From PA over at LoHud:
Here is what Joe Torre told reporters about the demise of the Yankees:Torre said he took no satisfaction in seeing his former team miss the playoffs.
“The satisfaction I have, going someplace after 12 years, and you leave wondering if managing can be fun again, because the last few years back there weren’t fun,” he said. “I don’t take satisfaction in the Yankees being eliminated. But it’s satisfying that we win three games here and we’re in, especially with all the ups and downs we’ve had.”
Don Mattingly’s take was very candid:
“I’m sure it’s tough for the Yankees — something different, for sure. Jeter, Pettitte, Mariano. They haven’t missed in a long time. It’s one of those years in a tough division to play catch-up. But this year is a transition year for them without Joe. I interviewed for the manager’s job and I knew going in that it was sort of a no-win situation. You listen to them talk, and I don’t think they realized what Joe did for them for so long, how special he is at what he does.
“I think they sort of took him for granted, didn’t realize all the things he brings to the table as a manager. You’ve seen it here with the Dodgers this year. How he keeps the ship going the right way, keeps things on track when it looks like things are getting ugly.”
Joe Torre is too classy to fall into a rhetorical trap. Obviously, he’s not going to say that he is satisfied. However, based on his comments, it seems evident that he is, actually, very satisfied in his decision to leave the organization. As a fan, I must note that it is somewhat sad to hear that Joe Torre wasn’t having fun managing the NY Yankees, these past few years. That’s tough to hear, it really is, but I’m glad that he’s not around if that’s how he felt (even if those feelings were brought on by an overbearing owner). It looks like the pressure was really getting to him.
On the other side of the argument, I certainly agree with Don Mattingly. To a degree, I think we all failed to appreciate how effective Joe Torre can be, as a manager. We all appreciated what he had done for the team, that’s different, but appreciating how he did that, exactly, was something I definitely overlooked as the Joe Girardi era was finally realized. He’s like glue, he holds things together when they’re torn to bits and Joe G. didn’t necessarily do that as well as we would have hoped. However, the beat goes on and this is what it is. Hank should stop bringing up Torre. The more he does, the more attention he brings to Torre’s cross country success, which will only upset fans with the Steinbrenner bunch.
