The New Steinbrenner, Just Like The Old Steinbrenner

As George Steinbrenner fades into retirement, one could take hope that a saner, more decent, less obnoxious, less bullying, less...idiotic era might reign at the Yankees. It seemed like Cashman was reinstituting the tactics that had built a dynasty in the Nineties by holding onto young talent and treated people with respect.

Nope. Joe Torre has clearly been winning the PR war -- and skewered any hopes that the Steinbrenners had of pretending they'd made a good faith effort by minutely describing exctly what happened. In short, they gave him a take it or leave it offer and made clear to Torre that they really didn't want him to return. But Torre made them look like schmucks and even people who thought it was time to move on chided Hank, Hal, George (and the schmuck Randy Levine) for not being man enough to tell him they were going to move on to other options. No matter WHAT they felt, the Steinbrenners should have realized they needed a little damage control and someone should have just eaten crow and said, "Gee, we apologize to Joe and any fans who feel we disrespected Joe Torre. He's been a great manager and showed class to the very end." Period. End of story. Doesn't matter if you don't mean it; just say it and hope to cauterize the wound.

Instead Hal Steinbrenner blasted Torre and said in effect "We made him! Ungrateful bum!" The only problem is that Torre already made his gratitude clear again and again, Torre emphasized how lucky he was to work for the Yankees and said so again and again. Hal is gonna give me agita for years to come.