RYE BROOK, N.Y. -- Joe Torre heard enough. He felt insulted.
He felt unappreciated.
He won't even set foot in Yankee Stadium anytime soon, not even
to clean out his office.
"I walked out of there, I'm not going back," he said. "I just
leave the memories."
A day after he turned down a one-year contract, convinced the
team no longer was committed to him after 12 seasons and four World
Series titles, he went out his way -- grateful, yet defiant;
respectful but hurt.
He didn't say goodbye in Yankee Stadium. Instead, he spoke for
67 minutes -- one minute for each year of his life -- in a hotel
ballroom near his home in suburban New York, close to the
Connecticut border.
There was no Yankees logo, just a simple desk -- appropriately
draped in black -- and a velvet background in the team's navy blue.
He was coming off a $19.2 million, three-year contract that
earned him $7.5 million this season, double what any other manager
made. When he heard the offer -- $5 million for next year and the
chance to earn $3 million more in bonuses -- he knew the team's
management wanted him to walk.
"An insult," he said, his voice choking up at times.
General manager Brian Cashman informed him of the proposal on
Wednesday night, and Torre traveled from his home to the team's
Legends Field spring training complex in Tampa, Fla., the following
morning to meet with 77-year-old owner George Steinbrenner, his two
sons, team president Randy Levine, Cashman and others.
"Are you going down to make a deal or say goodbye?" Cashman
said on the flight.
"I really don't know," Torre replied.
Turned out, the meeting lasted just 20 minutes.
Torre made a counteroffer.
"It was just mentioned and dismissed real quickly," Torre
said. "And at that point in time I realized that it was either the
offer or nothing. So at that point is when I said goodbye."
So long to the pinstripes. Farewell to the most exciting years
of his baseball life.
Torre has spent his managerial career looking in players' eyes
and reading their minds. It wasn't hard for him to figure out the
Yankees' offer was one they hoped he would refuse.
New York doles out multimillion-dollar deals to busts such as
Carl Pavano, Kei Igawa and Kyle Farnsworth. The Yankees routinely
tell players they have a policy against including bonuses in
contracts.
"The fact that somebody is reducing your salary is just telling
me they're not satisfied with what you're doing," Torre said.
"Two years certainly, I think, would have opened the door to have
further discussion but it never happened.
"There really was no negotiation involved. I was hoping there
would be. But there wasn't," he added.
Following the team's third straight first-round elimination from
the playoffs on Oct. 8, Torre waited to hear from the Yankees. With
each passing day, he knew the likelihood of him staying on dwindled
that much more.
"If somebody wants you to do a job, if it takes them two weeks
to figure out, yeah, I guess we should do or we want do this, then
you're a little suspicious," he said. "If somebody wanted me to
manage here, I'd be managing here."
His family stood and watched from the side of the ballroom. His
voice trembled at times. When he saw several hundred media
assembled, he was taken aback.
"You got to be kidding," he said when he walked into the room.
Since the end of the season, his house had been staked out, O.J.
style. Reporters were on the edge of his lawn, cameras everywhere.
"The worst part about the helicopters is they showed I had a
bald spot," he said.
Torre made the playoffs in each of his 12 seasons with the
Yankees, won 10 AL East titles, yet that wasn't good enough. He had
spoiled Yankees' fans, spoiled Steinbrenner & Sons, by winning the
World Series four times in his first five years. He hadn't won it
since 2000 and hadn't even been there since 2003.
No other major league team has made the playoffs even two years
in a row right now. As Torre spoke, Boston manager Terry Francona
wanted to stay in his office at Fenway Park and watch.
"It's unbelievable that -- it's almost like `The Bronx is
Burning," Francona said. "You're watching something unfold
that's just unbelievable."
Torre couldn't fathom why the Yankees would offer a one-year
deal tied to performance.
"I've been there 12 years and I didn't think motivation was
needed," he said. "I felt pretty well renewed every year going
after something and we knew exactly what was expected here. So, I
just didn't think it was the right thing for me. I didn't think it
was the right thing for my players."
As the owner has aged, he's allowed his sons to be part of the
decision-making. Others, such as Levine and chief operating officer
Lonn Trost, also have input.
In the end, Torre had few allies.
"I think Brian Cashman wanted me back," he said.
Anyone else?
"I can't be sure," he said.
He went to Florida to look at them face-to-face and didn't like
what he saw.
"There was no response other than, you know, they had a
business to run and this is the way they felt it was best to do
it," he said.
Now, he'll think about going to horse races next summer, perhaps
taking a trip to Wimbledon. If teams come to him with managing
offers, he'll listen.
Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace
Torre. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL Manager of the Year
with Florida in 2006, is another top candidate. Hank Steinbrenner
said five or six people will be interviewed, with a decision likely
announced after the World Series.
"I'm not sure if I'm in a position to recommend anybody. I just
lost my job," Torre joked. "They've both been exposed to what
goes on there. And if either one of those are offered the job and
they say yes, they're certainly going in with their eyes wide
open."
Tony La Russa and Bobby Valentine also could be considered. The
expectations will be the same: Win the World Series or else.
"I'd like to believe that with a new manager, a new legacy
starts," Torre said. "To expect a new manager to come in and
right away get lucky like I did in '96 is a little unfair."
His fondest memories are of the World Series titles.
"Watching Charlie Hayes catch that popup, the magical year of
'98 and to follow it up in '99 and beating the Mets in 2000, which
I thought we needed to do that because even though the Mets could
have been a better team than us, the Yankees could never lose to
the Mets," said Torre, who began his managing career in Queens.
"You have to be on both sides to understand how important that is.
And I've been on both sides."
He was asked how he felt about his decision when he got up
Friday. Torre, as always, had the final laugh.
"Which time when I woke up? You've got to realize you're 67
years old, you wake up a few times," he said.
Then he turned serious.
"I was very much at peace with my decision," he said.
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AP Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick, AP Sports Writer Jimmy
Golen in Boston and AP freelance writer Mark Didtler in Tampa,
Fla., contributed to this report.