Piniella-for-Torre swap in NY?
Lou Piniella will be in the Bay Area the next few days preparing for his analyst role on Fox's telecast of the American League Championship Series between Oakland and Detroit. The team up the road from McAfee Coliseum (the San Francisco Giants) already has been talking with him about what it would take to make him their new manager. So has the team deep in the heart of Texas (the Rangers). Talks have occurred with the team that has suffered the longest without a World Series championship (the Chicago Cubs). And the team in the nation's capital (the Washington Nationals) has contacted Piniella as well, according to Piniella's agent, Alan Nero.
One team that, as of yesterday, had not contacted Piniella is the New York Yankees.
If you're wondering whether Joe Torre will be back as Yankees manager, it makes sense to keep an eye on Piniella. According to sources within the Yankees organization, Piniella would be George Steinbrenner's first choice to replace Torre. Steinbrenner isn't happy that his $200 million team couldn't get past the division series for the second straight year after it was eliminated by the Tigers Saturday in Detroit.
The New York Daily News, citing unnamed sources, yesterday reported Torre would be fired, with Piniella the likely replacement, unless team officialscan talk Steinbrenner out of it or Torre resigns first.
``We're in different stages of discussions with each team," said Nero. ``Lou is a candidate in each spot, but neither I or Lou has heard from the Yankees. Right now Lou is concentrating on getting ready for the ALCS and I will deal with his business situation. The one thing we will not do is engage in any of the speculation surrounding Joe Torre. Lou has too much respect for Joe."
Steinbrenner said he was ``deeply disappointed" at his team's performance, calling it a ``sad failure," according to a statement issued by spokesman Howard Rubenstein.
``I am deeply disappointed at our being eliminated so early in the playoffs," Steinbrenner said in the statement. ``This result is absolutely not acceptable to me nor to our great and loyal Yankee fans. I want to congratulate the Detroit Tigers organization and wish them well. Rest assured, we will go back to work immediately and try to right this sad failure and provide a championship for the Yankees, as is our goal every year."
Rubenstein told the Associated Press he spoke to Steinbrenner yesterday and that ``clearly he was upset." Rubenstein said Steinbrenner was not going to comment on the Daily News report.
Torre is the highest-paid manager in baseball, making an average of $6 million per season, and has one year remaining on his contract. Dusty Baker, recently fired by the Cubs, was next in the pecking order at $4.5 million, and Piniella was paid $4.4 million before taking a buyout from the Devil Rays last season.
Nero said he is in talks with the four teams mentioned and that neither he nor Piniella plans to wait out the situation in New York.
``The players love playing for Joe," said center fielder Johnny Damon. ``I can't envision Joe not being here. This is totally on the players. We didn't play well. We didn't hit the ball. We were completely outplayed on the field and that has nothing to do with Joe."
Still, the Yankees seemed listless and not interested. Many players commented that they did not match the Tigers' intensity. Part of that could be attributed to Detroit's superior pitching, but the consensus was Tigers skipper Jim Leyland, who was called a master motivator by Gary Sheffield, who played for Leyland in 1997 on the world champion Florida Marlins, outmanaged Torre.
Of course, Torre helped bring four world championships to New York, which has bought him a lot of goodwill. But the Yankees haven't won it all since 2000, and Steinbrenner surely has grown tired of falling short. Given his track record, it's reasonable to expect big changes are in the offing.
Torre has had to contend with the moods of Alex Rodriguez, who has needed a lot of attention during a trying year. Rodriguez, who went 1 for 14 against Detroit and is 5 for 46 in the postseason going back to Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS against the Red Sox, said after Saturday's 8-3 loss that he didn't anticipate anything happening to Torre and that he wanted to remain a Yankee despite going through the toughest year of his career.
Rodriguez has a full no-trade clause and would have to OK any deal.
There have been reports that the White Sox and Angels could be interested.
