Monday, January 26, 2009

Torre is only tarnishing himself

I'm sure everyone has read something about the new collaboration between Joe Torre and Tom Verducci that is supposed to blow the lid off of all the despicable things going on in Yankeeland during the final years of Torre's tenure with the team.

I guess what Verducci and Torre don't realize is that there is nothing new in their book. People don't like A-Rod? Wow, how insightful, I never would have seen that coming. What's this you say? Cashman didn't throw a tantrum when the Steinbrenners forced you out? No way.

I was never a huge Torre fan. I always thought that he was a poor game manager and was awful at running a bullpen. But I always respected Torre for his ability to manage a clubhouse and to handle his teams through rough waters. It saddens me to see him try to make a quick buck by selling old stories with Tom Verducci.

It is also a big hit on his character and that of Verducci's that they both refuse to take any responsibility for what the book says. Well you know what: too bad. The two names on the cover of the book are Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. They have a responsibility to stand behind what they put their names on.

*****

In other news Andy Pettitte is back and the rotation is all but complete. The deal only guarantees Pettitte $5.5 million for one year with the possibility of earning another $6.5 million in incentives.

Bringing Pettitte back, while unnecessary, makes the Yankees rotation one of the best in baseball. From front to back it looks something like this:

CC Sabathia
A.J. Burnett
Chein-Ming Wang
Andy Pettitte
Joba Chamberlain

That's pretty formidable and the Yanks can sleep a little easier knowing that on paper they will have plenty of innings coming from their front five. There is also a lot less pressure on Joba to perform and to eat up innings, plus any injuries that befall the rotation will not necessarily be devastating since the Yanks will still have Hughes, Kennedy and Aceves waiting to fill in.

I was all for letting the kids try to fill the back end of the rotation again but I do understand Cashman's concern about having forty percent of your rotation be young kids who may not be ready to handle a full season. The one good thing about bring in Pettitte and not someone else is that Andy is still on a one year deal and will not be blocking any kids for an extended period of time.

The summer is going to be very interesting and it will be fun to watch these three teams battle it out.

5 comments:

Dan said...

Verducci is a weasel. I love his comment about it being a "third person account." Yeah, Tom, that's usually what happens when you tell a story. You tell it in third person. I don't even care what the book says. I will not wait to read it before I pass judgment. You two are the authors. Man up and stand behind what you said. I wish people would boycott the book so they have to pay the publisher back their giant advance out of their own pockets.

Dennis said...

Of course people are focusing on two sentences of what is probably a 300 page book. I think it is a little unfair to condemn the authors based on that.

As for Torre's managerial ability, I think Peter has it about right. For me, he has always been Dusty Baker with a better squad. A great man manager, players will run through a brick wall for them, but no clue what to do once the game starts.

Joe said...

I can't believe I am saying this, but Jose Canseco has more integrity as an author than a SI writer and a hall of Fame manager.
Atleast, Canseco mans up what he puts in print.

Dan said...

Like I said, Den, I'm not really that concerned about what was said. I'm pissed because neither guy whose name is on the dust jacket will take responsibility for what was said. If it's not them, to whom should we attribute the content of the book?

Dennis said...

I don't particularly care for Verducci, but I don't see how he can be blamed for doing anything but quoting Joe Torre.

In these books with a famous athlete and a reporter the reporters job could be performed by voice recognition software. All Verducci does is record a few interviews and then type it out. His only real contribution is proper grammar and punctuation.

Or has Joe Torre been misquoted in his autobiography?