The reaction to how the Yankees handled the Joe Torre situation seems to be pretty universal — in that pretty much everyone seems to think that the Steinbrenner clan royally screwed this one up.
From The New York Times:
Where there was once one Boss, there are now pinstriped nesting dolls of incompetence.
Where there were once snap decisions by George, there is now indecision by Yankee consensus.
To be sure, Hal and Hank Steinbrenner aren’t ready to slip into their father’s blue blazer, to sit in the general’s saddle, to inherit the light saber from Darth Vader.
Are they too soft or too green? Whatever the case, Hank and Hal have blown their transition move from the kiddie table. Ten days after the Yankees’ season ended, holed up in Tampa with IHOP leftovers and Randy Levine this week, stepping lightly around their aging patriarch, Hank and Hal helped devise this ham-handed strategy: Let’s discount Joe Torre’s dignity.
The Yankees wanted to cheapen Torre’s legacy, shortchange his grace and mark down his integrity by about 30 percent. And then Torre stunned them yesterday by taking a pass on their pay-as-you-go offer.
(…)
The importance of George Steinbrenner’s surprise rant two weeks ago to Ian O’Connor of The Record of Hackensack, N.J., wasn’t so much what the Boss said about Torre — “I don’t think we’d take him back if we don’t win this series” — it was how little his words meant in the final analysis.
It illustrated what many knew: Steinbrenner isn’t in charge anymore. Certainly, Steinbrenner’s image has been sepia-toned by his sunset years and the reverence aging deserves.
He could be a nasty, hurtful tyrant in his heyday, but there was firm steerage.
Hank and Hal Steinbrenner — plus about a dozen others — formed a consensus of indecision this week that led to a passive-aggressive offer to kind of, sort of, retain Torre. Yes, they presented Torre a $5 million salary, with $3 million in incentives.
But Torre has plenty of money. He deserved a deal in good faith, a deal that wouldn’t discount his legacy.
Tom Verducci adds this at Sports Illustrated:
[n Thursday, the New York Yankees, with Steinbrenner's health rendering him little more than a figurehead, descended into a far darker and disrespectful place. Under the leadership of president Randy Levine, who commandered the news conference yesterday as if general manager Brian Cashman and Steinbrenner's two sons, Hank and Hal, didn't exist, the Yankees let corporate cowardice be their guide. This is a peek of life after George.
Levine's Yankees are proud of themselves today because they think they ran Joe Torre out of New York without getting blood on their hands. They think you are dumb enough to believe that Torre was not fired, that they really, really wanted him back, but that, golly gee, Torre turned down their offer.
(...)
If the Yankees wanted to fire Torre, they should have just fired him after the ALDS, laying responsibility on him for a "failure" to get to the World Series seven straight years. It was the way of George. It was certainly their right. You could argue Torre didn't deserve it, but you had to respect the dictatorial right of Steinbrenner, even as the Yankees cling to this "World-Series-or-bust" mentality that has long been rendered obsolete in this revenue-sharing age. Instead, under Levine, they took the cowardly way out and think they are slick enough that you won't notice.
Oh don’t worry, we notice.
