Friday, October 19, 2007
As the Joe Torre story was unfolding it occurred to me that the best ending was probably for Torre to say, "Screw you guys, I'm out of here". It doesn't appear that this is quite what happened, and that's too bad. Now we'll never know, really, although there is a fair amount of speculation along the "Did he jump or was he pushed?" line developing. I agree with King Kaufman-- Torre's talent isn't necessarily that he is a great manager, it is that he is a great at managing for George Steinbrenner. Who else might have that skill? Joe Girardi couldn't get along with his owner in Florida, so why should anyone expect that he would be better at getting along with the most difficult owner in sports. Tony LaRussa? Oh, please-- LaRussa is the embodiment of the sort of manager that couldn't stick in New York. I happen to really like Bobby V, but I think it would take him two or three seasons to get the team he would want playing the way he wants it to. And I really doubt that Donnie Baseball has the chops.
What I think is really interesting is that Steinbrenner may not be the one that calls the shot. The old man is fading from the scene, which means that his sons are going to be running things. Like a Shakespearian tragedy, I think we are going to see that Hank Steinbrenner will come raging in, mistakenly thinking that the problems with the team came about because his father got soft-- and then he'll invade Iraq or something.
What I think is really interesting is that Steinbrenner may not be the one that calls the shot. The old man is fading from the scene, which means that his sons are going to be running things. Like a Shakespearian tragedy, I think we are going to see that Hank Steinbrenner will come raging in, mistakenly thinking that the problems with the team came about because his father got soft-- and then he'll invade Iraq or something.
