Torre not coming back
Joe Torre was offered a one year contract at 5 million dollars a year with incentives to earn more. He rejected it and will not manage the NY Yankees next year. It was a pay cut from his last 3 years and he would have went from being the highest paid manager in baseball to the highest paid manager in baseball.
The incentives included 1 mil if they made the playoffs, 1 mil if they made the ALCS and another mil if they made the World Series. The additional $3 million would have made him the highest paid manager in baseball. If they won the World Series, they would have guaranteed him a contract for the next year at $8 million, making him the highest paid manager in baseball. The next highest is Lou Pinella who makes $3.5 million. I totally understand Torre’s reluctance to sign for that kind of money.
This was a brilliant, although back-handed, move on the Yankees part. If they did not renew his contract, it would have been a PR nightmare since Torre is rated slightly below Mother Theresa on the love-scale and higher than Santa. This way, they make him an incredible offer but one that they knew he was going to refuse. Any professional – athlete, coach, manager – will not come back for less money and one with performance clauses. It just doesn’t work that way.
Rejecting this pretty much takes Torre out of the managing career for good. I would be surprised if another team makes him an offer of more than 7 or 8 million a year, but it’s not totally out of the question. He was incredibly successful and was a great ambassador to the sport. He owned the NY media, a tough market, and every player except for Kenny Lofton loved playing for him. Good guy all around and too bad it’s over. Class act who kept things calm in a baseball organization that has seen years of turmoil.
Donny Baseball, go at it. And stop with the nonsense about it being a no-win situation, just do what Joe did.