An Open Letter to Joe Torre

Someone get the smelling salts and wake this guy up!

By Phil Allard
NYYFans.com Staff Writer


Dear Joe:

We all remember the “Clueless Joe” headline in the Daily News that welcomed you to the Yankees in 1996.

When you were first hired, I was in shock. What was Steinbrenner thinking? Why would he push Showalter out and hire you—a National League retread with little managerial success? It had been 18 years since the last Yankee championship. And this move would only serve to prolong the drought—not to mention that you had been an incredibly unsuccessful manager for the cross-town Mets. No points there for “Clueless Joe.”

When an office pool sprang up, I gave you until July to get fired. My buddy Tom had June. Paul said May. We both envied Paul, figured he’d be buying the next set of rounds.

I was never so happy to be wrong! Joe, when you took the reigns in ‘96, you brought an aggressive “National League” style of play to the Bronx. You made things happen with the hit and run, took chances, kept everyone on his toes, and, perhaps best of all, became the most successful Steinbrenner filter of any Yankee manager.

You were, and still are, superb at shielding your players from the Boss’ tirades so they can concentrate on playing. And play they did.

Joe, you always seemed one step ahead of the other managers. I could fill dozens of pages with examples, and Yankee fans know most of them by heart, but the one that—for me—illustrates this point best is Game #5 of the Arizona World Series. Top of the 11th inning. D-Backs have bases loaded, 1 out.

Most managers would have the infield in at that point. McCarver second-guessed you, but said that you at least had the courage of your convictions. You decide to defy conventional logic, play the infield back, and then Soriano snags a Reggie Sanders live drive headed for center field. If the infield is in, that’s a 2-run single. Brilliant!

In days gone by, you were a master manipulator of your bench. Rewind to the 4th game of the 1996 World Series and I swear, it seemed like you had 35 players to use. The final player off the bench, Wade Boggs, puts the game away with a bases loaded walk. Joe, you saved exactly the right guy for exactly the right moment.

That was then.
This is now.

You were once the greatest Torre ever told.
Now you more resemble Comatose Joe from Hannibal, Mo.

Yes, I know, the Torre defenders will chime in to tell me that the rosters have a lot to do with this. And that is certainly true, to an extent. The Yankee rosters of the late 90s were built for the post season. This 2004 roster was built for a fantasy league, and the bench was futile.

But that’s all the more reason for a “take charge” manager to actually do some managing. Yes, the roster has changed. But aren’t you the same Joe Torre who once made a useful player out of Clay Bellinger—now you can’t figure out how to use Lofton, Crosby or Wilson? Or even take a chance and pinch-hit Flaherty in a tight spot?

In the ALCS against Boston, Joe, you were embarrassed by Francona. To say you were out-managed is an understatement. The Joe Torre of the late 90s, the Joe Torre I used to know, would have found a way to win Game #4 or Game #5. Where to begin?

When asked why you didn’t have your baseruners steal when Wakefield was pitching to Varitek in extra innings, you said that “They could have gone if they wanted to. They had the green light.”

Joe, you see that there have been three passed balls in the inning.

Three passed balls!

You see that Varitek is concentrating so much on just trying to catch the knuckler that there is no way he could throw anyone out.

COMMAND THEM TO RUN. MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Show some initiative and then I wouldn’t be dealing with 15-20 emails a day from Red Sox fans.

Joe, you know that Schilling’s ankle is being held together by threads. You don’t bunt on him, even once? Hell, Jeter has been bunting all year in silly situations; you don‘t tell him to lay one down now?

You play Sierra that night instead of Lofton who hits .324 vs. Schilling with an OBP of .386. With the wet grass that night, Lofton could have had 2 bunt hits. And maybe Curt doesn’t spend the next two weeks on every talk show in America.

There were also many opportunities to pinch run for the more lumbering baserunners—like Posada, Sierra, and Clark—in the late innings, just to make something happen. (By the way, Dave Roberts says hello.)

Formerly adept at handling pitchers, you proceeded this year to burn out Quantrill and then Gordan—rendering them ineffective when you needed them most.

I won’t even get into your affection for Felix Heredia, other than to say that is was truly baffling, at best. (I know you’ll miss him next year. I hope you are working on the grieving process now, so your head is in the game come April.)

Some say that the loss of old pal Don Zimmer is a factor here. Asking me to handle the Red Sox winning the World Series AND Don Zimmer being a genius, all within a few weeks, is too much for me to process right now. Tell me that England is in South America; that I can handle.

But Joe, there is something that I find more offensive than your poor in-game decisions. Worse of all was the lack of intensity exhibited by the Yankee players throughout the ALCS.

Even when the Red Sox were down 3 games to none, they were all perched on their dugout fence, cheering on their team, showing spirit. Talking smack. Keeping hope alive.

When the Yanks were up, most of the players were in the clubhouse. Jeter seemed to be the only one cheering his team. Occasionally Giambi would lumber up to the Gatorade dispenser, take a sip from a cup, throw it on the floor, and then sit back down and stare into space. That’s was the extent of the Yankee spirit.

Why these players even need motivation is beyond me. But you’re the manager, Joe. It’s your job to recognize and deal with the mojo. It’s your job to kick some butt when you need to. But, actually, you didn’t look up to the job. You looked to be asleep most of the time. Your gaze was fixed on the ground, as you slowly twirled Jeter's bat.

I noticed during your post game interview—right after the colossal choke that has your signature on it—that you were wearing your Hawaii hat. How fitting.

Perhaps you were in your own Private Hawaii during the ALCS, thinking about your post-season vacation.

It sure didn’t seem like you were engaged in the games.

And it sure seemed to me that the loss in the ALCS meant more to me than it did to you.

That's shameful, Joe.

You might even call it clueless.


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To read some of my other recent articles that appeared on NYYFANS.COM, follow the links below:
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Other Links You Should Visit
Every Friggin’ Day:

The Baseball Cube
http://www.sports-wired.com/

The Hardball Times
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main

Baseball Reference
http://www.baseball-reference.com/

Baseball Think Factory
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/

Take Him Down Town
http://www.takehimdowntown.com/