Yankees' woes make it clear Torre wasn't the problem

NEW YORK - Last October, the Yankees made Joe Torre an offer he couldn't accept, the chance to be a lame duck in the shooting gallery known as Yankee Stadium. They came with 6 million bucks in one hand and brass knuckles in the other. Torre walked away because he knew that, even at that kind of money, he wasn't going to be a manager, just a punching bag. Can you imagine how hard and fast the fists would be flying in the Bronx today if Torre had accepted the deal, only to find himself 9 ½ games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, of all teams, and five games out of the wild-card race with fewer than 40 games to go? For a guy dubbed Clueless Joe before his first day on the job, it was an incredibly shrewd and prescient move by Torre. And for an organization that prides itself on its baseball judgment, it was an incredibly weak and... [read full story]