Joe Torre
Joe Torre
Joseph Paul "Joe" Torreis an American professional baseball executive, serving in the capacity of Major League Baseball'schief baseball officer since 2011. A former player, manager and television color commentator, Torre ranks fifth all-time in MLB history with 2,326 wins as a manager. With 2,342 hits during his playing career, Torre is the only major leaguer to achieve both 2,000 hits and 2,000 wins as a manager. From 1996 to 2007, he was the manager of the New York Yankees, whom...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth18 July 1940
CountryUnited States of America
I know the players were all happy for him because for a long time, he really wasn't getting it done, and they knew how hard he was working. So I'm just very pleased for him.
I knew he would embrace it, but you don't know how he's going to be able to do it. He's been situated in one place for so long, and coming off the bench is different than playing every day. He's been doing a little bit of everything here.
Every time the Yankees go to spring training, you have to be thinking World Series. I don't think that's a disrespect to any other team. It's just understanding the pressure that goes with playing here.
Every game is vital. These are our playoffs now.
At some point soon, I'll sit down with Bernie and we'll go over everything. I have a great relationship with him, and always have. I've probably talked to him more than any other player here in my tenure. If the first game of the season were today, I'd say he'd be the starting DH. But I also want to give him a lot of time in the corners (left and right field), with the emphasis more on him playing right than left, spelling Sheffield.
Very satisfying. Coming back in a place where we haven't been comfortable playing in this year and at this time of year, it shows you what kind of players we have.
The one thing I can take credit for is for not trying to be someone else. I've always tried to be a manager who allowed his players to play. The game is theirs. What I've done for 10 years is try to stay out of their way.
May 6, I wasn't really concerned, because there was a long way to go. The only concern we had was playing up to our capabilities, because we felt the wins would come.
We don't know if he's ready or not, ... But he's going to become a very important player one of these days and it is liable to be now.
At a charity event, Bernie sat in with James Taylor and played with him. He's an artist. Bernie doesn't have baseball instincts like a lot of other players. Instincts, you're not born with. He's got to digest and calculate. He works extremely hard.
It's pressure, sure. But it's a good pressure, because George Steinbrenner certainly puts his money where his mouth is. He certainly spends money to put players in the clubhouse.
It's nothing unusual that pitchers and catchers from time to time have issues. It's the emotion that goes along with playing this game.
With the players we have there are always going to be high expectations. Maybe we can chalk up the slow start into them thinking everything would be OK.
We're in good shape. We're playing well, and after last night's ugly one, we came back and did some good things.