High and Tight.: Mr. Class

Mr. Class

With the announcement of Torre to the Dodgers imminent, reports say that LA may have been in contact with the Torre camp prior to his infamous Tampa refusal:
According to several people, the Dodgers inquired about Torre's interest before he rejected a one-year deal for $5 million with a chance to earn $3 million in incentives and stay with the Yankees.

Was Joe "insulted" by the contract offer from New York because he knew the Dodgers offered more years? Did he just want to go out with the city and reporters all kissing his rings and throwing the team under the bus?

Torre knew the terms of the Yankee offer prior to requesting a trip to Tampa. Now it seems he also had the framework for a Dodger offer as well.

If you ask Torre about it, of course he'll deny it, as he did on last night's Late Show with David Letterman:
"I know it's been rumored, and you pick up the local paper and there's something in there about going to L.A.," Torre said. "There has been a time or two when there's something in the paper that hasn't been true."

Is that an outright lie or is it just a case of careful speech "sometimes things aren't true" hints at this also being one of them, but doesn't come right out and state it.

Also, this Freudian slip was the giveaway:
Letterman: "If you want to manage again in 2008, where are the three places you might go?"

Torre: "I don't know. What's available? The Dodgers have a contract, a manager. And the angels have a very good manager."

The Dodgers have a contract? Of course they do, Joe, but feel free to continue lying to everyone, making the Yankees out to be the bad guys, and skipping town. Letterman, like everyone else seemingly in the media, keeps getting confused by the fact that Joe Torre was not fired because he kept mentioning how the team should have "wanted (Torre) back."

Does anyone recall when reporters asked Lou Pinella if he was interested in the Yankees job that Joe Torre was still under contract, and that to speak to that or to the Yankees would be a show of disrespect?

Too bad Joe doesn't seem to hold that same regard for Grady Little.

A tale of two stories:
Man is highest paid person in his job, is offered new contract that will keep him highest paid person at his job, opts not to sign contract, rumors persist that there was a standing backdoor offer with another club, has roses thrown at feet and is given key to city.
Man is highest paid person in his job, is offered a contract extension that will keep him highest paid person at his job, opts out of contract, rumors persist that there was a standing backdoor offer with another club, is thrown to wolves and called greedy and doesn't care about winning and is all about himself.

I'm not asking anyone to let up on A-Rod (not anymore, mind you) but is what Torre did really all that different?

Classy, Joe. Really classy.

Labels: dodgers, joe torre

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 10:51 AM 0 comments

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