End of the Yankees Dynasty. . . At Least For Today

NY Yankees' manager Joe Torre will not be returning for another year as manager for the team. When they tried to offer him less money than he was currently making, he said "Next!" and turned down their offer. Well, sort of less money. More like more hoops to jump through to get the same money he earned this year plus $500,000 more, tied to playoff success which he and his players had not been able to deliver in the past few seasons.

No word on where he's going, but it looks like he's attracting interest from several teams. And they're also indicating that the other players may not return if their contracts so allow. That means A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) could be testing the free agent waters, and might even be coming to a city near you.

Be afraid.


Either way, I'm sure the Yankees have enough money to buy themselves a better team in no time. I'm also sure that that day can't come soon enough for the TV execs faced with a Colorado Rockies-Cleveland Indians World Series. Since they may well be giving away advertising slots, maybe they'll let me run my own commercial -- advertising what, I haven't gotten that far yet. But it can't hurt to ask.

Bye Yankees. Bye Joe.

You may have noticed that I have not discussed the MLB playoffs on the blog. Well, since my favorite team isn't playing, I didn't have anything to say. But now the NY Yankees have changed all that.

I am elated to report that the NY Yankees did not make it out of the first round of the playoffs - again - bowing out to the Cleveland Indians in 4 games after a 6-4 loss tonight.

Teams in every sport try to buy championships, i.e., the NY Knicks (must be something about being near Wall Street), the L.A. Lakers, etc.). Sometimes it works, but when it doesn't, and you not only lose games but you're wasting money, too, your job is guaranteed to be on the line.

Enter Joe Torre. After the Yankees won on Sunday, but still down 1-2 in the series against the Indians, their owner, George Steinbrenner, had this to say about Torre:

"His job is on the line," Steinbrenner told the Bergen (N.J.) Record in Sunday's editions. "I think we're paying him a lot of money. He's the highest-paid manager in baseball, so I don't think we'd take him back if we don't win this series."

Apparently George likes to talk, and has threatened similar actions in the past, but sometimes enough is enough. Like Janet Jackson said, what have you done for them lately? My guess is that he's gone this time, because three straight years of losing in the first round of the playoffs is a charm. Don't let the door hurt you on the way out, Joe.