New York Yankees

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Another way to annoy them is use the S word, Steriods. Living in south central Vermont I have more then a few yankee fans around and all you have to do is mention steriods, yankees and makes you wonder and they fly off in a huge fit.

You mean like how Big Papi's power surge and Manny's prodigious home run output raises question marks?

 

[tree_skier]

No its more like how they keep a know steriod user around to mentor thier younger players in the positive impact of proformance enhancing suppliments. and how you cant find anyone in baseball throwing 100 mph with any consistancy and all of a sudden the yankees have 2 incredible hulks that can throw over 100 etc.

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

You say "tomato", I say "tomato".

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

Sooo the Yanks fly Torre to Tampa offer him a 33% pay cut and when he says no they dont even ask well where can a middle ground be?? Thats messed up on their part. I guess 12straight playoff runs, 6WS appearances and 4 WS wins isnt even enough for a counter offer. The Yankees are fools for pulling this BS on Joe Torre!

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Sooo the Yanks fly Torre to Tampa offer him a 33% pay cut and when he says no they dont even ask well where can a middle ground be?? Thats messed up on their part. I guess 12straight playoff runs, 6WS appearances and 4 WS wins isnt even enough for a counter offer. The Yankees are fools for pulling this BS on Joe Torre!

Meh. It's not total BS. If Torre took the job, he would still have been the highest paid manager by a whopping $1.5 million (Pinella, at number 2, makes $3.5 million....Francona makes $1.65 million!). Torre also had to opportunity to make an additional $3 million in performance bonuses, bringing the total up to $8 million, and, if he had made that, he would have been guaranteed $8 million in 2009 (and would have opened up the new stadium).

Not an insulting offer. If the Yankees had really wanted him, though, I think the offer would have been a little sweeter. My biggest beef with the whole thing was that the team seems to have tried to walk the middle road between letting him go and bringing him back, and they came out looking a little indecisive and wussy. Just make a decision!

I also don't think performance bonuses are a good thing for managers. The players play the game. I'm also not confident that Torre could have restrained his bullpen "management" if he knew a cool million was riding on his every move. Joba would have had no chance to develop with a manager looking to ride his arm into the ground to win at any cost.

Now the pressure is squarely on Cashman's shoulders....What moves will he pull to ensure the team doesn't collapse next year without Joe's steadying hand?

Wang + Damon + $$$ to offset some of Damon's salary (50%?) for Santana? Not totally ridiculous. The Twins need a centerfielder, Damon still wants to play it (even if he probably can't), the Yankees have surplus outfielders (Matsui, Melky, Abreu as a starting crew is not bad, not amazing, but not bad), and Wang is still cheap (though I'm not sure how well a sinkerballer will do on artificial turf).

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Post-script: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/tom_verducci/10/18/torre/index.html

Ouch....

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Post-post-script: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jon_heyman/10/18/yankees.torre/index.html?eref=T1

Not so ouch....

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Post-post-post-script: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/article_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20071018&content_id=2271894&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp

Nice. I feel better. Torre might "regret" his decision! No more "ouch"....

 

[Paul]

The job is yours, if you SHAVE THOSE SIDEBURNS!!!!

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

The job is yours, if you SHAVE THOSE SIDEBURNS!!!!

Someone pointed out the "curse of Mattingly" to me...

His playing career was from 81 to 95, not exactly the glory years, and he joined the coaching staff in 2004 (I can't exactly remember, but something unusual happened that postseason).

 

[JimG.]

They didn't want him back and didn't have the balls to fire him.

So they made him an offer he could not accept...totally insulting!

I will miss Torre and the team will too. I already miss George Steinbrenner who is clearly no longer in control...he would not have waited almost 2 weeks to insult Torre.

George would have fired him right after the last loss to Cleveland. And I would have respected that.

But not this. Shameful.

 

[deadheadskier]

I'm happy Joe turned them down. I hope he takes a job elsewhere making 3 mil out of spite.

