What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

Torre New Dodgers Manager (1 Viewer)

PatsWillWin

PatsWillWin

Footballguy
The Los Angeles Dodgers have decided to fire manager Grady Little and replace him with former Yankees manager Joe Torre, The Journal News has learned.

Torre, 67, could be named manager as soon as tomorrow, according to two sources close to the situation. Don Mattingly is expected to accompany Torre to Los Angeles as his bench coach. Torre is also interested in hiring Kevin Long, his hitting coach with the Yankees.

The Dodgers were 82-80 this season under Little and were beset by clubhouse unrest. Owner Frank McCourt, a Boston native, decided Torre is best suited to quell that situation.

Torre turned down a one-year offer to remain as manager of the Yankees on Oct. 18. He had been with the Yankees 12 seasons, winning four World Series championships.
Click to expand...
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...RTS01/710290436
 
I'm barely able to contain the excitement right now. I hope to God this is true. I don't know if A-Rod is a lock yet -- but I think it definitely puts Dodgers in pole position to sign him. Only wild card is how badly Rodriguez wants to play shortstop. I was thinking tonight with the Braves trading Renteria -- maybe they were going to make a run at A-Rod. I know the Cubs can offer him shortstop, and I think the Angels would too. But LA has a huge, gaping BLACK hole at 3rd Base and Furcal, when 100 percent, is a terrific player.

McCort has to make this happen. HAS TO. Damn.

 
Hands_on_the_Heisman said:
But LA has a huge, gaping BLACK hole at 3rd Base and Furcal, when 100 percent, is a terrific player.
Click to expand...
Dodgers have Andy LaRoche who looks to be the real deal plus they have Bell, Dewitt, and Denker who all can play 3B in the system. Dodgers have too many prospects that can play 2B or 3B and Abreu and LaRoche are both going to be good players. Plus they have Mattingly and DeJesus at SS coming through the system and Hu already up. Basically if I'm the Dodgers I'd probably try to get some OF help because if they do get A-Rod they are going to have to trade away their positions of strength in the minors where they look set for years, or move these guys to the OF. I think if I'm a Dodgers fan I'd want them to sign one of the available OFers in FA and trade for Santana. That seems like a much better option than bringing A-Rod in.
 
Doctor Detroit said:
Also this is still just a rumor.
Click to expand...
Mike and Mike had on Steve Phillips who said it was official. They also brought in the hitting coach A-Rod loves. If they sign him, they can then trade for Santana pretty easily since they have so many ML ready guy in Kemp, LaRoche, Loney, Hu, etc though I'm guessing the Twins would want Kershaw included in the deal which the Dodgers are probably loathe to do. Any deal with the Dodger would trump what the Yankees could put together.
 
Hands_on_the_Heisman said:
I'm barely able to contain the excitement right now. I hope to God this is true. I don't know if A-Rod is a lock yet -- but I think it definitely puts Dodgers in pole position to sign him. Only wild card is how badly Rodriguez wants to play shortstop. I was thinking tonight with the Braves trading Renteria -- maybe they were going to make a run at A-Rod. I know the Cubs can offer him shortstop, and I think the Angels would too. But LA has a huge, gaping BLACK hole at 3rd Base and Furcal, when 100 percent, is a terrific player.McCort has to make this happen. HAS TO. Damn.
Click to expand...
The Braves don't have any $$$ as it is - there is no way they are signing A-Rod. They are hoping to extend Teix at best.
 
Knowing that Torre is the Dodgers' leading candidate to take over for Grady Little, something that could happen quickly since the Dodgers are working on a buyout with Little, the Yankees and Girardi moved swiftly to keep hitting coach Kevin Long, who is expected to sign a rare three-year deal for close to $1 million. The Yankees are also keen on retaining field coordinator Rob Thomson as Girardi's third base or bench coach. Tony Pena, who interviewed for the job Girardi was offered yesterday, also will remain.
Click to expand...
 
I gotta be honest - I don't see ARod in a Dodgers uniform. This is not a cash rich club with the McCourts, so IMHO they'd have to clear the decks of a lot of people, including Garciaparra, Kent and Schmidt.

Aside from that though, I think this year needs to be the year when they decide whether their young guys can win. Throw them into fhe fire and then reassess at the trade deadline whether you need to get a veteran here or there.

 
I can see A-Rod in LA but it won't be the Dodgers. If your goal is to chase down Bonds then playing at Chavez Ravine 81 times is no place to do it.

