Torre

[Andrew Longman]

Interested in a non NYC perspective.

Yankees pre-Torre was for me definitely a hold nose affair. Got my Mickey Mantel glove at age six, suffered through the CBS owned years, cringed every time GS fired Martin. The Bronx is Burning thing this summer on ESPN pretty much captured the BS of the 70s era.

I actually fully and deliberately became a Tigers fan when GS fired Lemon 17 games into the season and only took them back when GS was banned from running the team and Gene Michaels was free to put together the talent that contended in 95 and won in 96, 98, 99 and 00.

The Yanks have been rebuilding, yet making the playoffs the last several years. Meanwhile the front office has given them awful, truly awful pitching.

I guess my point is Torre put a classy, likable and approachable face on the Yankees and it transended to the players. I question some of his pitching decision, but he is also working with what he's got.

Bottom line is without Torre the warts of a dysfuntional organization will show and harm. They will not likely make the playoffs, and even if they do the soap oprah that the Tampa mafia creates will become the story, not the play on the field. And they still won't win the WS.

I love that Steinbrenner is passionate about winning and is willing to fund it. Too many owners will not. But he, and now I guess his sons and their hanger-ons don't know the difference between spending wildly to win and spending what's needed to win.

Sad day for the Yanks and baseball to see Torre out of the game. Many ?Yankee haters out there but I doubt there are many that think the game is more classy and intelligent without Torre to compete against.

[Sean O'Gorman]

I don't know much about Torre as I never paid much attention to baseball until Stu started giving me tickets to Indians games back in '05, but watching his press conferences the past few weeks, he seemed like a class act.

The contract offered to him was clearly designed to be turned down, and I doubt that Steinbrenner's strategy of only signing players from the '97-99 All-star rosters will ever pay off. :gomer:

Personally, I'd like to see Torre turn around a small market team full of prospects.

[Methanolandbrats]

I don't know much about Torre as I never paid much attention to baseball until Stu started giving me tickets to Indians games back in '05, but watching his press conferences the past few weeks, he seemed like a class act.

The contract offered to him was clearly designed to be turned down, and I doubt that Steinbrenner's strategy of only signing players from the '97-99 All-star rosters will ever pay off. :gomer:

Personally, I'd like to see Torre turn around a small market team full of prospects.
Brewers

[Napoleon]

Many ?Yankee haters out there but I doubt there are many that think the game is more classy and intelligent without Torre to compete against.

That would apply to me. I always root against the Yankees, but I think Torre did a lot for the team and he is the type of person you would want associated with the sport. For that matter when you get right down to it if you are a baseball fan what is there not to like about many of his teams, except for the fact they wear pinstripes?

[WickerBill]

Life-long Red Sox fan.

I couldn't be happier that Torre is gone. He held the team together. He is the glue that kept them from blowing to pieces when they started terribly slow this spring.

Torre was a good enough guy that he made me hate the Yankees less. That sucked. Gonna be so much easier to hate LaRussa. Fortunately there have always been Giambis and Clemens that make it easier to hate with a white hot intensity.

[Andrew Longman]

Torre was a good enough guy that he made me hate the Yankees less. That sucked. Gonna be so much easier to hate LaRussa.

That pretty much seems to be the consensus, even among Yankee fans.

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/graziano/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/119285505236390.xml&coll=1


This is what the Yankees lose now, with Torre gone -- the man whose class, dignity and warm, friendly leadership made it all right to root for them again.

In the old days, George Steinbrenner would have seen that, softened, maybe even reconsidered at the last second and paid what he had to pay to bring his manager back.

But these are the new days of the Yankees. Days in which a franchise-icon manager, who answered every question for 12 years, says "no comment" when asked if he'd ever come back to throw out a ceremonial first pitch.

If this is the way the new Yankees are going to run, their fans should be worried. Because they might not be as good. And it certainly won't feel as good to be their fan.

[Insomniac]

I think it was probably a bad move by them. They clearly wanted a change so they offered him a contract he would turn down. Time will tell if a change was needed. 12 straight play-off appearances in a league where 4 of 14 teams make it is pretty damn good. It gives you a chance to win the WS every year. As a Red Sox fan, I won't mind one bit. The Red Sox just became more stable than their main rival. :)

Also, on a side note, you probably got 3 extra season with Torre after 2004. It seemed like they wanted to get rid of him then, but the "problem" being the Red Sox would've pounced on him, but won't now.

[Andrew Longman]

Also, on a side note, you probably got 3 extra season with Torre after 2004. It seemed like they wanted to get rid of him then, but the "problem" being the Red Sox would've pounced on him, but won't now.

Actually, I think the three extra seasons gave Steinbrenner time to groom Mattingly for the job. Four years ago Donnie Baseball was happily home in Indiana with his wife and kids. George badgered and badgered him until he agreed to be hitting coach. This year he fired Mazzilli so Don could be bench coach.

The truly ridiculous thing is Torre hasn't won a world series in seven year because a) he was give crap for pitching and b) they've been rebuilding. Bernie Williams, ONeil, Broscis, Martinez retired. Their core of pitchers from the series years retired, broke down or should have retired (excepting Pettit who they thought was breaking down).

Without Torre there we'll even see more of the crap such as they way he was treated at the end, the silliness of bring Clemens back for 28M, and signing disasters such as Giambi, Pavano, and Igawa. We'll also see less of the open, inviting, professional, fan friendly class from newcomers as we say from almost every Yankee during his tenure. Hate the Tanks all you want, but Torre's Yankees always said the right things and signed autographs for anyone who asked. They didn't get into a war of words in the press, impregnate underage girls, get into fights in stripclubs or elevators or the dugout. The closest I ever saw it was letting the feud between Clemens and Piazza go on.

[WickerBill]

Never said I hated them for any good reason other than I'm a Red Sox fan... and they're ... they're... the YANKEES.