Was the offer a good one? yes, but the paycheck coupled with the lack of a guarantee was a slap in the face.

Joe Torre did a heckuva job in NY, definitely one of the top 3 managers they've ever had. Granted, he almost always had the best roster due to Steinbrenners wallet, but high payrolls don't guarantee championships. They help for sure, but don't guarantte them like Steinbrenner would like to think.

 

[Brettski]

supposed to be a press conference now at 2

Go to http://www.wfan.com

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

Well from the press conference he was clearly hurt with a contract that had incentives built into winning.. He knows a world series is the goal everyyear, and for the yankees to give 1 million per each step closer to it was insulting. I hope when they cant find someone and they go back to him in a few weeks he tells them where to stick it.

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

They didn't want him back and didn't have the balls to fire him.

So they made him an offer he could not accept...totally insulting!

I will miss Torre and the team will too. I already miss George Steinbrenner who is clearly no longer in control...he would not have waited almost 2 weeks to insult Torre.

George would have fired him right after the last loss to Cleveland. And I would have respected that.

But not this. Shameful.

Shameful? He had the opportunity to make $16 million over two years managing the world's greatest franchise, a job he said he loved. For him to say the offer was insulting is ridiculous.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Shameful? He had the opportunity to make $16 million over two years managing the world's greatest franchise, a job he said he loved. For him to say the offer was insulting is ridiculous.

I agree with Jim. It was a classic case of passive aggressiveness. They don't have the balls to fire him so they make him an offer he had to refuse if he wanted to save face. Imagine your boss telling you that you've done a good job but "we're going to lower your salary." It's like trying to break up with your significant other by treating them like crap until they dump you. This way you can tell all her/his friends that she/he dumped you.

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

I agree with Jim. It was a classic case of passive aggressiveness. They don't have the balls to fire him so they make him an offer he had to refuse if he wanted to save face. Imagine your boss telling you that you've done a good job but "we're going to lower your salary." It's like trying to break up with your significant other by treating them like crap until they dump you. This way you can tell all her/his friends that she/he dumped you.

If my boss told me that my job performance wasn't sufficient, but they were offering me the opportunity to keep my job (because I was still appreciated) and make MORE money if I met certain performance goals? And, by the way, they reminded me that I'd still be making almost 2x what any other employee in my position makes?

I'm not saying everything was done perfectly by the team, but I don't think it's so black and white as some are making it out to be.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

If my boss told me that my job performance wasn't sufficient, but they were offering me the opportunity to keep my job (because I was still appreciated) and make MORE money if I met certain performance goals? And, by the way, they reminded me that I'd still be making almost 2x what any other employee in my position makes?

I'm not saying everything was done perfectly by the team, but I don't think it's so black and white as some are making it out to be.

I see both of your points, i think the part your missing is, well im not sure what you do for a living but if someone had to cut your salary and give you a unique bonus proposition instead because they felt after 12yrs that at the end of the year you really might have forgot what your companies ultimate goal would be, well you would probably be insulted wouldnt you?? I thought so. It was never about money.

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

I see both of your points, i think the part your missing is, well im not sure what you do for a living but if someone had to cut your salary and give you a unique bonus proposition instead because they felt after 12yrs that at the end of the year you really might have forgot what your companies ultimate goal would be, well you would probably be insulted wouldnt you?? I thought so. It was never about money.

I don't know if management thought he "forgot", as much as they were looking to try to change something. Put a different spin on things. Tweak things.

Anyway, I think it was a fair offer, not a great offer, but a fair offer for the most privileged and prestigious managing jobs in all of sports.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

I don't know if management thought he "forgot", as much as they were looking to try to change something. Put a different spin on things. Tweak things.

Anyway, I think it was a fair offer, not a great offer, but a fair offer for the most privileged and prestigious managing jobs in all of sports.

If anything 2 yrs would have been nice, 1 last year to close up Yankee stadium, 1 year after that to open up the new Yankee stadium.