 
Funkley said:
I can see A-Rod in LA but it won't be the Dodgers. If your goal is to chase down Bonds then playing at Chavez Ravine 81 times is no place to do it.
Click to expand...
Well, that and the fact that Moreno knows that there's no better way to upstage the Dodgers this offseason than to get ARod. Make no mistake, the "Los Angeles" Angels of Anaheim want very much to bump the Dodgers off of their perch as the favored baseball team in the greater LA area. For that reason I think ARod is worth more to the Angels than to the Dodgers as a practical matter. Moreno has more cash on hand than does McCourt anyway. And then there's the fact that pairing ARod with Vlad Guerrero in the Angels batting order would be absolutely frightening.
 
I will never be able to see Donnie in any other uniform. It's just not right.

Although, if it does happen, I'm happy for him for no other reason then the fact that his son is in that system and he gets to be with him.

 
ESPNews reporting that Little resigned. RIIIIGGGGHHHHHHTTTTTT!!!

I dont see the assumed connection between Torre and A-Rod. A-Rod will go to the highest bidder and playing for a familiar manager in Torre will not affect his decision. I'm not even sure playing for Piniella who he is close to will affect his decision.

Torre is the one that dropped A-Rod to 8th in the batting order last year in the playoffs. I would imagine there is still some bad blood there even if below the surface.

 
As a Dodger fan I'm ambivalent about this move. Torre's greatest attributes as Yankee manager were his ability to manage huge egos in that clubhouse and to insulate the players from the owner and the press as much as possible. The Dodgers don't have an intrusive owner; the L.A. press is relatively tame all in all; and while there was dissention between veteran players and the younger guys, the vets don't appear like they'll be around for very much longer. This is a team full of young prospects. As such I don't see Torre as being much of an upgrade over Little who, if he had any strength as a manager, was a good handler of personalities on his team. Besides, I'm not sure I buy into the whole "life begins at 67" schtick I'll have to accept with Torre. :thumbdown:

 
redman said:
As a Dodger fan I'm ambivalent about this move. Torre's greatest attributes as Yankee manager were his ability to manage huge egos in that clubhouse and to insulate the players from the owner and the press as much as possible. The Dodgers don't have an intrusive owner; the L.A. press is relatively tame all in all; and while there was dissention between veteran players and the younger guys, the vets don't appear like they'll be around for very much longer. This is a team full of young prospects. As such I don't see Torre as being much of an upgrade over Little who, if he had any strength as a manager, was a good handler of personalities on his team. Besides, I'm not sure I buy into the whole "life begins at 67" schtick I'll have to accept with Torre. :lmao:
Click to expand...
Echoed.
 
shadyridr said:
Rumor is Torre was LA's second choice behind Girardi
Click to expand...
Don't know how true that is. Girardi was contacted by the Dodgers towards the end of the season, well before Torre was let go.They spoke of this during his conference call yesterday.
 
ack34 said:
shadyridr said:
Rumor is Torre was LA's second choice behind Girardi
Click to expand...
Don't know how true that is. Girardi was contacted by the Dodgers towards the end of the season, well before Torre was let go.They spoke of this during his conference call yesterday.
Click to expand...
Yeah from all I've read Girardi was on the short list but it was Torre they wanted all along. If they had wanted Girardi more they would have just called him in September.
 
Mr. Brownstone said:
redman said:
As a Dodger fan I'm ambivalent about this move. Torre's greatest attributes as Yankee manager were his ability to manage huge egos in that clubhouse and to insulate the players from the owner and the press as much as possible. The Dodgers don't have an intrusive owner; the L.A. press is relatively tame all in all; and while there was dissention between veteran players and the younger guys, the vets don't appear like they'll be around for very much longer. This is a team full of young prospects. As such I don't see Torre as being much of an upgrade over Little who, if he had any strength as a manager, was a good handler of personalities on his team. Besides, I'm not sure I buy into the whole "life begins at 67" schtick I'll have to accept with Torre. :shrug:
Click to expand...
Echoed.
Click to expand...
Well, I guess I like it more than you guys. Age is of no concern, it's just baseball. Actually, I kinda like having the father-figure type behind young players. They are not gonna be questioning Joe Torre. Good, gives the Dodgers stability in an area that they haven't had any in a LONG time. I think it might even give the franchise a boost of legitimacy that they also have been lacking -- like they really do want to win a world championship. There hasn't been that feeling in LA in forever. Hell, even the few playoff games they've been in I never got the feeling they really believed, much less the fans. Not the biggest deal in the world, but I'm certainly not ambivalent. His presence will help.So yeah, I like it. :goodposting:
 
