Joe's Story
Joe gave a riviting, if not very insightful press conference today that left me feeling empty. Empty because it became clear to me that this is a divorce that never should have happened.
Joe made it sound like he left not over money, but over a lack of support.
“The terms of the contract were the probably the thing I had the toughest time with,” Torre said. “The one year for one thing, the incentives for another thing. I had been there 12 years and I didn’t think motivation was needed. I felt pretty well renewed every year going after something and we knew exactly what was expected here. I just didn’t think it was the right thing for me, I didn’t think it was the right thing for my players.”
He also made it clear that this process was not a negotiation:
“When I expressed my dissatisfaction with the length of contract and the um….And the length of contract for the reason I think you are all aware of. It’s just starts when you are in the last year of a contract especially for this organization you know after you lose two or three or four games the questions are going to come up again. And again, it’s tough when you have to answer those questions, but you certainly understand they are going to be asked.. And I explained that and the fact that the incentives, which to me I took as an insult. You know we basically get to postseason and now all of a sudden we are satisfied with where we’ve gotten to. “
It will be interesting to see how we view October 18, 2007, when we look back at it in a few years. The Yankees ran off four trips to the World Series after they fired Casey Stengel and there are certainly many reasons to think that this current team can continue to make the postseason. But, there will be tremendous pressure on the next manager and I can't escape the feeling that both sides deserve blame in this situation. Joe and the Yankees are both diminished today and I think both of them will have regrets going forward.
But, go forward they must. Thank you to Joe for a wonderful 12 years and good luck to him in the future, whatever he does. Now, the Yankees have to get to work and first up is getting a manger. We will discuss that further this weekend.
Comments
Peter, I couldn't agree more with your conclusion. I am disappointed the Yanks didn't offer Joe a 2 or 3yr deal under the structure they offered and Joe has a point about the motivation line=insulting but the deal was generous for a guy that was completely bailed out this year by a player he threw under a bus in 2006. I love Joe and I wish the divorce was less ugly but I'm not terribly upset that he's gone in a sense that the team has less chance of success next year without him. There will be an adjustment and the next manager will do some things better than Torre and some things not as well as Torre but we'll move on.
Posted by: tim | October 20, 2007 12:23 AM |