An Excerpt from The Yankees Years

SI.com has just posted an excerpt from Joe Torre's The Yankees Years. It's from the section of the book about how Torre and the Yankees brass handled the meeting in Tampa following the 2007 playoff loss to Cleveland. He doesn't seem to happy with the way Cashman handled the situation.

It's worth the read, check it out.

I wanted to update this post with some quotes from the excerpt. I apologize for not posting it before. This happened just after the meeting concluded and it was known Torre would no longer be managing the Yankees:

So that was it. The 12-year Torre era had come to a nonnegotiable end. Torre's run ended with a meeting that took little more than 10 minutes. As Torre got up from his seat in Steinbrenner's office, Hal Steinbrenner said to him, "The door's always open. You can always work for the YES Network."

Torre was too stunned to speak, caught between bemusement and anger. Did the Boss's son really just dangle the consolation of working for the Yankees-run regional television network after the Yankees refused to negotiate with the second-­winningest manager in franchise history?

Is Torre being arrogant here or is he justified to feel a little insulted?

Prior to the meeting Torre and Brian Cashman had spoken about a two-year deal.

“Cash, I have an idea. What about a two-year contract? It ­doesn’t even really matter what the money is. Two years, and if I get fired in the first year, the second year is guaranteed. But if I get fired after the first year, I don’t get the full amount of the second year, just a buyout. The money doesn’t matter. I mean, as long as it’s not just something ridiculous. It’s not about the money. It’s the second year.”

This idea was never spoken about during the meeting in Tampa. This conversation between the two took place immediately after the meeting:

"Cash," Torre asked, "they had no interest in that buyout proposal, the one I gave you over the phone?"

Cashman looked at Torre oddly, as if this were something new. "Uh, I really ­didn't understand it," Cashman said. "Remind me, what was it again?"

"Two-year contract, whatever the number. If they fire me during the first year, they pay me both years. If they fire me after the first year, they pay me some reduced amount we can talk about."

"I'll see."

Cashman walked back into Steinbrenner's office.

Torre was incredulous.

"I'm thinking, Well, s---! He never told them!" Torre said.

About 30 seconds later, the book says, Cashman comes back out of the office and tells Torre that the team is not interested in doing that.

It's safe to say that this is about the time Torre got pissed at, and lost trust in Cashman.

... at the moment when Torre was searching for some way to save his job and turned to Cashman in his moment of need, Cashman did not so much as pass on to his bosses a proposal from Torre -- a simple one, too, one that was not at all difficult to understand. Twelve years together, and it ends like this.

Come to think of it, Torre thought, Cashman had said nothing during the entire meeting. Cashman was the general manager who had persuaded Steinbrenner after the 2005 season to put in writing that Cashman would have control over all baseball operations. The manager is a fairly important part of baseball operations. And when the future employment of the manager was being discussed, how was it that the empowered general manager had nothing at all to say?

"Cash was sitting right over my right shoulder," Torre said, "and never uttered a sound the whole meeting." Cashman, for his part, says simply, "It was Joe's meeting."

"I thought Cash was an ally, I really did," Torre says. "You know, we had some differences on coaches, and the usefulness of the coaches. I know he ­didn't think much of Guidry. And [former bench coach Don] Zimmer. You know, Zimmer ­didn't trust Cash, and I disagreed with Zimmer vehemently for the longest time. Then, you know, you start thinking about things ... I have a, I don't want to say it's a weakness, but I want to trust people. And I do trust people until I'm proved wrong. And it's not going to keep me from trusting somebody else tomorrow, because it's the only way I can do my job."

I know what you're thinking; spare us the sob story about how trusting you are Joe. And I agree.

But regarding Torre's feelings about Cashman and how he handled the situation, I can understand why he feels the way he does. I Maybe it shouldn't be in a book, but I'm not outraged about it like some. Plus, it makes for some entertaining reading.