Torre says offer was an 'insult'

BREAKING NEWS: Joe's outta here

Joe Torre has rejected a one-year contract extension offer from the Yankees and will not be returning next season.
We expect that it wasn't the $2.5 million pay cut he would have had to take from his $7.5 million salary this year. He still would have been the highest paid manager in Major League Baseball.
Rather, it's likely that the length of the new contract was what offended Torre.
Who wants to be a lame duck again for another year? Who wants more of the crap that Yankees brass has continually put Torre, one of its most successful managers ever, through every year?
So now the Yankees get to choose, barring some dark horse candidates, from among Joe Girardi, Don Mattingly and Tony LaRussa.
That's LaRussa of still waiting for the DUI court appearance infamy.
Girardi of can't get along with team ownership and blows out young arms infamy.
And Mattingly of "I'm not ready for this job," "Wait, no, I am ready," "Umm, I don't know" infamy.
Things sure are looking up for this team.

Joe Torre death watch?

News is expected sometime today or early tomorrow on the fate of Joe Torre, and speculation is that the longer the silence, the more likely it is that Joe will come back at a much-reduced salary in 2008.
Meanwhile, Don Mattingly's agent has denied a report that had the legendary 1st baseman telling Yankees brass that he's "not ready" to take over as manager.

Torre in a familiar place ... twisting in the wind

A decision on the fate of Joe Torre has been delayed, according to the AP, and the New York Post reported today that Torre might come back if the Steinbrenners (that's right, apparently George's sons are getting some input these days) can't agree on a successor and if Torre is willing to take a cut in pay from the $7 million he made this season.
Torre's bloated salary (next-highest paid managers in the Major Leagues, according to the Post, are Cubs manager Lou Piniella at $3.5 million, the Braves' Bobby Cox at $3 million, the Cardinals' Tony LaRussa at $2.8 million and the Angels' Mike Scioscia and Tigers' Jim Leyland, at $2 million each) matches the Yankees' bloated payroll, but could be even more reason to cut him loose. They're paying bigtime for the players that should get a team to the World Series, and they're paying their manager twice what any other manager makes, again, to get them to the World Series.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox take the field at Fenway for the start of the American League Championship Series tonight, and the Yankees won't be there. Reflect on that, George.

Candidates emerge for Torre's replacement

Joe Torre is likely out after 12 years "managing" the largest payroll in baseball.
Don't believe any of that talk about Joe Girardi or Don Mattingly taking over this team.
Here are some of the top contenders for his job:
- DR. PHIL: Who better to help A-Rod with his self-esteem issues, and manage A-Rod's relationship with Derek Jeter?
- BUCKY DENT: Hey, he's been a manager in the farm league system, and Yankees fans have been living off his memory for years, so why not give the guy a chance?
- ISIAH THOMAS: OK, wrong sport, but he's already very familiar with the New York media, his personal shenanigans might take some of the attention away from the Yankees losing, and all that time he spends in a courtroom instead of managing would eliminate the middle man and allow Brian Cashman to run the team.
- JORGE POSADA: This one's half-serious. Why not a player-manager, a la Pete Rose? Posada doesn't get enough credit for calling victories while working with a rotation of 900 different pitchers this season, some of whom were about 14 years old. And meanwhile, he batted .338.
- A WET NURSE: Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes. Next year's Yankees are barely out of kindergarten. Someone's got to take care of them.
- AN ATM MACHINE: Oh, wait, an endless supply of cash has been managing this team for years.

Rocket broken

Roger Clemens' senior citizen bones are crumbling with every pitch, and now he's been removed from the Yankees' roster and will have sit out a championship series against the Red Sox, if his team can somehow come all the way back from 0-2 and get there.
Joe Torre has put Ron Villone on the squad in Clemens' place, reversing an earlier misstep he made in having no one to come out of the bullpen to pitch to Cleveland's lefthanded power hitters.

On the brink of elimination, Yanks break out the steroids

NEW YORK (AP) - Jason Giambi got his first start of the playoffs Sunday night, inserted into the Yankees lineup for Game 3 against Cleveland.
The Indians also made a lineup change, putting Trot Nixon in right field. Nixon's combined numbers in the regular season and playoffs against New York starter Roger Clemens were striking: 15-for-39 (.385) with four homers, five doubles, eight walks and 12 RBIs.
With the Yankees looking for more offense as they tried to stave off elimination in the best-of-five playoff series, Giambi batted sixth and replaced defensive whiz Doug Mientkiewicz at first base.
Slumping slugger Hideki Matsui was New York's designated hitter, batting seventh, with leadoff man Johnny Damon playing left field.
Giambi had just one plate appearance as the Yankees combined for only four runs in the first two games of the series at Cleveland. He singled as a pinch-hitter in the opener, late in a 12-3 loss.
The 2000 AL MVP with Oakland, Giambi hit .236 with 14 homers and 39 RBIs this year during a season interrupted by injury. He had only 254 at-bats, but walked 40 times to give him a respectable .356 on-base percentage.
Giambi entered 6-for-14 (.429) with two homers and five walks against the Indians' starting pitcher in Game 3, Jake Westbrook.
"That, plus the fact we really haven't done anything offensively. Our ballclub scoring four runs and three of them on home runs is not our identity," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "We need to put men on base, get them in the stretch, make them think about what we're going to do."

