Joe Torre audio from tonight
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Mar 28, 2007 
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Believe it or not, but Joe Torre did not put the kibosh on Ron Villone. Quite the contrary. He said Villone looks like he did at this time last season and then he got better and pitched well.
So, you Villone haters, he may not be done. Henn didn’t exactly distinguish himself when he came in, either.
Anyway, here is the skip’s postgame interview:
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http://www.khou.com/sports/ast.....f642f.html
“I tell can you right now, that’s a coin flip as far as our decision is going to be,” Torre said about carrying two bullpen left-handers. “We’ve had discussions, but nothing in concrete yet.”
Hey Joe, Are you blind ? No decision had made yet? Villone’s horrible.
I bet Joe will pick Villone over henn..
Joe’s talking to Ny Media – Phillips over Phelps for first base
Villone over Henn as second lefty in the bullpen.. Joe will choose Villone because of his experience and He did a jood job for us in the first half
Pratt over Nieves -
cashman needs to lay the smack down asap.
hmmm. Henn got guys out and Villone didn’t. But he didn’t pitch too well. Give me a break. Enough with this already. Villone is a bad pitcher.
Word, hmmmmm, and if he fails to do so, he is more culpable than Joe T.
Henn and Phelps should make the team over Phillips and Villone.
Spring training must mean something for the last few roster spots. Torre and his loyalty is getting ridiculous…
The Yanks will also save money by not bringing Villone and god forbid they send a message that performance matters…
“So, you Villone haters, he may not be done. Henn didn’t exactly distinguish himself when he came in, either.”
3 base runners and no outs. 2 base runners and 4 outs
hmm
Say it ain’t so, Joe!
why the hell does he keep talking about being the same as last year over and over and over. hes not the same as last year. maybe his velocity is but he cant get anyone out. last year he had a 4.86 ERA, 15 hits and 3 walks in 13.2 innings. this year its 12 hits and 5 walks in 5 innings with a 14.40 ERA. hes cooked, mince meat
Ohhhhhh no. Where is Gloomy??
disgusting
If his performance in ST means absolutly nothing than why didn’t they just sign him to a MLB contract it can’t be because of the 40 man Bean has no business on there as it is so the spot could easily have been freed up. What annoys me so much about his is if someone is brought here on a minor league contract to COMPETE for a job than his performance has to be a factor otherwise why bother with ST its a joke. Same for the Phelps Philips situation. If someone is competeing with you for the 12th man in the BP or the last bench spot and totally out performs you than oh well thats part of ST other wise it is totally unfair to the other guy and a waste of their time.
torre talks about villone pitching like he did last year as if thats a good thing
Torre can’t be trusted making decisions like this
you hear it here first: D Rays OVER the Yanks on Opening Day 7-2 !!!
The Yanks would be lucky to be better than the D Rays this season.
Wow, if Torre doesn’t get extended, maybe he can catch on with a paper.
cjc,
I agree, I mean Phelps did as good as could have ever been expected and Philips about as bad as he could have done and Phelps still might not make the team. What is the point of bringing him over if under no situation you are going to put him on the team. I mean did they say when they picked him in the Rule 5, we will bring him in but if he doesn’t hit .700 with 10 jacks he is gone. I know it really cost nothing but what is the point. Only point I can see is to light a fire under Andy’s butt which clearly didn’t happen either.
Also Shade, the D-Rays better enjoy that win if they get it on opening day b/c there hasn’t been to many days in their history they can say they were in first place. Unlike some team I know….
Forget Karstens and Rasner. Give that one start we presumed was theirs to Tyler Clippard.
Oh, and…
Only Torre could say a guy pitched well without recording an out (Joe, that IS the point of this game for pitchers, you know).
And Henn struck out two batters in 1.1 IP, which is important — he’s shown a strong strikeout ability this spring.
Phil-That was very mean. Funny, but mean.
That $2.5M would be much more wisely spent on the draft or International signings. To waste it on Villone, who will be DFA’d in a month anyways after blowing a game or two, is absurd. If Villone makes the team, this team is showing why they need such a high payroll to be competitive. $2.5M is still $2.5M last I checked.
It is time to trade Joe Torre for Lou Piniella and Scott Eyre.
