Say It Ain't So, Joe! - Torre Turns Down Contract Offer From Yanks

In a slight twist to expectations, longtime Yankee manager Joe Torre has turned down a one year deal worth $5 million with incentives worth up to an additional $3 million. ESPN analyst extraordinaire Peter Gammons hits it on the head in a video, when he says that in waiting 10 days after their season ended and then low-balling him with a one-year offer and a pay cut, the Yankees offer was somewhat insulting to the man who is the 2nd winningest manager in Yankees history, trailing only Joe McCarthy and 8th all time. Let's put this into some perspective:

Record as a Yankee: 1,173-767, .605 winning percetage
Four World Series titles
10 AL East titles (9 straight from 1998-2006)
Two-time AL Manager of the Year (1996 and 1998)
Reached postseason all 12 seasons

He deserved better than that. If they wanted to fire him, they should have fired him. This strikes me as the team trying to save face, not to mention star players. They have two high-profile free agents to re-sign in Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, both of whom have said their desire to return to the Yankees hinged, in part, on Torre remaining as skipper. Do the Yankees now think they can go to Rivera and Posada and legitimately claim to have offered Torre a contract, thereby absolving themselves of the firing of the manager? Anyone can see he was forced out.

It's too bad. Joe was a good man and a great manager.