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From ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3859198
Joe Torre didn't need "incentives" to lead the New York Yankees, so he left.
Torre's incentives to expose the salacious side of his former team are another story.
According to two newspaper reports, Torre blasts the team he managed to four World Series titles in a book set to be released Feb. 3.
Teammates frequently called Alex Rodriguez "A-Fraud," and the third baseman was obsessed over his rivalry with shortstop Derek Jeter, "The Yankee Years" reveals, according to the New York Daily News and New York Post.
In the book written by Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci and published by Doubleday, Torre also says Yankees general manager Brian Cashman "betrayed him on several fronts," the Daily News reports.
It's in stark contrast to Torre's former stance, in which he said Cashman supported him throughout 2007 negotiations, which ultimately failed.
And it goes beyond the widely reported 2007 meeting in which Cashman met with the Steinbrenners to discuss Torre's future with the team, a talk in which the GM was said to have remained neutral as the drawbacks to extending Torre's tenure were discussed.
In a later confrontation with Torre, Cashman confirmed he was quiet when the subject of offering Torre his desired two-year deal instead of one came up, the book says.
Cashman wouldn't comment on the book when contacted Sunday by ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.
Cashman, who said he's in regular contact with Torre, told Olney he didn't know the context of the portrayal and didn't know if the reported comments were from Torre or Verducci.
"I think Brian Cashman wanted me back," Torre said in Oct. 2007, as he announced he wouldn't return for the Yankees. "We have a close relationship. We felt we worked hard at trying to get this thing straightened out."
After completing a three-year, $19.2 million contract with the Yankees, Torre signed a three-year, $13 million contract to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers in Nov. 2007, the same month the book deal with Verducci was announced.
His Dodgers deal came two weeks after having walked away from the Yankees when they offered a one-year contract worth $5 million plus $3 million in performance incentives he termed "an insult.''
"I don't think incentives are necessary," he said then. "I've been here a long time and I've never needed to be motivated. Plus, in my [previous] contract, I get a million-dollar bonus if we do win the World Series, so that's always been there."
One source familiar with the book told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick that it's "inaccurate'' to suggest that Torre used it as a forum to get even with the Yankees or settle old scores.
The source said some of the controversial angles being reported in the New York tabloids have been taken out of context or "overblown.''
"Joe is very honest in the book,'' the source said, "but he doesn't make any personal attacks. In terms of him name-calling, that's not his style.''
The book is not a first-person tell-all, but rather, a third-person narrative by Verducci, who interviewed dozens of players and team personnel while researching for the book, the source said.
Torre is currently in Hawaii on vacation. According to the Daily News, he is scheduled for the "Late Show With David Letterman" on Feb. 3, as well as a book signing that day at the Yogi Berra Museum in New Jersey.
Sounds like much to do about nothing. I guess this is good fodder for Yankees haters, but the article doesnt even seem to indicate anything more then what we already know, Torre was pissed he got a proposed contract offer with incentives. The reality is, the Yankees have underperformed considering the talent they had the past few years, and someone had to be blamed for it. _________________ Don Tiny wrote: ... except the night I dropped my pants and then loudly proclaimed I was the Whore of Babylon and demanded more wine, but that's another story.
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