras, the agent for Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, said players would have interpreted an acceptance by Torre as weakness.
"It is difficult, near impossible, to accept a salary cut," Boras said. "Successful people can afford their principles. They understand if they accept the position, there is a great risk the message to all under him is dissatisfaction. "
Torre called Cashman on Tuesday and asked to meet with the 77-year-old Steinbrenner and the owners' sons, Hal and Hank, who have taken an increased role in recent month. They spent an hour together, and then Torre was gone.
Torre led the Yankees to 10 AL East title, but they have gone without a Series championship in the last seven and haven't even reached it since 2003.
With 2,067 regular-season wins, Torre is eighth on the career list and was third among active managers behind Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals (2,375) and Bobby Cox (2,255) of the Atlanta Braves. Torre's four World Series titles are likely to earn him a place in the Hall of Fame — every manager with three or more has been inducted.
Torre's was the longest uninterrupted term for a Yankees manager since Casey Stengel held the job from 12 years from 1949-60. Stengel was pushed out, too, let go after his team lost a seven-game World Series to Pittsburgh.
Under Torre, the Yankees went 1,173-767. He trails only Joe McCarthy (1,460) for wins among Yankees managers.
"This has been a great 12 years. Whatever the hell happens from here on out, I'll look back on these 12 years with great, great pleasure," Torre said after his final game, his voice quavering as he tried to avoid choking up. "The 12 years just felt like they were 10 minutes long, to be honest with you."
He wouldn't address his future.
"If I have some options, I'll look at it because I'm certainly not ready to move somewhere and not do anything," the New Yorker said.
When Torre succeeded Buck Showalter, the Yankees had not won the World Series since 1978, the longest drought since the team's first title in 1923. It was the 20th change in manager following Steinbrenner's purchase of the franchise in 1973.
Torre never had much success as a manager before landing in New York, and many predicted he would be gone in no time. But he turned out to be a rock and a buffer to the blustery Steinbrenner. He was calm, stoic and brought an unprecedented period of stability to a team accustomed to constant turmoil.
The Brooklyn native was a former NL MVP and a nine-time All-Star. Before joining the Yankees, he had unsuccessful managing stints with the Braves, Cardinals and Mets — the three clubs he played for. When the Yankees hired him, one New York paper dubbed him: "Clueless Joe."
But New York won the World Series in 1996, led by a group that included Bernie Williams, rookie Derek Jeter, setup man Mariano Rivera, Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez. With catcher Jorge Posada added in, they won the Series from 1998-2000, the first team to win three straight since the Swingin' Oakland A's of 1972-74, 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 Anaheim Angels in 2002, a World Series defeat to the Florida Marlins in 2003 and a painful exit the following year, when they allowed the Boston 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.
Communication between Torre and Steinbrenner deteriorated in 2005, and it wasn't clear that Torre would return for 2006 until after the pair met in Tampa. Steinbrenner meddled less with the team the past two seasons — even during a 21-29 start this year — giving almost unprecedented authority to Torre and Cashman.
Mattingly, who declined comment, became the Yankees' bench coach this year following three seasons as hitting coach. A six-time All-Star and a former AL MVP, he starred for the team from 1982-95 and is a fan favorite whose No. 23 was retired by the Yankees in 1997.
Girardi is a Torre protege who kept a young Florida team in contention until late in the 2006 season with a no-nonsense approach.