According to a report on ESPN.com, Yankees bench coach and presumed eventual successor to Joe Torre as New York skipper Don Mattingly has told the team that he is “not ready to manage” and “uncomfortable with replacing Torre as manager”.
The more days that go by without Cashman having to ditch Joe Torre make me think that at the very least they are going to make a contract offer to him at less than what he made last year, and a lot of media outlets are reporting the same. I think the only way that Mattingly now follows the Torre next year is if it’s not a low-ball offer and Joe just decides to hang em up. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Girardi get the call, or (rubs hands together gleefully thinking of the media interactions) Tony LaRussa.
October 16th, 2007
LoHud Journal’s Pete Abraham spoke with Mattingly’s agent, Ray Schulte, who flatly denies the report. From the blog: “Schulte said Mattingly wants Joe Torre to return. But if not, he is prepared to manage the team.”
The bet here is that the Yankees low-ball Torre so that they can avoid the PR hit of firing him and instead say that they offered him a contract but that he decided to leave. (Yankee relievers not named Rivera will collectively breathe a sigh of relief.)
October 17th, 2007
I know it doesn’t work this way in pro sports, much less in YankeeLand or New York, but my opinion is that Torre – much like JoePa, Coach K, Jim Boeheim, maybe Bill Belichick & now Tony Dungy – is one of a very small handful of coaches around the country who have done enough – won enough games & titles – with their current teams to have earned The Job For Life: The ability to leave/quit/retire solely on their own terms, and to a least play a role in, if not directly name their successor.
That said, if The Boss says that Joe Must Go, I’m hoping for Tony “Flame: ON!” LaRussa. It’d be one WILD ride!
October 18th, 2007
[...] ESPN.com is reporting that Joe Torre has turned down a 1 year, $5M contract offer to be remain the manager of the Yankees. Pretty much how a couple of bloggers on this forum expected it to go down. [...]