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NEW YORK -- Joe Torre is out as manager of the New York Yankees, rejecting a substantial pay cut after the team failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.
Tough Act to Follow
Whoever succeeds Joe Torre, when the likely Hall of Fame manager leaves the Yankees, will have some big shoes to fill. Among his accomplishments in New York: • 1,173-767 record
• Four World Series titles
• 10 AL East titles (9 straight from 1998-2006)
• Two-time AL Manager of the Year (1996 and 1998)
• Reached postseason all 12 seasons
All-time managerial wins leadersManagerWinsConnie Mack3,776John McGraw2,840Tony La Russa2,375Bobby Cox2,255Sparky Anderson2,194Bucky Harris2,159Joe McCarthy2,126Joe Torre2,067
Torre turned down a $5 million, one-year contract Thursday that still would have made him the highest paid manager in baseball.
Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre, who led the Yanks to 12 straight playoff appearances and won four World Series championships. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL manager of the year with Florida in 2006, is another top contender.
"It's a difficult day," general manager Brian Cashman said.
But it was one Yankees fans could see coming.
After losing the first two playoff games to Cleveland, owner George Steinbrenner said he didn't think Torre would be back if the Yankees didn't advance. They lost in four games.
Torre, who took over the team to start the 1996 season, made his decision after traveling fom New York to the team's spring training complex in Tampa, Fla. He was accompanied by Cashman and chief operating officer Lonn Trost.
"It is now time for the New York Yankees to move forward," team president Randy Levine said.
Torre made $7.5 million this year, the final season of a $19.2 million, three-year contract. The Yankees offered Torre a one-year deal with a base salary of $5 million and incentives that would have increased his salary to $8 million based on postseason performance. Under that offer, if Torre reached the World Series in 2008, an option for 2009 would have vested.
"We felt we needed to go to a performance-based mode," Levine said. "We thought it was very fair. It clearly was at the top of the market, but we respect Joe's decision."
Torre led the Yankees to the postseason every year he managed them, winning the AL East 10 times. But the Yankees have gone without a Series championship in the last seven and haven't even reached it since 2003, a stretch of futility that finally prompted Steinbrenner to make a change.
NEW YORK -- Joe Torre is out as manager of the New York Yankees, rejecting a substantial pay cut after the team failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.
Tough Act to Follow
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Whoever succeeds Joe Torre, when the likely Hall of Fame manager leaves the Yankees, will have some big shoes to fill. Among his accomplishments in New York: • 1,173-767 record
• Four World Series titles
• 10 AL East titles (9 straight from 1998-2006)
• Two-time AL Manager of the Year (1996 and 1998)
• Reached postseason all 12 seasons
All-time managerial wins leadersManagerWinsConnie Mack3,776John McGraw2,840Tony La Russa2,375Bobby Cox2,255Sparky Anderson2,194Bucky Harris2,159Joe McCarthy2,126Joe Torre2,067
Torre turned down a $5 million, one-year contract Thursday that still would have made him the highest paid manager in baseball.
Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre, who led the Yanks to 12 straight playoff appearances and won four World Series championships. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL manager of the year with Florida in 2006, is another top contender.
"It's a difficult day," general manager Brian Cashman said.
But it was one Yankees fans could see coming.
After losing the first two playoff games to Cleveland, owner George Steinbrenner said he didn't think Torre would be back if the Yankees didn't advance. They lost in four games.
Torre, who took over the team to start the 1996 season, made his decision after traveling fom New York to the team's spring training complex in Tampa, Fla. He was accompanied by Cashman and chief operating officer Lonn Trost.
"It is now time for the New York Yankees to move forward," team president Randy Levine said.
Torre made $7.5 million this year, the final season of a $19.2 million, three-year contract. The Yankees offered Torre a one-year deal with a base salary of $5 million and incentives that would have increased his salary to $8 million based on postseason performance. Under that offer, if Torre reached the World Series in 2008, an option for 2009 would have vested.
"We felt we needed to go to a performance-based mode," Levine said. "We thought it was very fair. It clearly was at the top of the market, but we respect Joe's decision."
Torre led the Yankees to the postseason every year he managed them, winning the AL East 10 times. But the Yankees have gone without a Series championship in the last seven and haven't even reached it since 2003, a stretch of futility that finally prompted Steinbrenner to make a change.
