Joe Torre held a press conference today to discuss his decision not to return to the Yankees and, while he was as classy as always, he didn’t hold much back either:
Joe Torre said today that he turned down a $5 million offer to manage the New York Yankees for another year because “I didn’t think it was the right thing for me, I didn’t think it was the best thing for my players.”
Mr. Torre, in his first public comments since turning down the offer, said the owners did not seem to want to negotiate with him for more money, or better terms in a meeting in Tampa about his future that lasted a mere 20 minutes. In fact, they were offering a pay cut — to $5 million a year, with the chance of earning another $3 million if he led the Yankees to a World Series next season.
The bonus, he said, was “an insult.”
Mr. Torre earned $6.4 million on average over the last three seasons.“I’d been there 12 years and did not feel motivation was needed,” he said at a packed news conference. “I didn’t think it was the right thing for me or the right thing for my players,” because it would have put too much pressure on everyone.
Mr. Torre, who led the Yankees to four World Series championships, said that $5 million “is a lot of money. I’m not going to sneeze at that. But the fact that somebody is reducing your salary is just telling me that they’re just not satisfied with what you’re doing.”
Torre also said that when he met with the Yankee execs yesterday, it seemed like something had changed:
“If somebody wanted me to manage here, I’d be managing here. That’s my feeling,” he said. “Yes, it was a very generous offer, no question about it. It still wasn’t the type of commitment that we’re trying to do something together as opposed to what can you do for me.”
Mr. Torre kept coming back to the same themes in the long conversation with reporters: that he loved the game, that the Yankees are run by people interested in the bottom line, that he couldn’t blame them for being focused on winning.
For him, he said, it was about a bond being broken.
“It’s not the money that’s going to be the determining factor,” Mr. Torre said. “It’s the commitment and trust. You can’t have one without the other.”
He said that when he walked into the meeting in Tampa this week, “I looked around and saw business people.
“I may be a little unusual,” he said. “The game is very personal to me. To me, my job is whatever it takes on a day to day basis, how you do it. “
Apparently, there’s no room for that in the Hank & Hal era.
