Yesterday we got reports that Joe Torre was resigning making way for Don Mattingly to take over as skipper of Dodgers. The overwhelming majority of sentiment of baseball people was that they weren’t surprised. Everyone praised his great managing career and wished him luck in the future. Everyone knew his time was up, with an under performing team and ownership in turmoil, the best time to go was now. Dodgers to their credit, got Don to come on board. He is new blood and comes from the Joe Torre/Yankee mold. So what is Torre doing after time with Dodgers? NYpost reports that Torre is only willing to join Mets job citing close ties to owners and NYC from time with Yankees. Torre had a stint coaching Mets early in his career so this could be a homecoming of sorts.
I don’t think its a good fit though. Willie Randolph who was groomed to be next great Yankees Manager by Torre was swooped by Mets and we saw what happened with him. Randolph’s successor, Jerry Manuel, has been an unmitigated disaster. He’s been accused of not caring multiple times and is expected to be let go at season’s end(to be fair Mets had a litany of injuries but its still NYC, win or gome home). He and Torre have similar coaching style. Laid back, quiet manager, almost a laissez-faire approach to managing. Mets need someone to shake some life into franchise. Joe Torre might bring more respect to Mets and combined with healthy players might equal more wins but no WS. This being NY and with Torre at helm, Mets fans might be expecting a World Series title(i.e.similar Rex Ryan to Jets, fact, lots of Mets fans are Jets fan). If Joe Torre takes job, more power to him, he’ll surely be one of the highest paid managers. If he retires, you know what that means…
Joe Torre is currently* 5th winningest manager ever! His career managing record is (2,318-1989), a .538 winning percentage. Also added to resume is that he is 2-time manager of the year and led Yankees to 4 WS titles as manager. He also had a productive career as player. So we are losing a lots of baseball if Torre reitres. Don’t forget we also have other manager losses. The 4th winningest manager ever Bobby Cox is about to retire as well, he has a managing record of (2,496-1,994) w/a .556 winning percentage.
He also won 4 manger of the year awards and won one out of five WS apperances as a manager. Now, do you remember as long as you watched baseball, that Braves didn’t make playoffs or competed for best record? I can’t and this has all been under Bobby Cox. Yankees and Braves were always seemingly in the playoffs. If anyone deserves a coaching monument he does in ATL. With a little notice that he has record for being been ejected from the most games ever. Rumor has it that Fredi Gonzalez is going to replace him, we will see. Last but not least, we also have our surly friend “Sweet” Lou Piniella’s retirement this year.
He is currently 14th winnigest manager ever with a record of 1835-1713 with a .517 winning percentage. He was a 3-time manager of the year and won a WS in 1990 during his time w/Reds. He was also manager of one of the most feared teams ever. The Mariners in the 90s. Griffrey, A-Rod, Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, etc etc. They never got over the top and ran into buzzsaw of Yankees and Indians time after time. He will always be remembered though for his countless rants and umpire confrontations. There will never be another manager like him, well, maybe Ozzie Guillen. The rumor is that Joe Girardi or Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg might be coaching Cubbies next year. It honestly doesn’t matter who is coaching Cubs, they need an exorcist, Cubs are cursed, ask any Cubs fans.
So lets do the math a grand total of a combined wins/loses 6649-5696 for .538 winning percentage. That is 12345 combined games managed, crazy number, haha, 12345. Do the math yourself. Additionally, they have 9 combined managers of the year awards and 6 WS championships as managers. We are not even counting their individual exploits as players. Just to blow your mind, MLB season’s last 162 games. 12345 total games/162 game= 76.20 seasons of coaching/MLB experience.This is not even counting how many total hours managing entails. Extra inning games, long 4 hour games in dead of summer, and post season appearances, etc.
Howard Bryant wrote great piece on how this year is truly the end of an era in baseball. Suggest you read. He hints that Tony Larussa might also be next great to go. Mind you, he wrote this before Cards monumental collapse this year, so it looks like his time might be done with Cards at years end. He is no slouch though, he is ranked 3rd in managerial wins and has a couple of WS titles. He is very youthful and being just 138 wins behind Jon McGraw to be second winningest manager ever, I doubt he will retire so close to such a record. He’ll find a job somewhere. If I had to bet, he’ll be Mets manager, rumor has it he might be leaning towards Cubs job but I doubt he wants to burn bridges with Cardinals faithful. In any case, I think wherever Larussa ends up it will be his last stop on the MLB Managing Carousel. His next stop of course will be joining Torre, Cox, and Piniella in Cooperstown as a member of the MLB’s HOF as manager. Only 2 retired coaches in the top 20 in wins aren’t in MLB HOF as managers. These guys being ranked 3,4,5, and 14 respectfully and having championships; lead me to believe they will be in someday.
And just to twist your mind, Peter Gammons, baseball sage, has a GM’s predictions about how the manager carosel will turn out at season’s end.:
“I’ve heard so many crazy rumors that another general manager told me he’d heard Joe Torre could end up with the Cardinals, Tony La Russa with the White Sox, Ozzie Guillen with the Marlins, Dusty Baker with the Dodgers and Bobby Valentine with the Mets or Mariners.”
Crazy, right? Well, we are a few weeks from end of regular season and postseason. We will see what directions teams will go. It its the end for these guys, nice job, enjoy retirement.
Now, whose ready for playoff baseball??? I am!!!
Thanks for taking the time to read article, hope you learned something fruitful and that your sports knowledge has been enhanced. Let me know what you think. Please, fact check me and let me know what this article is missing. Just don’t mention Cito Gaston’s retirement this year. He did win two chips as manager but have you seen his career coaching record? Yea, he’s not important…
Now remember; any baseball/football/NY Sports News & Stats(not NHL) I’m your man. If you aren’t following me on twitter, you don’t know what your missing.
References used: Wikipedia and baseball-reference.com
*=Stats as of 9/18/10 morning….
Quote of the Day: “It’s something you hope doesn’t happen. When you sign on to do a job, you hope you’ll be able to get it done. But that’s not always in your control.” -Joe Torre