Yankees Going Off the Beaten Path? | NowPublic News Coverage

Yankees Going Off the Beaten Path?

by BigT | October 9, 2007 at 01:05 pm

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Is Torre out of New York? No one knows for sure yet. The Boss has been saying for a couple of years now that if they didn't win he'll make changes but hasn't actually ever gone through with it.

End of Torre era in New York?

By MIKE FITZPATRICK, AP Baseball Writer

Joe Torre and his Yankees players began the wait Tuesday for George Steinbrenner's decision: Will he keep the manager or let him go after 12 consecutive postseason appearances?

Few players were at Yankee Stadium, a day after their season-ending 6-4 loss to Cleveland, the third straight year New York was eliminated in the first round.

Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Phillips and Jose Molina packed their gear for the long winter. Don Mattingly, mentioned as a possible replacement along with Joe Girardi and Tony La Russa, said succeeding Torre would be difficult.

"It's like following John Wooden or something," Mattingly said. "This guy wins championship after championship and we're in the playoffs in every year. You know, it's really — it's pretty much a no-win situation for someone coming in here to be able to live up to the expectations or live up to what he did. It's not going to happen. So as far someone coming in and taking over this job, it's not a good, you know — it's not necessarily a great situation."

Steinbrenner said last weekend he didn't think he'd bring Torre back unless New York rallied to win the first-round series. The 77-year-old owner has not spoken publicly since the Game 4 defeat.

If Torre leaves I think that will be the end of the current Yankee dynasty. Some of the key players will leave and you won't get other players flocking to come play for a Yankees team that is in transition as much as they normally would. Maybe A-Rod will leave if Torre goes (Hello, Angels GM Bill Stoneman, sign him if he becomes available). And who the heck would want to follow the Joe Torre show at New York?

There is talk about one of his coaches taking over the job. There is also talk about Joe Girardi coming back from his exile by the Marlins after winning the Manager of the Year Award in 2005. He knows the pressure that is on a manager to win in New York, he was a Yankee, and we know that he can handle a team.

Changing the face of the Yankees may do the team some good. Steinbrenner has threatened to make changes before and maybe now is the time. The team isn't winning championships anymore and not even really getting close. It would have made more sense to get rid of Cashman because he is the one who wields their massive budget into first round loss after loss. But Joe would be a bigger name and make a bigger day-to-day difference on the club. Maybe a little shake-up will bring the team back to form. BigT

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ryan

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:28 on October 9th, 2007

BigT, as a casual baseball fan my sense is that a team which such talent that can't win when it really counts needs to be shaken up. In many sports it seems like a mentality of superiority develops when top players play on the same team. As such, when other teams pick up their game in the playoffs these teams maintain status quo and don't meet expectations or potential.

Kaitlin

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:01 on October 9th, 2007

Nice coverage, BigT. I've heard that Steinbrenner himself is not well, physically, and that that fact might actually have more to do with this decision than people might think. Any Yankees fans/experts out there able to shed any light on this?