More Joe Torre

More and more of Joe Torre's new book "The Yankee Years" have been coming out. We already knew that he criticised A-Rod, Brian Cashman, and Yankee management, but now more names and comments have been released. Other players that Torre spoke out against include Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, Gary Sheffield, David Wells, Carl Pavano (for obvious reasons), and Johnny Damon.

Wells spoke out on a radio show in response to what Torre said about him. In the book, Torre says, "The difference between Kevin Brown and David Wells is that both make your life miserable, but David Wells meant to."


Wells said that Torre favored guys like Jeter, Rivera, Posada, O'Neil, and Pettite, and that if you weren't one of "Joe's Boys" it wasn't fair. Wells also told a story about when Torre fined him for wearing Babe Ruth's hat during a game one. Wells said when Torre asked for the money he threw it at him and told him to go buy some new rims for his beat down car. When asked what Wells would do if he ran into his ex-manager in the next month or so, Wells said that he would probably just laugh at him.

In Johnny Damon's case, during the 2007 season when Damon was suffering from a leg injury, Torre told him that he doesn't have the same attitude he used to have and that he wasn't the player or person he once was. At the end of the private meeting, Damon told Torre that he didn't think he could do it anymore, and was close to retiring after the season.

More of the relationship between Torre and Cashman came out as Torre was furious with Cashman over not bringing back Bernie Williams. Torre wanted him back more than anything but Cashman wanted to move on. I love Bernie Williams, he is one of my favorite players of all time, but I have to take Cashman's side on this one, Bernie was finished and the Yankees needed to bring in better players.

What most people don't know in reference to the A-Rod and his relationship with his teammates is that in the 2007 offseason when A-Rod, Pettite, Rivera, and Posada were all free agents, Pettite, Posada, and Rivera all personally told GM Brian Cashman to sign A-Rod first because the team needed him. So obviously his teammates can not hate him that much if they wanted him to get signed before themselves.

I have been saying for years how much of an idiot Joe Torre is. I hate how people are so quick to defend him. People always said how loyal and classy he was and he didn't deserve to get fired from New York. Well maybe now people notice how much of a problem this guy was. I wonder what the current players on the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to think about this. How are they going to be able to trust him after he comes out with a book with tons of dirt on his former team? Not only did he blow numerous games and potential playoff runs or even World Series hopes, but it turns out that most of his own players didn't even like him. He obviously was a different person when he was behind the cameras and the media played him out to be some sort of hero. He well overstayed his welcome in New York. The Yankees could have had Lou Pinella as their manager if they realized sooner (even though I like Girardi). There is no way that someone can defend Torre after this crap that he is pulling. I hope his legacy is tarnished forever and Yankee fans forget about him as quickly as possible for trying to ruin a franchise that gave him his 3rd chance as a manager. The Yankees made Joe Torre into who he is, he didn't make the Yankees who they are.

Joe Torre Book

On February 3, Joe Torre's new book "The Yankee Years" will be on shelves all across the country. The long time New York Yankees manager bashes 3rd basemen Alex Rodriguez noting that he was known as "A-fraud" by some of the guys in the locker room and that he was absolutely obsessed with his relationship/rivalry with shortstop Derek Jeter. Torre also attacks General Manager Brian Cashman, saying that he was "betrayed on several fronts" by him. He is also upset with other members of the organization and claims that team doctors told Owner George Steinbrenner that Torre has prostate cancer in 1999 before they told him.

People keep saying that this book isn't about exposing the problems that the organization has or the poor attitudes and bad relationships of some of the guys on the team. They say that it's just a small part of the book and it focuses more on his time with the Yankees and how his Yankee teams changed baseball. (the growth of information analysis, revenue sharing, growth of intellect in front offices, changes in Red Sox ownership, the Steroid Era, etc.)

To be honest with you, this stuff is interesting but irrelevant to me as a fan. I could care less how A-Rod gets along with his teammates. As long as he keeps producing, like he has been his whole career, he can be whoever he wants to be off the field. Criticising the best all around player in the game, and potentially the greatest hitter who ever lived, isn't a smart thing to do. As for his relationship with Brian Cashman, sources say that the two have talked on the phone and that they are still friends. I think Torre is just bitter and frustrated that the Yankees cut ties with him and this is a cheap shot by him. As professionals, things that happen within the team should stay within the team.

Even though Torre did win 4 World Series with the Yankees I felt like he overstayed his welcome by years. People ask me "how can you say he was a bad coach?, he won 4 championships!". Well when he had the highest payroll in the league 7 years in a row he won nothing. It started getting to the point where Torre made a dumb decision game in and game out and their loses were the result of his inability to coach. Most people who say this don't even watch that many Yankee games. It's similar to how a lot of Phillies fan don't think Charlie Manuel is a good coach, but to someone like me who only watches a few Phillies games a year, thinks that he is a great manager because the Phils won the division 2 years in a row and now a World Series.

Bottom line is that this book is ridiculous and unnecessary, and just because Torre had a bad ending in New York, he feels like he needs to lash back at the organization which he feels abandoned him. I don't think this will be too much of a distraction for this Yankees team, as they have changed not only the players on their team but the mentality of the organization.