Joe Torre Lost His Job Due to His Own Greed
So, Joe Torre thinks that the contract offered to him is an insult. He believes that, despite his performance with the New York Yankees over the past three years, he deserves a much bigger contract than one year at $5 million, plus incentives. With incentives, he had the potential to make $8 million. Without incentives, he’s still be the highest paid manager in all of Major League Baseball.
In the real world, most jobs are incentive laden. Torre was insulted by a contract that would have forced him to actually earn his paycheck. This should not have come as a surprise to the Yankees skipper. His team has not made it out of the first round of playoffs for three straight years and haven’t won a World Series since beating the New York Mets in 2000. He obviously cannot motivate his players anymore, thus the lack of trust and confidence in him from above.
Joe Torre first stated that he didn’t need to be motivated and that he was insulted by the incentive laden offer. The truth however, lies in his past contracts. His past two contracts included incentives similar to the deal offered to him last week. Face it Joe, you can’t talk out of both sides of your mouth and expect people to still like you.
There is also the possibility that the Yankees didn’t want to fire Torre and proceeded to give him an offer they knew he would refuse. As soon as Joe Torre rejected the offer, the Yankee organization could claim they didn’t fire him, allowing them to save face.
The fact remains that Joe Torre was a .500 manager before coming to the Yankees. He lucked out with the Yankees because they had a highly talented team. The Braves, Cardinals, and Mets teams he managed were terrible teams. They had little to no talent and even the “great” Saint Joe couldn’t motivate them. With such a talented Yankees team, nearly anyone would have had the success that Joe Torre has enjoyed over the last twelve years.
The Yankees were legendary before Joe Torre and they’ll be legendary long after he’s gone. Joe Torre was overpaid at $7.5 million for the past three years. He didn’t deliver what was expected of him. How can he then say that he warrants a raise and a multi-year deal?
And don’t even start with the intangibles. If Joe Torre brings so many intangibles to the table, then why aren’t his players more motivated and winning more championships? If you went and asked your boss for a raise based on the intangibles that you bring to the job, what do you think will happen?
Posada, Rivera, and Pettite can talk all they want about how great Joe Torre is and how he’s the only manager they want, but dangle enough cash in front of them and they’ll be in a Yankees uniform again next year. Rivera has even stated recently that Joe Torre is no longer a factor in whether he will stay. That’s right. Money Talks.
Face it. Everyone knows that it’s time for Torre to go. He lucked into a great job and, now, when he can no longer fulfill his duties, it’s time for him to gracefully bow out and leave a legacy of class instead of the bitterness and vile he’s been spewing this past week.
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