Bowa comments on Torre
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- November
- 5
Here is what Larry Bowa said today on Sirius Satellite Radio
Host, Andrew Bogusch: “Exactly what will you be doing for Torre’s staff? I didn’t see a specific title for you yet.â€
Larry Bowa: “Right now it’s probably going to be coaching third for them. It could be bench coach but I think it is going to be coaching third. I know we’ve talked and it depends how he puts the rest of his staff together, I think.â€
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Bogusch: “Is Don [Mattingly] going to be the hitting coach?â€
Bowa: “Don’s either going to be the hitting coach or the bench coach so, again, it is how he puts his staff together.â€
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Bogusch: “Are there any hard feelings about the way things ended for this staff here in New York with the Yankees?â€
Bowa: “No, not really. The only thing that was a little bit, I don’t know, rubbed people the wrong way maybe was the way Joe was handled. As a coach, you know when a new manager comes in that the guidelines are they get to bring in who they want. And if you take that personally then you shouldn’t be in baseball. That’s just the way the game sort of revolves. I don’t know. I just thought if there was anybody in baseball that could really go out on his own terms. I know there’s not too many people who can do that. I think Joe Torre earned that right but it didn’t work out. It didn’t take him very long obviously to land on his feet again. The Yankees are a great organization. I just thought that maybe they would give Joe the option of managing a couple more years and then maybe going upstairs or something of that nature. But the more you play the game the more you realize it is a business and you have to treat it as such.â€
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Bogusch: “You’ve been around him. You’ve been a manager yourself. What is it about him that makes players love him so much?â€
Bowa: “Well, I just think he has full control. When he walks into a room it’s like everybody, you realize it’s Joe Torre. When he talks, you listen. When Joe talks, he’s got a lot of experience. He’s got a lot of wins under his belt. He’s got a lot of rings on his fingers. So obviously he’s going to get your attention real quick. He really likes to stress how important it is to play the game the right way, play hard, let the chips fall where they may but understand that you don’t make dumb mistakes when you’re down five or six runs, you don’t run into foolish outs. He’s a stickler on stuff like that. He’s not going to get on anybody for striking out. He’s not going to get on anybody for making errors. But when you do things that show that you’re not into the game mentally, he’s going to let you know about it.
“He has a way of keeping everything together, keeping everything under control, sticking by his game plan. He’s very loyal to his players. If you have a track record and you start off slow he’s not going to pull the plug on you right away. If there’s a so-called – I never did understand what this meant – but I keep hearing the word he’s a player’s manager. He lets you vent if you want to vent. Everybody knows who is in charge when you walk into the room and everybody knows that he wants everyone to be on the same page. I think he has a lot of plusses going for him before he even manages a game, whether it’s an exhibition game or a regular season game.â€
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on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 6:47 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
So are we getting Dodger game threads as well?
I’ll miss Bowa, but I’m not gloomy about the Yanks in 2008. In fact, I’m rather the opposite.
Torre turned down a contract. That’s going out on his “own terms.”
Does Larry Bowa think Torre was fired?
Pete, thanks for the info. It’s interesting to hear the take of Torre’s other coaches from the Yank’s staff.
Thanks Pete, I really appreciate Bowa’s honesty.
But, honestly, who cares?
Phil: It’s just a blog. I post stuff that people might be interested in. That the former 3B coach of the Yankees thinks the former manager of the Yankees didn’t go out on his own terms seems like news to me.
I know the Torre Haters of America have convinced themselves that Torre turned down a terrific offer. But most everybody in baseball knows the Yankees came up with an offer they knew he would turn down to avoid being the bad guys. It was clumsy and it backfired but that’s what they did.
And that’s fine, that’s business. Doesn’t mean Bowa (or Torre) had to like it.
“It was clumsy and it backfired but that’s what they did.”
It may be clumsy, but it backfired?
Please…..
Yankees will have better success with Girardi.
I wish Torre all the best.
But let us wait and see what he can do without Yankee money. Time will tell.
Yankees will have better success with Girardi.
I wish Torre all the best.
But let us wait and see what he can do without Yankee money. Time will tell.
What are you smoking? 4 time WS Champs will be quite a feat to top.
Why yall bustin on Torre all the time?You got who you wanted General Girardi.Hes gonna whip this team right into shape right?
BBF: Time will definitely tell. About five years of time, to be specific. If we do have better success with Girardi than with Torre, Jeter will have five more rings by then. Hope you’re right!
