These days, if I have SportsCenter or Baseball Tonight or the XM going while I’m doing something else and I hear the name, I have to stop for a second and figure out which one they’re talking about: Joe TORRE or TORII Hunter.

Nice to have the drama elsewhere for now. I’ve never had much use for the Yankees, except as a team to root against under just about any circumstance, but I have considered Joe Torre a classy and understated presence amid the noise that is the Yankees. He let you know what was on his mind without shouting or making a scene, and has presided over a cast of wildly talented characters that could provide unexpected challenges at the drop of a bat.

Now that the Yankees insulted him into departure with a salary cut/incentive deal, the fallout should be interesting. Before the Yankees can figure out what they’ll do to juice their rotation (Johan?) or upgrade their outfield (that Torii), they need to convince someone to take the managing job — and then figure out whether their top talent is going to stick around or test free agency. If some combination of A-Rod, Rivera and Posada decides to go elsewhere, the Yankees restructuring could be baseball’s best winter sideshow.

Being the guy who replaces Torre is going to be one of the most thankless jobs in baseball because the comparisons will be constant — and the likelihood of having to do that with lesser talent than Yankees teams of recent seasons will be pretty good. Two of the managing options right now are Don Mattingly, who has a career record of 0-0, and Tony Pena, who burned out the Royals. Or was this the job Joe Girardi coveted when he understandably passed up a chance to work with Andy MacPhail on salvaging the wreckage in Baltimore?

How does this relate to the Twins? Before the Yankees can figure out the pieces they’ll need to acquire for 2008 and down the road, they’ll need to figure out who’s coming and going among the existing talent. If the Yankees were in a more stable situation right now, I could see them being an interesting trade partner on the Santana front.

Right now, it’s not even worth it to go there.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 20th, 2007 at 12:12 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.