The Torre years

Money changes everything. There is no doubt that Torre agreed to have his name on the cover of Verducci's book because his years with the Yankees are still fresh (and, yes, the anger with the Yankees ownership, too) and because Torre's still the best known manager in baseball, making the payout for both "authors" as high as it could get.

I know this is no big deal if you don't live in the Yankee Universe, and I'm sure that we're reading all the good bits now and that the book itself won't be as vicious as some of the excerpts, particularly those about Alex "Can't Pitch" Rodriguez and Cashman, are. And yes, Verducci is now telling anyone who will listen that he wrote the book, not Torre. But sheesh, I wonder if Torre will wake up a year from now and wonder if it was worth it?

'Cause Buster Olney is right, this is Torre's book, whether he admits it or not.

But he has gone beyond his own code of conduct with his book. In spring 2003, David Wells and a ghostwriter published a book, "Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches and Baseball," and Torre was furious, angry that Wells had aired some of the Yankees' dirty laundry in the pages. Wells tried to distance himself from some of the words in the book, saying they belonged to the writer, but the Yankees' manager would not accept that. After a meeting with the pitcher, Torre said this to reporters:

"We talked to him about a lot of things today. I just sensed he was bothered by it. Not by what we said, but by how it came out. How much of it is actually what he said and how much isn't exactly what he said, I don't know.

"But there's no question: It has his name on it, and he has to be accountable for it."

Torre, Cashman and George Steinbrenner held Wells accountable -- in the end, he was fined $100,000 by the organization.

Now it is Torre's responsibility to be fully accountable for the words in the book that has his name on it, and he must stand behind those words.

If he hides behind Verducci and the suggestion that the ugly anecdotes aren't his, the explanation will have echoes of "I didn't knowingly take steroids." If he embraces the words as his own, he also should acknowledge he has been, at the very least, extraordinarily hypocritical.

Something happened to Torre during his run with the Yankees. An indistinguished manager before he joined the team, he literally fell into a magical situation of solid veterans, talented youngsters, a storied franchise, and, oh yes, the best closer in the game's history. A master at handling the media and keeping the players blissfully free of the anxieties brought on by the frenzy of the NY sports media and the impetuous owner, he came to be beloved by most of his players and all of the fans.

But something happened. I think he came to believe the hype and resent the notion that he wasn't a great manager, just a lucky one. He deserved to win a manager of the year award, certainly in 2000 and, I think, 2001, when the great team of the 90s was rapidly aging, but which he guided to a World Serious win in 2000 and the bottom of the ninth and a dying quail in 2001. And he was dissed for not getting one. I think he got a little bitter, and that bitterness hurt his ability to manage. Some of it is actually illustrated by the released excerpts in the book, specifically, his sentimentality over Bernie Williams, his bad judgment in using Jeff Weaver over Mo Rivera late in a World Series game the Yankees should have won, both of which are spun in the book as placing a bad light on Brian Cashman. And he, like a lot of deranged Yankee (and Mets and Red Sox fans too), came to see Alex Rodriguez as the reason the team couldn't win, as evidenced by Torre's airing of the Yankees' dirty laundry by exposing A-Rod's emotional vulnerability in another piece by Verducci during the 2006 season.

Torre's star was diminishing before he was basically fired by the Yankees, but his reputation was restored afterwards. Now, not so much.

The Yankees were rightly excoriated when they failed to mention Torre's name during the closing ceremonies at the old Stadium. Now his name won't be mentioned at the new one, either. Which is a shame.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming of half-informed snark.