Even More on Torre's Book

UPDATE 11:45 a.m.: It seems that Torre/the book's main target in the book is Alex Rodriguez, and to be honest, I'm not surprised by that in the slightest. He's the target of most Yankees fans too.

Here's some more about Torre's take on A-Rod from Michael S. Schmidt:

But what stands out the most about the book are the frank, and often critical, statements that Torre makes about Alex Rodriguez,...

In the book, which was written with Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated and refers to Torre in the third person but quotes him extensively, Torre said that the clubhouse became strained after Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees before the 2004 season.

“Alex monopolized all the attention,” Torre said.

“We never really had anybody who craved the attention,” Torre added. “I think when Alex came over he certainly changed just the feel of the club.”

And Torre clearly had concerns about Rodriguez’s well-chronicled failures in key moments, particularly in recent postseasons. Torre said that when everything was on the line, and when Rodriguez was at the plate, Rodriguez was too often unable to “concern himself with getting the job done” and instead became distracted with “how it looks.

Rodriguez's good friend and former Yankees bullpen catcher Tom Borzello, also had some quotes about A-Rod:

“It doesn’t help,” Borzello said, referring to Rodriguez’s relationship with Jeter. “You would rather that the stars are in the same place, pulling together, but I don’t think it affected the other players. It just affected the feel in the clubhouse.”

Borzello added that he used to tell Rodriguez that he was coming to the stadium and trying to get everyone to look at him, but that they were already looking at him: “You’re Alex Rodriguez. I don’t understand that.”

So, it's not just Torre who saw some issues with A-Rod.

Peter Botte of the Daily News reports in Monday's paper that Joe Torre and Brian Cashman have already spoken about the book, and their relationship is fine.

One day after reports surfaced that Torre takes shots at the Yankee GM in his memoir "The Yankee Years," Cashman said the former Yankee skipper reached out to him by phone from Hawaii.

Cashman, who said he was "surprised" by the reports, added that he is "very comfortable" with his relationship with Torre.

"Joe Torre called me from Hawaii not too long ago actually. I just will say, I'm glad he gave me a call," Cashman said at the Baseball Writers Association's annual dinner in midtown last night, "and I think you should wait for the book."

"I will just say I'm very comfortable with the relationship I have with Joe Torre and that the Yankees have with Joe Torre," Cashman said. "He was a fantastic manager and you couldn't ask for any more than what he did for us. We had a lot of great times, more than you can count or remember, to be honest, and that's the sole focus that we all have, myself included, obviously. Despite what was in the paper today, I'm glad Joe gave me a call from Hawaii. It certainly made me feel better about what I was reading today."

Peter Abraham confirmed this.

Cashman said last night that he spoke to Torre about the book and that reports about the contents appear to be overblown. He said his relationship with Torre was fine.

If the guy he talks about in the book isn't upset, why are you?

Anyway, Joshua Robinson of the NY Times has some more info abou the book itself.

Here's what the book had to say about Carl Pavano:

According to the book, Pavano had once been at the top of Torre’s wish list. But Torre still suspected Pavano might be a problem after a chance meeting at a restaurant in West Palm Beach, Fla. At a wedding rehearsal dinner, the book says, Torre saw Pavano as awkward and ill at ease and began to worry that he might underperform in the New York crucible.

Torre’s fears materialized. Injury followed injury — including a car accident in 2006 — and Pavano seemed all too happy to take his time rehabilitating. Torre was especially irked, the book says, about Pavano’s apparent disregard for his responsibility to his teammates.

And, it seems that by spring training in 2006, Torre had caught wind of the clubhouse’s dislike for Pavano. Instead of protecting him, Torre had Pavano join the squad for their final spring training trip and effectively threw him to the wolves.

“They can see him, get on him, whatever they’re going to do to him,” Torre said in the book.

On George Steinbrenner's fading health:

Torre and Verducci make several allusions to George Steinbrenner’s waning health, citing only brief memories of conversations and phone calls. The book describes Steinbrenner’s “emotional jags,” like crying before certain games. As Torre’s time with the Yankees wore on, the once-forceful and boisterous Steinbrenner appeared increasingly passive and aloof — never more so than in the meeting that ended Torre’s tenure.

“He sat there, slightly slouched, and kept his dark glasses on in the indoor room,” the book says of Steinbrenner while the rest of the Yankees’ leadership negotiated with Torre. “At one point he got up to make himself a sandwich.”

It was clear to Torre that the old Boss had left the building.

The book also mentions that Torre had problems with Yankees president Randy Levine.

Torre was particularly disturbed, it seems, by Levine’s willingness to find a way to avoid honoring the contracts of players struggling with issues off the field. As the book puts it, “The Yankees’ reaction to a player in crisis often included exploring the possibility of getting out from under the responsibility of having to pay the player.”

The book names Chuck Knoblauch (throwing problems), Bubba Trammel (depression), Kevin Brown (breaking hand on wall), Johnny Damon (contemplating retirement), Carl Pavano (being awful) and Jason Giambi (roids) as examples of players the Yankees and Levine looked to cut ties with.

And here's what the book had to say about steroids:

Throughout the book, Torre maintains that he never knew anything was going on inside his clubhouse. But the book does describe the years when Brian McNamee, then an assistant strength coach for the team, was hanging around.

McNamee was not well liked in a clubhouse that was increasingly littered with performance-enhancing drugs, the book claims. And with a don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach to supplements, McNamee, and whatever he was supplying, became a running joke. According to the book, players would rib the teammates who showed obvious physical changes, saying things like, “He’s on Mac’s program,” or “He’s on ‘The Program.’ ”

But in the book, Torre diminishes the findings of the Mitchell report, which was heavily fed by interviews with McNamee and Kirk Radomski, a former employee in the Mets’ clubhouse and a convicted steroids dealer.

“You had two guys from New York doing all the talking in the Mitchell Report,” Torre told Verducci in the book. “That’s why you have more information on New York players. If people want to devalue the 2000 team, is that how we lost 15 out of 18 down the stretch? We dried ourselves out and then got a heavy dose for the postseason? One thing I’ve learned is that people are going to feel the way they’re going to feel, regardless of what happened.”

It should be remembered that Verducci used many different sources for this book, so when it says something like "According to the book, players would rib the teammates who showed obvious physical changes, saying things like, 'He’s on Mac’s program,'" that's not necessarily coming from Torre.