The master motivator

George Steinbrenner broke out of his unusual silent streak of 2007 to say that Joe Torre will be fired if the Yankees don't win the game tonight.
Oh, it warms the heart, doesn't it? Isn't it good to have the old George back?

Because he looked so good in Game 1

NEW YORK (AP) - Chien-Ming Wang appears to be the Yankees' likely starting pitcher Monday night if New York forces its series against the Indians to a fourth game.
Yankees manager Joe Torre said Saturday that Mike Mussina would be available in relief on Sunday night should Roger Clemens falter. Mussina also would have followed Luis Vizcaino had Friday's 2-1, 11-inning loss gone much longer.
Wang has started on less than four days' rest just once, allowing one hit in seven innings to beat the Orioles on June 6 last year. That outing came three days after he got the final two outs and a save in a 10-inning win at Baltimore.
Wang's sinker was up against Cleveland in the series opener, when he matched his career high by allowing eight runs in a 12-3 loss.
Pitching Wang in Game 4 lines up Andy Pettitte to pitch a potential fifth game. Roger Clemens joked about the way his buddy pitched out of trouble to throw 6 1-3 scoreless innings in Game 2.
"I told Andy he looked great from the stretch since he was in it all night," Clemens said.
Pettitte has a $16 million player option for next year and will need to speak with his family before deciding whether to exercise it. The status of Torre, in the final year of his contract, also will play a part in his decision.
"That definitely would be something that I would factor in," Pettitte said.

Another Joe Torre mistake

Joe Torre's decision to put Hideki Matsui into the game last night as designated hitter instead of Shelley Duncan, an idea he'd been toying with, according to the New York Post, backfired bigtime.
Matsui going into last night's game was 0 for 9 against Sabathia in his career.
Now he's 0 for 13.
Meanwhile, Duncan was put in as a pinch hitter and he actually got a hit against the Indians and scored one of the Yankees three runs.

It's almost over

Yankees "ace" and one-time Cy Young contender Chien-Ming Wang looked awful last night as he was pounded by Indians hitters, but a bigger key to the series is the Yankees' quiet bats.
Three runs of offense isn't going to be enough in Game 3 with Clemens on the mound, and certainly not when the Yankees hand Mike Mussina the ball in Game 4.
It's a five-game series, remember, so that's enough to send the Yankees home for the year, and Joe Torre off into retirement (or a job coaching the Kansas City Royals).

Yankees narrowly miss upgrading offense at first base

CLEVELAND (AP) - The Yankees' 13th straight trip to the postseason started with a stumble.
First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz got tangled up with a cameraman and injured his left ankle in an accident, but was in the starting lineup Thursday night for the Yankees' playoff opener against theIndians.
Mientkiewicz was walking up a ramp at Jacobs Field when a YES cameraman was recording while backpedaling.
"My left foot was up, and he fell kind of right on the back of my heel. My ankle rolled," Mientkiewicz said. "It's going to deter (me) from stealing like 15 bases.
"I rolled it pretty good, but it's all right."
Yankees manager Joe Torre had Mientkiewicz work out on the ankle a few hours before game time.
"We tested him every which way, up and down," Torre said. "He ran in the outfield and he looked fine during batting practice. It's not going to hurt his speed, we know that."
Mientkiewicz had to have a screw inserted into the ankle after he broke it years ago. Initially, he was worried after the accident.
"I thought I was dead (as far as playing)," he said. "I've had a lot of damage to that left foot."
The cameraman, a freelance hired from the Cleveland area, was fired by YES. The network did not reveal his name.
YES spokesman Eric Handler said the cameraman had completed his shoot and had been told to shut down.
"Unbeknownst to us he continue to shoot," Handler said. "Because he did not follow instructions, and because it was his not following instructions that caused the accident, he was relieved of his duties."
In the lineup primarily for his defense, Mientkiewicz has the second-highest fielding percentage (.996) among first basemen with 500 or more career games and won a Gold Glove in 2001.
He said he felt bad for the cameraman.
"I don't want him to get fired. Accidents happen, especially for me. Everything happens to me," Mientkiewicz said.
Mientkiewicz injured his wrist June 2 in a collision with Boston's Mike Lowell. He had surgery and returned to the Yankees Sept. 1 and hit .429 (18-for-42) with a home run and eight RBIs in 22 games during the season's final month.

