Don't Jump to Conclusions on Torre Book Yet

Well well.  Joe Torre has a new book coming out, "The Yankee Years," co-authored by SI's Tom Verducci.  The title itself brings a little bit of mystery: will there be a prequel, "The Mets Years?"  How about "Three Years in Atlanta?" Those books probably wouldn't carry the pinnache that this one will.  And, like any good book with a tabloid bent, the PR machine was in full swing on Sunday.  Talk radio in New York was covered with people ripping Torre, praising Torre, laughing at Alex Rodriguez, and questioning Brian Cashman. All over a book barely anyone has read. The book's publisher, Doubleday, should give a raise to everyone in their PR department because the fallout from Sunday's "reports" were exactly what they were looking for. Consider the job these people did:

• The "leaked" reports came out on the Sunday before the Super Bowl, right before the entire sports media moves to Tampa and ignores all things baseball.  It also happens to be the first Sunday in six months to have no football and, since no one cares about the NHL All Star Game, the story took over the airwaves.

• The book releases February 3rd, two days after the Super Bowl and the beginning of the worst sports month of the year.

• Before noon on Sunday, SI.com already had an interview with the book's co-author, Tom Verducci, deflecting some of the blame away from Joe Torre and insisting that his co-author wasn't the only source for the book.

• Torre called Brian Cashman Sunday night, and ESPN reported Cashman as saying, "Joe was a great manager for us.  I'm glad he called me. I'm very comfortable with my relationship with him."

That's a lot for one day, eh?  Especially one of the deadest news days of the year.  If you don't think the above list wasn't carefully orchestrated, you have a bit more faith in humanity than I do. You can probably guess that the worst bits have already been put out in the media in an attempt to make you believe the entire book is filled with juicy nuggets.  I'm going to guess that the biggest newsmakers from the book have already been floated out there. And, Verducci has already started deflecting the blame from Torre, stating in his

press release

interview:

I think it's important to understand context here. The book is not a first-person book by Joe Torre, it's a third-person narrative based on 12 years of knowing the Yankees and it's about the changes in the game in that period. Seems to me the New York Post assigned this third-person book entirely to Joe Torre and that's not the case. In fact, if people saw that Post story they probably noticed there are no quotes from Joe Torre in it. Joe Torre does not rip anybody in the book. The book really needs to be read in context.

Sure, we can read the book within that context.  We should also understand that Torre is billed as the co-author, and as a co-author, one has to assume that Torre at the very least needs to approve, if not corroborate, the contents of the book.  So, while each and every revelation will not be told with the pronoun "I" in front of it, we certainly won't be hearing the voice of Joe Torre telling us that some of this isn't true. Isn't that basically the same as writing this book in the first person?  Torre's name is on the cover.  He's sanctioning the details within.  How can Verducci or anyone else try and take some of the responsibility off of Torre's shoulders? The big question everyone is asking is, what is Torre's motivation for writing such a book.  Indeed, publishing such an insider account, warts and all, leaves Torre open to "Ball Four"-type banishment.  If he had any concerns about his Yankee legacy, they certainly were not a part of the decision making regarding this book. I'm guessing he probably doesn't care what Hank and Hal think.  Apparently, at least in an effort of damage control on Cashman's part, there are no hard feelings between the former manager and GM.  What would Torre's legacy provide him over the next ten years of his life?  Maybe a retired number?  A couple of post-retirement trips to the new Stadium?  Joe Torre Day, complete with a brand new car? The man is 68 years old and still working.  I don't know what my attitude will be at 68 years of age but I know that I have a pretty low tolerance for what I consider BS right now.  I would imagine that by 68, after having worked in the Yankees organization for

twelve years

and having accomplished what Torre did, I might not care either. Maybe Torre has lowered his stature a notch by participating in a book like this.  His persona with the Yankees always made Torre appear above the nonsense that came down from the owners box.  Let Steinbrenner participate in the media game.  I'm going to manage my ballclub.  This book would seem to be drifting away from that approach. It's his persona, though.  Who am I to tell Torre who he should and shouldn't be?  I'm not surprised that the Yankee clubhouse thinks ARod is a fraud.  I'm not surprised that Brian Cashman, in the last year of his own contract, didn't stand up and defend what was basically a sinking ship.  Torre flat out said after he left the Yankees that he thought the incentive-laden contract was offensive.  Not a big revelation there. Now, we're supposed to think negatively about Torre because he may have actually confirmed what we knew all along.  Not everyone appreciates the airing of dirty laundry, especially when it's someone else's clothes we're talking about, but we're not dealing with the private lives of our fellow yacht clubbers.  This is the stuff of sports lore, the type of clubhouse perspective that is so often hidden by the vapid media speak reporters regurgitate on a daily basis and call it news. Maybe Torre won't come out of this smelling quite like the rose he was just six months ago.  Maybe the book will prove to be exactly what it is right now: an overblown story sold by the hype machine.  Either way, it's these stories that keep us all interested.