On ESPN now:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3090266

Torre's contract is for three years and slightly more than $13 million, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports, citing a baseball official who has seen the deal.
Click to expand...
Mike Wilbon hit the nail on the head when he called Torre's turning down the Yankee offer "the equivalent of when an NBA superstar says 'They disrespected me with that deal' and then inevitably wind up signing for less money elsewhere."
 
bialczabub said:
On ESPN now:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3090266

Torre's contract is for three years and slightly more than $13 million, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports, citing a baseball official who has seen the deal.
Click to expand...
Mike Wilbon hit the nail on the head when he called Torre's turning down the Yankee offer "the equivalent of when an NBA superstar says 'They disrespected me with that deal' and then inevitably wind up signing for less money elsewhere."
Click to expand...
Or not. Torre felt disrespected that the Yankees felt the need to put the playoff incentives in his contract. He was insulted by the insinuation that he would try harder because he has a bonus coming for making the playoffs, as opposed to in the past when he had no such incentives. But Wilbon never let facts get in the way before, so why start now.

I know everyone in the sports world always says "it's not about the money." But in this case, it truly wasn't.

 
Actually Torre made it pretty clear that the money wasn't the main issue - it was the length of the deal. He wanted at least 2 years in NY and they wouldn't budge from 1.

 
redman said:
Funkley said:
I can see A-Rod in LA but it won't be the Dodgers. If your goal is to chase down Bonds then playing at Chavez Ravine 81 times is no place to do it.
Click to expand...
Well, that and the fact that Moreno knows that there's no better way to upstage the Dodgers this offseason than to get ARod. Make no mistake, the "Los Angeles" Angels of Anaheim want very much to bump the Dodgers off of their perch as the favored baseball team in the greater LA area. For that reason I think ARod is worth more to the Angels than to the Dodgers as a practical matter. Moreno has more cash on hand than does McCourt anyway. And then there's the fact that pairing ARod with Vlad Guerrero in the Angels batting order would be absolutely frightening.
Click to expand...
Until the playoffs anyway.As far as Chavez Ravine not being a hitter's park, that's become a bit of a fallacy over the years. In looking at ESPN's MLB Park Factor ratings, Dodger Stadium is rated 13th, just ahead of Minute Maid Park and Dolphin Stadium, and just behind Jacobs Field. Angel Stadium ranked 22nd.

That said, I would prefer the Dodgers go after a power hitting outfielder instead of ARod. The guy's just weird and would cost an obscene amount of money that McCourt would use as an excuse not to upgrade other parts of the club as needed, in my opinion. The Dodgers have more pressing needs in the outfield and in the starting rotation. Yes, they need a big power bat, but I would rather in not be ARod.

 
The Kansas Comet said:
redman said:
Funkley said:
I can see A-Rod in LA but it won't be the Dodgers. If your goal is to chase down Bonds then playing at Chavez Ravine 81 times is no place to do it.
Click to expand...
Well, that and the fact that Moreno knows that there's no better way to upstage the Dodgers this offseason than to get ARod. Make no mistake, the "Los Angeles" Angels of Anaheim want very much to bump the Dodgers off of their perch as the favored baseball team in the greater LA area. For that reason I think ARod is worth more to the Angels than to the Dodgers as a practical matter. Moreno has more cash on hand than does McCourt anyway. And then there's the fact that pairing ARod with Vlad Guerrero in the Angels batting order would be absolutely frightening.
Click to expand...
Until the playoffs anyway.As far as Chavez Ravine not being a hitter's park, that's become a bit of a fallacy over the years. In looking at ESPN's MLB Park Factor ratings, Dodger Stadium is rated 13th, just ahead of Minute Maid Park and Dolphin Stadium, and just behind Jacobs Field. Angel Stadium ranked 22nd.
Click to expand...
You have to look at three year averages for park factors and Dodger stadium is pretty much always going to be one of the ten hardest parks to hit in. Petco is the most difficult and rates at about a .83 with 1 being average. Dodger stadium is a .87 along with Safeco while Angel Statium is .92 with Comerica and Cleveland is .94. So according to those ESPN rankings Dodger Stadium was 25th, 25th, 25th, 10th, and 12th over the past five years still making it one of the ten least hitter friendly parks in the majors over that period.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Don Quixote
**** Baseball Hall of Fame Thread **** - Congrats to Beltre, Helton, and Mauer
2
Replies
78
Views
3K
Bogart
Bogart
C
The Aaron Boone HR - 10-year anniversary today
Replies
7
Views
943
Raider Nation
Raider Nation
C
Nolan Ryan is the man of his Angels' dreams
Replies
1
Views
542
sihaokills
S

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top