It was only meant to be funny, not mean. Torre couldn’t write his way out of a line-up card.
“He said Villone looks like he did at this time last season and then he got better and pitched well.”
I’m pretty sure that’s why Villone pitched mostly blowouts until July.
Two reasons you don’t just play ST sabermetrics to make the 2nd lefty decision.
1) Veteran left-handers who’ve been in the wars are a valuable commodity. You don’t jetison them too soon.(Word out of Boston is they’d jump on Villone in a minute to go against our very left-handed line-up. He’s better than anything they have in middle relief from that side)
2) You can always bring Henn up later and burning Villone’s money is chump change, even in the new fiscal world.
As for the back-up 1B decision, Phelps has hit his way on to the club. I never saw him field, but as long as he’s no worse than Giambi, his power off the bench as a pinch hitter would be a big plus.
So let’s see how stupid our $5 milliom p/y, 6 Pennant,
4 WSC manager is tomorrow after the meeting.
P.S. When he retires he won’t be writing. He’ll be and ESPN uber analyst – a Peter Gammons with “in the trenches” credibilty but without the stutter andthe Red Sox bias.
joe must go!!! Can’t listen to anymore of his stupid interviews – reveals just what an incompetent manager he really is.
Villone is cooked. He was bad for the second half of last year, and all of this spring. If he was valuable SOME TEAM would have given him a major league deal for this season. NONE DID. So please, stop with all of this veteran experience nonsense. If it had the value people claim, Villone would have a MAJOR LEAGUE DEAL. He doesn’t. That’s testament to whatever value the market holds for him.
Rich Myers wrote:
1) Veteran left-handers who’ve been in the wars are a valuable commodity. You don’t jetison them too soon.(Word out of Boston is they’d jump on Villone in a minute to go against our very left-handed line-up. He’s better than anything they have in middle relief from that side)
Veteran left handers who have been in the wars? What wars has he been in? Mostly losing ones. His Veteran Wiles Ratio is off the VWR charts, but he still pitches poorly. He’s always pitched poorly, he’s pitching poorly now, and he will pitch poorly in the future. If the “word” is that the Red Sox will sign him in a second, I will be happy to watch him facing Giambi in a tough spot so I can enjoy the look on his face as his neck is whiplashed from the speed with which his pitch changes direction for the short porch.
Burning $2.5 million is not a bad bet if Villone was lights out in the Spring and had either gained velocity or movement on his pitches. Burning $2.5 million on a guy that has been rocked to the tune of a 14.40 ERA, AND was God awful most of last year is wasteful and plain stupid. Economics what they are, there still no way to look at spending that money on Villone and have it come out as a sensible decision.
Another point:
“So let’s see how stupid our $5 milliom p/y, 6 Pennant,
4 WSC manager is tomorrow after the meeting.
P.S. When he retires he won’t be writing. He’ll be and ESPN uber analyst – a Peter Gammons with “in the trenchesâ€? credibilty but without the stutter and the Red Sox bias.”
How is his salary a part of his “genius”? I like Joe, and I don’t mind him most of the time, but the manager has very little to do with winning or losing most days. A HOF manager may win his team 2-3 games over the course of a season while Dusty Baker may lose you 2-3. On a team with as much talent as the Yankees, giving Joe that much credit for wins and lossed is misguided in my opinion.
Also, Joe Torre is not a good analyst. He was a tv guy before the Yankees brought him in and he’s nowhere near as articulate as Peter Gammons. Being an ESPN “uber analyst” isn’t all that hard when they have Jon Kruk and Steve Phillips on board.
Again, I don’t like to knock Joe all that often, but he’s no genius, and he’s no idiot. He’s a lifer with a feel for certain clubhouse situations. That’s his strength.
I think the villone over henn is the most likely bad scenario
Phillips over Phelps is downright absurd, and i cannot fathom this happening, even with this loyalty thing going
villone and phillips make the team. it’s been set in stone since day one of camp. i’ve said this multiple times. anyone who knows the first thing about torre knew this was exactly how it would play out.
Knowing Torre and his “loyalty to a fault” mentality, he wouldn’t badmouth Villone even knowing Villone has looked real bad this spring, and isn’t worth keeping.
