[Michael.SF.]

An insult? lol.

Joe has an affinity for fine wines. Wonder how he will manage to pay for his magnum's of Cos and other wines on a paultry $5,000,000 a year contract?

[raptor29]

I agree 100%. What a whiny response. Hey Joe, you have a $200 million ballclub out there and you haven’t sniffed the World Series for 7 years. Your previous contract’s $7 million annual salary has been better than double what ANY other manager is baseball is getting, and is generally about 3-4 times what most of the established guys get. Give it a rest. There are a number of guys who would do just as well, if not better with that talent and in that ‘fearsome’ media market. And 4 times a year, the mean old owner gets mad and says a few things in the press if things aren’t going very well. Wow, what a burden to deal with each year for that $5-7 million, while getting to fill out a lineup card of nothing but current and ex-All Stars. Take a hike.

[Alberta's Child]

He was right to reject the offer. Yes, $5 million is a lot of money . . . but he was being offered a contract that no other manager would ever be offered. No other manager gets paid even $5 million (let alone the $7.5 million he was paid this past year), but also remember that no manager gets offered an incentive-laden contract like that, either. What the hell is the purpose of an incentive-based contract for a freaking manager in baseball?

That team isn't run by George Steinbrenner anymore . . . it's run by businessmen who don't know very much about baseball and who have made some of the worst decisions imaginable this past year. The thought of cutting the 67 year-old manager's salary by $2.5 million after some @sshole decided to p!ss away $28 million on a contract for a 77-year-old Roger Clemens is a disgrace.

And Torre never walked away from the team in 2003 only to "un-retire" and sign with the Houston Astros the following season, either.

[discostu]

A 30% pay cut, regardless of the final number, is definitely a statement on non-confidence. People shouldn’t let class envy get into this, if your boss offered to let you stay at a 30% pay cut assuming the company wasn’t in dire financial straits you’d probably be a little miffed.

[SnakeDoctor]

$5M is an insult when you’ve been paid $7.5M for the previous years.

Torre was right to refuse the offer, which was only made so the Yankees could blame Torre’s departure on Torre himself rather than taking responsibility.

H

[Chi-townChief]

It’s an insult all right .... to those of us who don’t have a nice fat sports contract offer. LOL

[nyyankeefan]

no comments other than the insults and slight from steinbrenner......just gonna read all the love & hate that will be posted by the haters & fair weather fans!!!!

[#1CTYankee]

The Yankees had no intention of resigning him, a 1 year offer and a pay cut. This was nothing more than an attempt to save face with the fans.

I despise the Yankees (Being a Red Sox fan) but Joe is a class act and a very good manager.

Steinbrenner is a senile old ass and stupid to boot.

[ex-snook]

All Yankee contracts should be 1-year performance based. If this is a Yankee signal to do this to all contracts, it’s a plus. If only Torre, it’s a shaft.

[em2vn]

Joe showed a great deal of character in walking way from the offer. Good for him, since character in professional sports seems to be at such a low ebb.

[JennysCool]

I’m desperately praying the Yankees will insult me, even just a little bit.

[muir_redwoods]

I hate the NYY so I hope whoever made this decision for the Yankees keeps making decisions for the team

[montag813]

The absurd saga of the most overrated manager in baseball history continues. Had buck Showalter been left in place one more year (1996), he too would have won the WS. Torre was a multi-year loser when he managed St. Louis years ago. LaRussa is a jerk, but he took an 83-win Cardinals and a crappy Jeff Suppan and won it all. The Torre-Worship is so nauseating, especially here in NYC, having to stomach the daily butt-licking morons Mike and Mad Dog, who treat Torre like he's the Pope. He's so CLASSSSSSY. So what? He made $7.5 mil and lost every year. His management of pitching i9n the 2004 WS and this entire season was pathetic. And leaving Jaba on the mound with bugs flying everywhere showed his lack of balls. Does anyone think Jim Leyland or LaRussa would have let Chamberlain throw another pitch with 100 bugs crawling on his neck and face?

Giving Torre credit for the Yankees' success is like giving the Maitre d' the credit for good reviews at Spago.

[SmoothTalker]

I want to be insulted.

[colorado tanker]

Disagree. The amount he makes isn't the point, unless you are one of those who thinks the market overpays the wealthy and something ought to be done about it (as in government).

What would you do if your boss announced to the company that your performance was substandard (after 12 years of rave reviews) and that if you didn't reach X goal you would be fired. After not reaching that goal, the boss says he'll keep you around, for now anyway, but at 2/3 of your former pay. And you had sufficient savings you didn't have to have this job. And others in the industry really think highly of you.

You wouldn't say take this job and shove it???

[Larry Lucido]

Torre took a morning flight Thursday to Tampa, Fla., walked into George Steinbrenner's office at Legends Field and listened to the team's offer. He said he couldn't accept it, shook hands and left the ballpark, the Yankees' manager no more.

He should have "gone out in style." Like putting on a body suit and streaking the field.

[PzLdr]

Time to retire the “Paul Quantrill Award” me and my buddies gave to the guy in the bullpen old Joe destroyed every year with overwork [Previous winners include Tanyon Sturze and Scott Proctor].

Only Mike Francesa [WFAN] could refer to the contract offer as ‘forcing’ Torre out. Guess Joe forgot how bad a manager he was before George’s checkbook. Training starters to go 6, and burn out a bullpen by September. And Torre never met an over the hill player he didn’t like. If Bernie hadn’t let his pride stop him from coming to Spring Training, Melky Cabrera would still be in the minors.

BUH-BYE!

[Tall_Texan]

General manager Brian Cashman said Thursday. "He will always be a Yankee."

...just not a paid one.

[Roklok]

I don’t see where Joe Torre was so great. Anybody could have won with that line up. It’s the players that win baseball games, not the manager.

[srmorton]

As a Braves fan, I have always had a soft spot for Joe Torre. He is a gentleman and a class act. A few months ago, no one thought the Yankees would make the playoffs and they did. As manager, Joe deserves at least some credit for that! I read somewhere that, had he accepted the offer, it would have been seen as a sign of weakness and his players would have lost respect for him. If Mariano Rivera goes to another team (as he has hinted he might) because Joe is no longer the manager, the Yankees will live to regret this move.

I have to say something about one of my pet peeves. Why do conservatives who supposedly believe in the free market complain about the salaries that professional athletes receive? IMO, it makes us sound like liberals. These athletes are receiving salaries that are determined by what the owners are willing to pay for the best players. There are a limited number of people who have the ability and the skill to play professional sports. That's why they can demand and receive these exorbitant salaries. I know that Joe Torre is no longer a player, but the manager of the Yankees has to make a salary that is comparable to at least some of his players. The owners have no one but themselves to blame for how high the salaries are because they are the ones that started paying them in the first place. Although I am woman who is an avid sports fan, I do not consider the "work" that these athletes do as more important than firefighters, policemen, and teachers, all of whom make much less and deserve to make much more, but they are paid what the free market determines their pay should be.

[gracesdad]

Commenting without even reading this thread.

I’m a Yankees fan and I think George et al are idiots. It’s just so awful that Torre took them to four WS championships, to the playoffs 12 years in a row, and to nine straight division championships. Horrible coaching. Really, really bad that they cam back from that awful start this year.

I fear that getting rid of Torre, and that’s what this “offer” planned to do, could have effects like getting rid of Posada. Maybe not if Mattingly moves in. Can only hope.