With Joe Torre entering a lame duck year, there is a great deal of speculation over who will manage the Yankees in 2008. This is the first in a series profiling prospective candidates. It will continue at infrequent intervals until Torre either receives an extension, steps down, or is fired. The first candidate is the current manager, Joe Torre.
The resume: Managed the Mets, Braves, Cardinals, and since 1996, the Yankees. Has led the team to the postseason in each of his eleven seasons in the Bronx. Won four World Series, six American League pennants, and ten American League East Championships.
Strengths: Teams in New York have to deal with an inordinate amount of publicity and pressure. Nobody is better at shielding his team from that pressure and getting them to focus on the task at hand. Torre is a master communicator and demands respect from his players, which is important considering the number of huge egos in the clubhouse. He makes sure that the team keeps an even keel and never panics. He trusts his players and does not follow knee-jerk calls from the fans to shake things up just for the sake of change. While his in-game decision making has not been as good since Don Zimmer left, he does not make more mind-numbingly bad decisions than any other manager does over the course of a 162 game season.
Weaknesses: After eleven seasons, the team might need a new voice. A leader can only communicate in so many different ways until he ends up repeating himself and the team stops responding. Sometimes a fresh voice is needed to end that complacency and provide maximum motivation. Torre also might be burned out. Working under George Steinbrenner with the Yankees for over a decade takes a toll.
Outlook: I’m inclined to believe that this will be Torre’s last season in the Bronx. He already has his ticket to the Hall of Fame punched. He is getting up there in years, and his daughter is growing up. Joe loves managing, and the money is good, but he will be able to stay around the game and spend more time with his family as a broadcaster and a consultant for the Yankees. He will make more than enough money on the lecture circuit.
My take: There still is nobody else I would want managing this team. Torre is the perfect manager for New York and Steinbrenner. Joe deserves to stay for the entire 2007 season. Considering all that he has brought the team and the disarray that would come with a midseason dismissal, firing Joe would be an awful decision. Still, a part of me hopes that he will step aside after the year. He does not have too many years left in him, and there are a number of worthy successors on the market that might not be there down the line. I also want to see him leave on his own terms. A successful man of such dignity deserves to go out like that. Whenever it is that Joe does leave, a lot of his critics who blame him for everything that goes wrong are going to realize just how good they had it under Joe Torre.
