NEW YORK --Joe Torre is out as manager of the New York Yankees, rejecting a substantial pay cut after the team failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year. Torre turned down a $5 million, one-year contract Thursday -- $2.5 million less than he made last season.

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Steinbriner insulted him by offering that contract. They "fired him" without really firing him.

Steinbriner insulted him by offering that contract. They "fired him" without really firing him.

I totally agree, and IMHO it was not Torre's fault. The yanks had too many superstars on that squad, and not enough team players.

I love it when things go awry in Yankee ville! Baron von Steinbrenner is interested in one thing WORLD SERIES TITLES. Joe, as manager did not deliver with that lineup!

So they restructure the offer BASED ON PERFORMANCE, you want the bucks then you get a base salary for the year, so much for the playoffs and so much for the world series, What's wrong with that?

Anyway < Say goodbye to LaRussa in St Louy , right after the series he should be Ynakeeville bound!

PS The yanks ain't in it, but they couldn't wait to do this til after the seies like most clubs, they love the back page headlines in the nY DAILY NEWS!

Steinbrenner doesn't deserve a class act like Torre.

As much as I hate the Yanks, I respect Torre as a manager.

It'll be interesting to see who replaces him.

Joe is indeed a class act and will be missed. I love my Yankees but Joe did the right thing.  :'( :'(

He was still going to be the highest paid manager in the GAME! Lets not start taking up a collection for this guy He was agruablly handed the best line up money can buy and still couldn't get outta the playoffs, THEY DESERVE EACH OTHER! :-/

As much as I hate the Yanks, I respect Torre as a manager.

It'll be interesting to see who replaces him.

Couldnt have said it better....

He was still going to be the highest paid manager in the GAME! Lets not start taking up a collection for this guy He was agruablly handed the best line up money can buy and still couldn't get outta the playoffs, THEY DESERVE EACH OTHER! :-/

12 years as manager, 12 years in the playoffs.    6 World Series appearances, 4 Championships.

Winningest Post season Coach ever.      The offer was insult.     The only thing money hasn't done for them in recent years was develope some young pitchers.

I think they wanted Guidry out as pitching coach, and Torre wasn't having nothing to do with that.

Matt

Before I get into this, let me say I am as big a Yankee fan as there is (I even mowed the logo into my mom's lawn one summer ).  I am also a huge supporter of Joe Torre.  I believe he's as great a Yankee manager as Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel and Ralph Houk.  That being said...

Michael Kay, one of the Yankees TV announcers, brought up an interesting idea on ESPN radio yesterday.  Basically, he said that when Torre first brought the titles and winning back to NY, everybody praised him and said how great he is.  Now that the Yankees have gone out in the 1st round 3 years in a row, no blame has really been put on Torre at all, rather, they blame the roster.  How good a job would that be?  Getting all the praise when things are going great, and when things go bad, well its not your fault.  Some accountability has to be placed on Joe.  With the lineup the Yanks had in the last 5 years, we all said its a fore-gone conclusion that the Yanks win it all.  Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, so maybe a changing of the coaching staff is in order.  I'm not saying Joe Torre isn't an amazing manager, I'm just saying that maybe its time for a change...

On a side note, has anyone noticed how the Yankees don't win when Jason Giambi is on the squad?  They haven't won with him, either.  Even this year, before he came off the DL, the Yankees were playing lights out ball and had Boston actually scared.  When he came back, they still did well, but not nearly as well as without him.  Just some food for thought...

BTW, don't look for LaRussa to come to NY.  Not too many people think he could handle the team, or the media for that matter.  Look for the Yanks to sign either Don Mattingly or Joe Girardi as the new manager...

He was still going to be the highest paid manager in the GAME! Lets not start taking up a collection for this guy He was agruablly handed the best line up money can buy and still couldn't get outta the playoffs, THEY DESERVE EACH OTHER! :-/

12 years as manager, 12 years in the playoffs. 6 World Series appearances, 4 Championships.

Winningest Post season Coach ever.      The offer was insult. The only thing money hasn't done for them in recent years was develope some young pitchers.

I think they wanted Guidry out as pitching coach, and Torre wasn't having nothing to do with that.

Look at the job Pinella did with one half the talent and one third the payroll! I don't hide the fact that I am a Mets Fan and hate the Yankees, but lets look at this > Sitiebrenner pays for rings, no rings no job! Torre knows this going in. He has to be considered this year for Manager of the Year for how he motivated the team after the all star break, but the Yankee Fans and ownership by in large believe they have a historical calim to the WS title, and if the manager can't give it to them THEY GET FIRED

Now Joe gets offered 1/2 his salary ( AND HE IS STILL THE HIGHEST PAID MANAGER IN THE GAME) and incentives like play off bonus and WS bonus to make his current salary. Knowing the terms of both their fans and ownership OH WELL THATS HISTORY AAND YANKEE TRADITION FOR YOU

They did it to Martin, They did it to Houk and most horribly to Yogi Berra, why would they treat Torre any different?     :-/

Well, as a "Trying To Be A Baseball Fan", this just brings up another reason NOT to care about professional baseball!