Clemens flies to Texas for special home remedy

BALTIMORE (AP) - Roger Clemens flew home to Texas on Friday, choosing to rehabilitate his bothersome left hamstring there rather than at the Yankees' training facility in Tampa, Fla.
Clemens missed his scheduled start at Tampa Bay on Tuesday and remained behind to condition the leg when the team flew north. Although Clemens said he was healthy enough to pitch, the Yankees decided not to have him pitch this week.
Now he's at home preparing for the postseason.
"Wherever Roger goes, he's got workout facilities for what he needs to do," New York manager Joe Torre said Friday before the Yankees faced the Orioles.
Clemens made the decision to leave Friday without working out.
"He was going to stay away from, as he puts it, digging in there all the time," Torre said. "It was something about getting out of Dodge. ... He's just going to do some conditioning and then Monday he's going to do a simulated game and then he'll hop on a plane and join us."
Clemens is 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA in 18 games.

Maybe 20 pitchers can do what three can't

Another blown lead, another nail-biter, another six pitchers used so far in tonight's 6-6 tie ballgame in the top of the ninth inning against lowly Tampa Bay.
This comes on the heels of Friday's 14-inning loss to Toronto in which 8 pitchers were used, and the following night's 10-inning victory in which 10 pitchers were used.
If it makes Joe Torre feel better to finish half a game out of the division lead instead of 2 1/2, and then have no fresh pitching available for the playoffs, so be it.
The strategy doesn't seem to make sense when you've got Clemens about to check into a nursing home and you're desperate enough that you're starting Kei Igawa in his place.

Use up those pitchers now

Regardless of the outcome of tonight's game against Toronto (still tied at 4-4 in the top of the 13th inning), the Yankees come out losers.
While Red Sox Manager Terry Francona openly admitted prior to tonight's 8-1 blowout victory over Tampa Bay that he's resting his key pitchers and offensive stars such as Manny Ramirez for the playoffs even if that means losing the AL East lead and settling for the Wild Card.
If the Yankees, also virtually assured of the playoffs one way or the other, are taking a different approach, it will come back to bite them in the postseason as it has in past years.
They've already used seven pitchers in tonight's game, including stars Torre would typically reserve only for protecting a lead and sealing the victory, i.e., Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera.
And meanwhile, despite Boston's approach, they won easily tonight, even though they were up against just as dominating a pitcher in Kazmir as the Yankees faced in Toronto's Halladay.

Torre, who regularly instructs his pitchers to throw at people, upset with video game depicting A-Rod getting hit

NEW YORK (PA SportsTicker) - Joe Torre apparently is getting tired of the Toronto Blue Jays' ongoing feud with Alex Rodriguez.
Torre told the New York Daily News on Thursday that he was unhappy with the Blue Jays' depiction of Rodriguez on the Rogers Centre scoreboard during Wednesday night's game.
According to the Daily News, Torre was referring to an incident which occurred during a video promotion in the middle of the sixth inning.
The massive scoreboard screen showed a pair of fans playing a baseball video game. While pitching to Rodriguez in the video game, one of the fans intentionally threw at the superstar twice - hitting him once to the delight of the crowd.
"It's ridiculous," Torre told the Daily News. "Some of the videos they have period, it's all about violence. There are certain cities, one of our players gets knocked down and (the fans) start laughing and cheering. I don't understand it. To me, this game is about playing it and not about hurting somebody.
"To me, if you show it at a ballpark, you're telling the youngsters it's OK to do it and that's not a good message to send. I don't know if it's hockey - it's a little more of a violent game than ours - and I'm not sure if that's a carryover in what they do or how they promote. It certainly lacks good sense, I think."
The incident marked the latest chapter in a season-long feud between Rodriguez and the Blue Jays.
The saga began in Toronto on May 30, when Rodriguez sparked controversy while running between second and third base. The two-time MVP appeared to yell at Blue Jays third baseman Howie Clark, distracting the rookie from catching a routine pop fly.
The Blue Jays were enraged by Rodriguez's antics. Manager John Gibbons called it a "bush league play" while several veterans, including designated hitter Matt Stairs, referred to the play as "garbage."
The Blue Jays retaliated the next time the Yankees visited Toronto, throwing behind Rodriguez's head on August 6 and plunking him in the calf the following day to incite a pair of benches-clearing incidents.

