Seriously...He has it all wrapped up.
All he has to do is be a better manager than Grady Little.
I'm not talking the X's and O's of managing. That has never been Torre's strong suit (Torre's managerial mistakes may have cost the Yankees the 2004 pennant and probably World Championship.)
Then again a chimp with a magic 8 ball is probably a better X's and O's manager than Grady.
Joe's great talent was getting different personalities together and focusing them on the task of winning.
He won divisions with such Hall of Fame douchebag personalities as Jim Leyritz, Paul O'Neill, Cecil Fielder, Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens, David Wells, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Chad Curtis and the grand daddy of them all... Gary Sheffield.
Everyone seemed to respect Mr. Torre... even grudgingly the Steinbrenners.
The Dodger clubhouse was so disjointed last year that I was expecting to hear they killed Piggy while he was holding the conch.
That's not happening with Torre. And no doubt it will be a more peaceful clubhouse and they'll do a little better than 82-80.
And in the National League a little better than 82-80 will probably mean homefield advantage in the Division Series.
Torre will be hailed as the man who turned the Dodgers around and he'll win Manager of the Year.
I've said it before, Grady Little seems like a good baseball guy and an ideal manager for a farm team or a perennial loser (did someone mention the Pirates?)
But if I owned a marquee big market club, I'd rather have John McGraw manage it.
And he's been dead since 1934
Torre must go!
ReplyDeleteOh wait - he has gone.