In other sports, like NFL Football, the teams share revenues, kinda have salary caps and basically compete on a financially flat playing field. Football Cities cannot 'buy a championship". I suppose the Florida Marlins were the best example of this, away from New York, but the entire set-up just SUCKS!

Baseball is part team sport and part individual. It don't take a team to swing the bat, its doesn't take a team to deliver a pitch!

Does a golf coach get blamed for Pro playing bad?

Does a tennis coach get blamed for a tennis player playing badly?

How can Torre be blamed for a proven picther not pitching? Did Torres sign The Rocket, is it Torre's fault that all his older pitchers have nagging little injuries?

Instead of insulting the guy with a lesser offer, and he earned his money with 12 straight years of post season play, how many other managers can show that during this era, they should have just not offered anything, and not renewed his contract.

By the way, if some of these guys make 30 million a year, even 10 mil, and NY has the meaniest news media, most ego's on a team, and the biggest point of all, his success, 4 series titles, don't he deserve to be paid, not too mention his play as a player for the Yanks also should be rewarded as it was, now to downsize the contract.     The man earned that 7.5 mil over and over!!!!!!   They want a change then make it, don't insult him with a lesser offer.

Also, how can you blame Torre for a guy who don't swing the bat in post season?

Who gets credit for the Yanks coming from so many games back to make the playoffs?

According to the record book, NY does have ownership of championship. History shows this to be true statement, after all, ownership is .9tenths of the law and they certainly have won it more than any others.

Players still had to perform, it wasn't just given to them. Seems to me, guys like Mr. October helped earn them.      

Torre is a proven successful manager.      Whats the difference in a manager and a coach?

Matt

Hey Matt Big difference The order of responsibility: General Manager,Manager, Bench Coah then usally the pitching coach and then the rest of the coaches. I am not very far from where you are in my feeling it's the players that play the game. With the DH in the AL, managering skills are diminished to begin with as the double switch becomes somewhat if not totally a non issue!

What I am saying is , If you take the manager's job for the Yankees, Steinbrener has been Steibrener since he owned the team , why would he treat Torre any different from any other manager.

Also every great manager has had a cohort who made him better: Martin had Fowler,Cox had mazzone and Torre had Popeye, and those guys skated!

If you take a job, and you know the high pay comes with certain behaviors then I don't shed a tear for you when it goes the way it always had. Joe is a big boy and he knew the deal, he knew it last year and it came to pass this year. These are not starry eyed littleleagures taking the Yankee skippers job, it is some of the most seasoned and respected pros in the game. :

MANAGERS CAN AND DO EFFECT THE OUTCOME OF SOME GAMES: Example: Knowing when to pull a pitcher, what pitcher to use in relief, try to put a pitcher in with a different rythym, or turn the switch hitters to the side of the plate they do less damage with. He has to know how hitters on both teams do against pitchers, wheter it be on artificial or real grass, many times their average differ accordingly.

He has to set defenses anticipating a particular hitters goal, he has to know when to pull a guy because you may need a better bat or a glove in the later innings HENCE THE DOUBLE SWITCH and the manipulation of the batting order. I could go on and on, but managers in baseball can and do effect the outcome of games.

I couldn't agree more Muddy. Of course managers cannot control the players actual performance but they can determine which players are actually out on the field and when.

I think we'll see Torre in a new home very soon, I am curious to see what he will do.

I'm a proud member of Red Sox Nation but believe Torre is one of the best managers ever. The fact is Mr. S. has put together an all-star team, and those just dont function well. It takes chemistry and a team. Not 12 individuals and a team of a few. Look at recent teams that have won recent world series, RED SOX, Angels, ChiSox, even the Cardinals. If you are not a fan of the team you can't name more than 2 or 3 players, they are a "bunch of nobodies" really. But they are a TEAM.

The 76 to 79 Yankees, the 1986 Mets and The Oakland A's( La Russa'a tenure) were all Championship teams ( The Yankees from that time are among the best of all times) and THEY HATED EACHOTHER, they fought among themselves and with their managers. AND THEY WON WORLD SERIES, forget the cliche's pros win ,because thats what pros play for TO WIN!. Look these teams up tin2win and read about them they were great teams and just a bit before your time 8-)

Muddy said it best up above.  Joe Torre knew what he was up against when he signed with the Yankees in '96.  In essence, what the Yankees organization did was give Joe a chance to say no to a deal rather than outright firing him...Its obvious that the deal would have been rejected, to you, me, and I'm sure, the Yankees front office as well.  So instead of throwing Torre out, Torre is throwing the Yankees out, and he keeps his dignity, and we avoid an even bigger media circus than we have now.