Torre's Trouble

By Val Thompson

ESPN baseball writer Tim Kurkjian reported earlier today that Joe Torre could be fired if the Yankees don't make the playoffs. This seems ridiculous at first. After all, Torre has built the franchise, and has kept it going for almost a decade.

In Torre's nine complete seasons as head coach, he has compiled a record of 887-567. He's never had a losing season. He's won eight division titles, including seven straight. He's taken his team to the World Series six times, winning four rings. He's never had a losing record with the Yankees. He's never missed the playoffs.

But all that winning is also Torre's crutch. I believe the Yankees are headed for the postseason again this year and that Torre's job will be firmly intact. But for a team that has made the playoffs every year since the strike, missing the postseason with so much talent is inexcusable. That's why Torre isn't out of the woods.

People talk about the Yankees' payroll all the time, as they should. They have almost twice as much money as any other team in the league. But it goes beyond money. Their lineup is just too loaded to not make the playoffs. They have Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui, and Jason Giambi. They have Randy Johnson and Mariano Rivera. I understand players can have off years, but the cornerstone of a manager's job is getting his team to perform at its talent level. The Yankees are a playoff-level team. Not living up to that potential is like any other coach failing expectations.

Some may say Torre is being held to unreasonable demands. After all, 24 other managers in the leauge won't make the playoffs this season, and almost all of them will still have their jobs next year. But in reality, the scales are not equal. Each team has different expectations set by its ownership. Some teams, like the Royals or Devil Rays, may just be shooting to play .500 baseball. Other teams may just want to sell more tickets than last year. Still others may just want to match last year's win total after losing a key player.

Torre is in danger because George Steinbrenner's expectations are to win the World Series every year. And it isn't the flowery "we'd like to compete in our division every season" kind-of goal that every team owner has. Steinbrenner literally wants to win it all, all the time. Anything less is a failed season. By that measure, Torre has had four failed seasons in a row. He hasn't won it all since 2000. In fact, the Yankees haven't even made it to the series in two of the past three years. That's a pretty hefty slump. Several managers have been fired for much less.

I completely expect the Yankees to perform well in the next ten days and slide into the playoffs, likely with an eighth straight division title. But if they crumble, crash, and miss the playoffs, Torre is as deserving to go as any other manager who's lost his job for failing to meet expectations.