Mussina yanked from starting rotation

NEW YORK (AP) - Mike Mussina is out. Call up another kid.
The New York Yankees dropped a struggling Mussina from their rotation Tuesday, turning to touted prospect Ian Kennedy over a pitcher with 247 major league wins - in the middle of a pennant race.
Bold move. But not out of character for the Yankees lately.
Kennedy, who spent most of last year playing college ball at USC, will be called up from the minors to start in Mussina's place Saturday against last-place Tampa Bay. He'll join a pitching staff that already features rookies Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez in key roles.
Not long ago, the big-budget Yankees always seemed to favor experienced veterans over unproven talent. Now, they're hanging their playoff hopes on a pack of young arms - and the 38-year-old Mussina has been shoved aside.
"He was disappointed, naturally. This was very difficult for me," manager Joe Torre said. "We have relied on him every year since he's been here."
Following three terrible starts in a row by Mussina, Torre told the five-time All-Star he'll be passed over when his next turn in the rotation comes up. The right-hander declined to comment Tuesday night as he left the clubhouse after a 5-3 victory over Boston that pulled New York closer in the playoff chase.
The Yankees won the series opener behind stopper Andy Pettitte, and 45-year-old Roger Clemens gets the ball Wednesday night against his original team. Josh Beckett, seeking his 17th win, will be on the mound for Boston.
The Yankees are one game behind Seattle, the AL wild-card leader, and seven back of the first-place Red Sox in the AL East. But as the Bronx Bombers get set for the September stretch drive, Chien-Ming Wang is the only pitcher left from last year's rotation.
Because of injuries and ineffectiveness, rookie pitchers have started 41 games for the Yankees this season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that's the most for the club since rookies started 54 times in 1991 on a team that finished 20 games below .500.
Plus, three relatively green hitters have become regulars in the 2007 lineup: Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera and Andy Phillips.
Kennedy, a first-round draft pick last year, relies on good control. He will be called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he was 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA in six starts.
"He's got great mound presence," said Chamberlain, the hard-throwing relief sensation who called Kennedy his best friend. "He understands how to pitch and how to get outs. He's going to come up and do a great job. It's going to be exciting to see."
Kennedy, a 22-year-old right-hander who began the season in Class-A, pitched last Saturday for Scranton. How long he stays in the Yankees' rotation will depend on how well he performs.
Torre didn't say whether he would consider using Mussina out of the bullpen. The manager said he told his former ace: "`Keep doing what you're doing. Keep doing your work. Keep doing your throwing so you don't lose that, the arm strength part of it.'"
Cerebral and finicky, Mussina was the team's top starter not long ago, but he has faded fast. After going 15-7 with a 3.51 ERA last season, he is 8-10 with a 5.53 ERA this year. He has a 17.69 ERA in his past three starts, struggling with velocity and control.
Before the game, Torre said he wanted to speak with Mussina about his recent slump before making a decision. He said the pitcher "earned that conversation" because of "who he is and what he's done."
"I just want to hear how he feels, and from there we'll talk about what we're going to do," Torre said before the game.
"Some conversations are difficult to have," he added. "I hope he makes it easy on me."
Mussina's last three starts have been particularly alarming. He has allowed 19 earned runs in 9 2-3 innings spanning two outings against the hard-hitting Detroit Tigers and one against the Los Angeles Angels.
Before this slide, Mussina won four straight starts - giving up eight runs in all - and improved to 8-7.
Does he simply need a breather, or is he washed up? The latter is what Yankees fans are afraid of, especially since Mussina has a year remaining on his $23 million, two-year contract.
"I know he's probably looked at some video to see if there's anything with his mechanics," Torre said. "He's obviously at times trying to make more perfect pitches than he's probably capable of making."
Mussina and Torre have both said they think the right-hander has more productivity left, but the Yankees decided they couldn't afford to wait for him to find his form.
His latest flop, three ineffective innings Monday night in a 16-0 loss at Detroit, dropped Mussina to 0-7 following Yankees losses this year. It also left him visibly dejected. Mussina said he would "understand" if Torre went with another pitcher next time through the rotation.
"You like to be loyal to all your players. But loyalty to all 25 comes before loyalty to any individual," Torre said.

Villone placed on disabled list with strained ERA

DETROIT (AP) -- The Yankees put left-handed reliever Ron Villone on the disabled list Friday and recalled right-hander Brian Bruney from Triple-A Scranton.
Villone injured his lower back covering first base Tuesday night at Anaheim.
"Talking to Joe (Torre) yesterday, I told him 'It's not good,"' Villone said. "I've got to do something, I guess rest a little bit. I'm hoping it will just take the 15 days.
"I don't think it's anything major, but maybe a strain that leads to a spasm."
Villone has a 4.42 ERA in 31 games, striking out 25 and walking 15 over 36 2-3 innings. He pitched in a career-high 70 games last season for the Yankees.
Bruney was 2-1 with a 3.40 ERA in 50 games. He struggled in July, allowing nine of his 18 total earned runs this season over 10 appearances.