Perhaps Torre was just trying to say something positive about Villone before they ease him out the door. I hope.
And no way in hell do they choose Phillips over Phelps.
Mike Plugh:
Good comments.
I’d pick Henn over Villone, but am really tired of the “Joe’s an idiot” mentality of many Yankee fans.
Apparently, I’m to be led to believe that if Villone and/or Phillips make the team, it’s because bad Joe Torre made the call, over-ruling objections from every member of the coaching staff, Cashman, and Michael.
If Henn and/or Phelps make the team, it’s because Cashman flew in (yes, he had a cape and everything) and over-ruled the bad, evil Joe Torre.
Joe Bad, Brian Good. Joe Idiot, Brian Genius.
The coaching staff is probably just a front. Torre completely ignores them. That bad, bad Joe Torre…..
Sorry, but such nonsense doesn’t work for me. Yes, Torre makes mistakes, but the same can be said about every member of the organization. IMO, Torre and Cashman have a good working relationship.
Perhaps it’s easier for some to have a scapegoat. “Joe Must Go” in March??? Unbelievable.
http://www.nj.com/yankees/ledg.....038;coll=1
Looks like Phelps made the team.
Good luck to Andy. I’d love to see him get a shot elsewhere.
Will there be any retractions by the Torre bashers, or was this call made despite Torre’s staunch objections??
“villone and phillips make the team. it’s been set in stone since day one of camp. i’ve said this multiple times.”
was it soapstone?
“In the trenches.” Can we stop with the war metaphors, please? Turn on your TV if you want to see what war looks like. And from my TV it surely doesn’t look like baseball. Ron Villone has one job with the Yankees: getting batters out. And the bottom line is: he’s not very good at that anymore. He wasn;t good at it for the last three months of last season and he hasn’t been good at this spring training. Sure, he may have the veteran leadership factor, experience, wiles, and a belly full of guts, but all that means nothing if you can’t get guys out.
And who cares if “word out of Boston” is that the Red Sox want Villone. That’s more of a commentary on the utter suckitude of the Boston bullpen than it is on excellence of Ron Villone.
I think Phillips is toast unless they DL him with a fake injury. The only thing that he’s got going for him is that he can play multiple infield positions. The Yanks are awfully left-handed a little pop off the bench is a good asset to have. Hopefully, Joe will remember the dynamic that Straw brought during his tenure.
As for the lefties, hopefully someone puts a fork in Villone for Joe. I am not sold on Henn just yet but with Myers as a LOOGY and other guys with good numbers against lefties, the ‘pen should be OK.
Villone to boston?! – That would be excellent.
Ron Villone was good kinda like Tanyon Sturtze was good – he pitched well for a short period of time before reverting back to the pitcher he’s always been. In Sturtze’s case it was one month of work. Villone had two, maybe three good months, IIRC. But if you look at his entire resume, you see mediocrity. I like the guy for what he did last year, but he is not, nor has he ever been, a particularly good pitcher.
Mind you, I don’t think Henn is any good either. But at least Henn is young and could “turn the corner.” Villone is what he is at this point.
I don’t think Villone suddenly reverted back to norm. There was a stretch over the summer (right before and I believe in game two of The Boston Massacre II) where Villone was out there everyday no matter what. Your ERA doesn’t jump eight runs because you have ‘reverted to the norm’. The Yankees should never have resigned him. I appreciate his contributions last year but he is toast now. I remember Pete saying Villone was looking for a multi-year deal around the Winter Meetings and that multiple teams would give it to him. Guess that didn’t turn out too well.
I’ve heard it stated a number of times that with Phelps LONG swing, he won’t be good off the bench and not hitting on a consistant basis.
Phelps has only had 9 at-bats as a pinch-hitter in his career — 3 hits, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K.
If it means anything, his career against lefties: .293/.357/.500.
kasey – according to anonymous sources, phelps made the cut and phillips has been waived.
I don’t know what they’re going to do with phillips as they need to get duncan his playing time in scranton, which leaves phillips the odd man out there as well. my guess would be a trade if he clears waivers, even for a minor prospect.
actually, come to think of it, it might be better for Phillips if someone claimed him. maybe the nationals?