Well, it's been a few days since the Yanks were ousted in the first round (again) and a dark cloak of uncertainty has enveloped the team in pinstripes.
Who will stay and who will go? And maybe more importantly -- just who the hell is in charge?
I'm convinced that if George Steinbrenner didn't make his comments during the series against the Indians that we wouldn't be having this countdown regarding Joe Torre. Oh sure, Torre narrowly missed the axe at the end of Bombers series loss to the Tigers in 2006. I didn't agree with The Boss then, but I would have understood it. Torre fiddled with the lineup during that series by inserting Gary Sheffield at first, playing Hideki Matsui instead of Melky Cabrera and dropping the struggling Alex Rodriguez to eighth in the batting order. Did that contribute to the Yankee loss? Who's to say? It was a damned if you do, damned if you don't type of situation for the skipper. Still, if the Yanks wanted to go in a different direction, that was the time.
But to unceremoniously drop the hammer on Torre now seems wrong to me.
It was a strange 2007 for the Yanks. The pitching was horrible, the lineup outside of Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada couldn't hit a thing and the Bombers stumbled to a 21-29 start. But slowly, ever so slowly, the men in pinstripes began to turn things around. During their resurgence, the Yanks dumped Scott Proctor, gave up on Brian Bruney, signed Roger Clemens, made Melky Cabrera a regular, brought up Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, among other moves. Torre was manning the ship during all of this. In the end, the Yankees won 94 games and qualified for the post-season for the 13th straight season, 12 with Torre at the helm.
I'll admit it -- I like Joe Torre as a manager. Yes, he works the pen hard (to be fair, this season was a bit different than the others. The Yankee starting pitching in the beginning of the year couldn't last five innings and the Bombers went with a ton of rookie starters), may be considered too loyal to "his guys" and can make some strange decisions, but he knows his players and knows how to win.
But speculation has already begun on a successor and some names floating around include Tony La Russa, Bobby Valentine, Don Mattingly and Joe Girardi. I don't think La Russa could hang in New York (and he just rubs me the wrong way), Valentine would be a disaster, Mattingly is still a bit green and Girardi just doesn't "wow" me.
The latest gossip says that the longer the Yanks sit, the better it is for Torre. I hope that's the case. Torre may just be a victim of his early success. He did all of his winning at the beginning of his tenure -- four World Series rings in his first five seasons. Would his situation be different if those championships were spread out during his 12 years? Maybe.
Oh, and the Yanks also have a ton of roster decisions to make. Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada are all free agents and it's going to cost the Yankees a pretty penny to keep all of those guys (not to mention others like Andy Pettitte and Bobby Abreu). Money always talks (and the Bombers are overflowing with it), but if the Yanks decide to dump Torre, it could mean that some or all of those players may decide to go as well.
I think the Yankees made some real strides in 2007. The team was a good mix of youth and experience and really seemed to come together during the season. So why did they lose to Cleveland? Sometimes you just get beat. That doesn't mean you make a change just for the sake of change.
Some other Bomber boosters have already put in their two cents. Check them out and see if you agree.
I say let's get everybody back together and take another shot at it.
But I may be in the minority.
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