Why Joe Torre Must Go
According to
Tim Marchman in the New York Sun, it's because the Yankees were "humiliated" over the weekend.
According to Marchman,
Torre has never been much of a strategist or tactician — his main strength has always been his ability to manage the egos of players and put them in position to succeed. He not only hasn't done that with Rodriguez, he's brutally humiliated him, first by participating in the shameful and repulsive team hit job on the embattled third baseman that ran in Sports Illustrated last month, and then by batting him eighth in a playoff elimination game.No matter how badly Rodriguez was hitting, he wasn't hitting any worse than anyone else on the team. Singling him out that way made him the story, rather than the collective failure. It was a crass move, and it didn't work.
Meanwhile, Marchman, like Mike Lupica in the Daily News, believes both that Torre should be fired and A-Rod should be traded.
I'm not sensing a huge groundswell of support for Torre...which may have been the reason for Steinbrenner to float the trial balloon about firing Torre that he did in the first place. To gauge what the fan reaction would be if he dumps Torre...
After all, 28 years ago, in 1978, when Steinbrenner fired Billy Martin, the New York fans were so upset that he promptly rehired Martin for the 1980 season.....
