You know Kilo, it's not like they gave him something that wasn't attainable. That's what pissed me off.
You old timers, remember Walter Alston?
He won seven pennants for the Dodgers, and was the manager when they won their only Championship in 1955. You know what...he signed 23 one year deals. 23!
Torre was given the option to remain as the highest paid manager in baseball. He was given the opportunity to make MORE money than he had by getting to the World Series. It's not like he was offered 1 million with 6 million in incentives. His base was higher than anyone in baseball with incentives included.
You know, Arod/Boras wanted to negotiate in spring training for a new deal. Cashman said no, and now will probably lose Arod and he will eclipse his previous deal. Remember, Arod was coming off a down year for him and an absolutely horrible post-season. His season this year will probably net him an extra $100 million. Extra. I'm serious.
If Torre had won it all this year, he would have been talking about a 10 million deal rather than a 5 million one. It's the nature of baseball. You get paid more as what you've done, than what you can do in the future, especially as a manager.
Do I think Torre deserved a paycut? Absolutely. His team underachieved over the last three years. Over the last 6 years. He knew the deal going in. He was almost canned after last year. This coming as a surprise to him would be a surprise to me.
The way I look at it...they offered him a better deal than he would get anywhere else with any team. Period. He would have made more money in base salary alone than Francona would have made in two years of winning the World Series. To him, it wasn't good enough to be the highest paid. He wanted an extra year guaranteed. Truthfully, his performance as a manager over the past few seasons did not give me confidence that he warranted a guaranteed second year. He also didn't want to take a pay cut.
Torre is a good manager, and an unbelievably good person. He is active in causes, and brought a stability and desire to play in New York that was missing before his tenure. He will be missed. He is a poor strategist, but excellent in all other facets in managing. I will miss Joe Torre. I really will. However, I believe the Yankees made a fair offer. They went from firing him to giving him a chance to not only manage, but make more money than ever before by winning, which is the mission goal for this team. Truth is, and I am a little biased, but the Yankees are the favorites to win the division next year [if Arod comes back]. It's not like this is the Devil Rays who are putting in these incentives..it's the Yankees.
I think Joe made a mistake in not taking the offer. If he did not like the offer, he could have graciously said he was getting older, he wanted to spend time with his daughter [i think she's 6 or so], that he had had a good run, but it was time for him to move on. That would have been the classy Torre I knew. He turned this into a spectacle on the way out, and that was sad to me.
You guys don't believe the offer was fair? We do. He was to be paid more than any other, and with bonuses that would reach an extra 60% in income if certain attainable goals are met, not to mention a one year extension that would increase his salary 60% by attaining these goals. If you call that an insult, I pray to God my bosses insult me every year.