Last year, it was the Detroit Tigers who knocked the Yankees out of the post-season in the first round.
This year, it’s the Cleveland Indians, who beat the Yankees 6-4 and the ALDS 4 games to 1:
Everything changes. Things fall apart. Summer does not last forever, though it seemed that way last night at Yankee Stadium. It was 87 degrees at game time, one last day of warmth, perhaps, for Joe Torre.
For 12 seasons, there was sunshine on his shoulders. But now there is darkness, and the condemned old ballpark is shuttered again for the winter. The Yankees are a first-round playoff casualty for the third October in a row, and Torre will almost certainly lose his job as manager.
The Cleveland Indians eliminated the Yankees, 6-4, in Game 4 of their American League division series, advancing to the championship series against the Boston Red Sox. George Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ principal owner, who had tied Torre’s future to the outcome of this series, was said to be fuming in his office and left without taking questions, ushered away by his daughter.
In his postgame news conference, Torre choked up when talking about how badly his players wanted to win. He does not have a contract for next season, and he spoke with a sense of finality.
“This ball club, they have a great future,” Torre said, adding later: “This has been a great 12 years. Whatever the hell happens from here on out, I’ll look back on these 12 years with great, great pleasure.”
So now begins the great wait for the eruption of Mount Steinbrenner. Torre’s head was on the chopping block last October, and again in April when the Yankees ended the month in the cellar of the AL East, and he survived both times. Nobody expects him to survive this time, because, well, George is George.
The question is what impact Torre leaving might have on the rest of the roster. Here’s what two free agents, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera had to say:
“Joe Torre is the best manager in baseball,” Posada said. “It’s not his fault. He used the same lineup from April till now, the same guys. He doesn’t throw or hit or do anything on the field. He does everything possible to keep us positive and get us to win.”
Rivera said he did not know why Steinbrenner would even think of firing Torre, and he said he would have to think about whether he would want to play for another manager.
Of his contract status, Rivera said: “They had an opportunity and they did nothing with me, so we’ll see what happens. This is a business, and I’m going to treat it like a business.”
Lose guys like that and it almost doesn’t matter who your manager is.
Update: Peter Abraham makes even clearer the possible consequenes of Torre leaving:
Torre could have company on his way out. Roger Clemens, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jose Molina, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Luis Vizcaino are free agents.
Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte hold options to become free agents and the Yankees have an option on Bobby Abreu.
“There are discussions we’re going to have to have. Unfortunately we’ll be having them earlier than we expected,” said Cashman, who has a year remaining on his contract but may not be safe. “I can’t tell you what will happen because I don’t know.”
Torre’s ouster could impact the decisions made by Pettitte, Posada and Rivera. All three have been among his greatest supporters. Pettitte said Torre’s fate would factor into his decision while Posada said he planned to test the market.
“There could be a lot of changes around here,” Rivera said.
Not all of them for the better.
Don’t get me wrong. I was a big Don Mattingly fan when he was a player, and it will be fun to see the Yankees managed by a Yankee great. But, he’s also unproven. And regardless of what happened last night, Joe Torre is a Yankee great, probably one of the three best managers the team has ever had. To throw that away in the manner than Steinbrenner seems prepared to do is both foolish and short-sighted.
