Torre's closed-door meeting fails to rally troops

The country is not in good condition.
~ Calvin Coolidge, Jan. 20, 1931

A day after the boos descended upon Joe Torre at Yankee Stadium, he held a closed-door meeting before his team took on the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.

Neither Torre nor any of the players would divulge the content of the meetings, but Torre told reporters, "I've seen some tentativeness. If there's a word to characterize this whole thing, it's 'frustration.' "

Well, Joe, I can think of another word. Your team is playing like bullcrap.

After the meeting, Torre's troops responded by getting shut out for 7 innings by the immortal Dustin McGowan, he of the 7.17 ERA entering the "contest."

If ever a team appeared to be going through the motions, it's this Yankee team. They have stopped working the count.
They have stopped hitting with Runners is Scoring Position.
They are too far gone this year to mount a comeback.
They are one of the worst teams in the league.

As Bill Parcells says: "You are what your record is."

Game after game, it's the same thing. Torre sits in the dugout…motionless, expressionless, and lifeless. He listlessly twirls Jeter's bat, yawns, and stares straight into the ground as his team gets pummeled.

At this point it might be in Torre's best interest to be fired. It's time for him to play Bingo at some Westchester Knights of Columbus hall.

It's sad to see it, but Torre's mannerisms and post-game conferences are starting to sound a lot like Rich Kotite's when the Jets struggled through their 1-15 season.

Is the Yanks' horrendous season all Torre's fault? Of course not, but he sets the tone for the team, and there comes a time when the Manager must be changed. The time has long passed for Torre's departure.

One irony is that when Torre does act, he often does so by mismanaging the bullpen. His penchant for letting a parade of relievers pitch an inning or less after pulling a starter too early has always taken its toll on a bullpen. This year is no different. And would it kill Torre to let Brian Bruney pitch in high-leverage situations? Torre's continual trust of "veterans" also holds back many a youngster.

To make matters worse, Torre spoke of needing to "re-arrange the furniture." But there isn't much furniture to re-arrange. Brian Cashman has left Torre with no bench to speak of. There aren't many changes he can make. What is he going to do? Play Cairo for Cano? Play Melky for Abreu? It's all garbage in - garbage out.

Bench Players On-Base Percentage:
Nieves .133
Cairo .263
Cabrera.277
Phelps .333

Cashman no doubt felt he could add a player mid-year, like he often has, such as a GlennAllen Hill or an Aaron Guiel. But there is little point in doing so at this point.

So far this year, all of Cashman's moves have backfired. Some of this is bad luck, particularly the many injuries, but Cashman is the one who banked on Carl Pavano contributing this year. Cashman is the one who signed Kei Igawa. Cashman is the one who turned down offers for Bonderman and D-Trian. Time will tell what he got back for Sheffield and Randy Johnson. All we know so far is that Humberto Sanchez is out until late next year and Luis Vizcaino isn't reminding anyone of a major league pitcher.

The Yankees (21-28) have dropped 12 of their past 17, leaving them 13 1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East . The results speak for themselves. If the Yanks continue at this pace, they will finish a cool 45 games behind Boston.

Torre has said more than once that he and Brian Cashman are "joined at the hips." Well, then, fire them both George. Put Gene Michael back in charge as GM and let Larry Bowa manage the team for the remainder of the year.

Let Bowa hoot and holler all he wants. Let him light a fire under Cano. Let him do his best Billy Martin imitation. Let him show some emotion.

Will Bowa get the team back in contention? Of course not. Cashman and Torre have dug too big a hole. But Bowa might give the Yankee fans a reason to watch the YES network this summer.

Watching Bowa would be more entertaining than watching Torre's emotionless, vacant gaze into nothingness.