It is very interesting to get Bowa’s point of view. I still do not understand the need to bash Torre as one of the top managers of all time. He has the wins and he has the rings. What more can you want except more wins and more rings? But everyone wants that. But Joe has more than just about everyone. So okay it was time for a change, that is fine. But how do you knock a man with that much success and truly why would you want to?
I love Bowa and always have being a life long (all 41 years I have lived lol) he is really good player, great 3rd base coach and in my opinion was a really good manager.
To me the interesting thing is not his take on Torre I have heard him say that before BUT where he will be on the staff.
IMO he should be the bench coach, he is the only one who has recent NL managing experience and can help Joe with the adjustment back to the NL. Although Donnie being the hitting coach, which we know he was good at seems like a step down from being bench coach. If he were named bench coach he would have A LOT to learn as he has NO experience witht he NL.
bowa seems like a sharp guy who knows the score. i think he’s got it in him to be a pretty good manager on his own at some point, despite how things worked out in philly.
The Yanks will miss Bowa at 3rd base windmilling those runners home – LOL – he’s a very cool dude and I like that he says it like it is. Good luck to Torre and company out in LA – just so long as the NY Yankees win the WS in 2008!
BBF –
It backfired because it turned into a public relations nightmare for the front office. They got what they wanted (Torre gone) but it came with a lot of bad publicity, and worse it reminded people of the bad old days.
Personally, Torre can never be thanked enough for the job he did in NY.
It is, however, odd to read comments like that and not consider the other 1900 games he managed for other teams besides the Yankees. The job he did in 1996 was obviously tremendous. But after that, were the 1998 – 2000 teams “Joe Torre’s teams” ? Or were they Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill’s, Tino Martinez, Derek Jeter, Roger Clemens, David Wells, David Cone, Jorge Posada’s, Mariano Rivera’s, and Andy Pettitte’s team ???
I mean, honestly, how many of those guys are in the HOF or borderline HOF ???
Absolutely if the Dodgers magically reform their roster to include guys like the ones listed above, they will be wildly successful.
There is no severing those 4 championships in 6 WS from the influence of Joe Torre. But at some point the hype begins to take on a life of it’s own.
And in case anyone noticed, the success Joe Girardi is really being measured against is getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs for 3 straight seasons.
And YES, I absolutely think Girardi will be more successful than Torre in that regard.
“When he walks into a room it’s like everybody, you realize it’s Joe Torre.”
Wow – Joe’s a lot like Elvis.
“And in case anyone noticed, the success Joe Girardi is really being measured against is getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs for 3 straight seasons.”
Well said.
It is time not to live in the long past and see what happened in the last five years.
Am I disrespecting Torre for his achievements in the first five years? No.
Should he be held accountable for the post season failures for the last five years? Yes.
You can ignore it for a couple of years, but after that one should be held accountable.
Torre is not managing the Yankees.
He left on his own choosing.
Still, many here write about him as if he is the second coming of Elvis. Why is it OK, but differing on his value is not OK. It goes both ways.
The Yankees got rid of Torre and now pay a lot less money to a much more talented manager. If that’s backfiring, I’m glad their plan backfired.
So being in the playoffs every year is a total failure? Talk about a spoiled baseball fan.How many fans would be thrilled to even have their team make it to the playoffs?
I am disappointed to see him go. Does anyone know if Bowa will remain in contact with Robbie and possibly still help him out over phone long distance?
Why do people always bring up what a failure Torre was before coming to the Yanks? He was a .475 manager in the NL with some of the worst teams in MLB history. Girardi had a similar winning percentage with a team full of young superstars and people think he’s the second coming of Christ.
“How many fans would be thrilled to even have their team make it to the playoffs?”
If you are rooting for a Kansas City Royals team which does not spend money, it is no doubt a thrill to be in the playoffs. With Yankees, they spend more than any other team by a wide margin and expectations will be higher, not only from the fans but also from the ownership. Otherwise why should they spend all that money. They could also take profits like many other owners.
I for one do not feel it is necessary to make it to the playoffs every Year. But the way we lost in the playoffs for the last few years in spite of the telent, it speaks a lot about the manager. One year or two years you can blame the players, but after that it becomes an old song.
Jeez. So after you read Bowa’s comments you realize this is the way the rest of baseball looks at Joe Torre.
Makes you wonder what’s going on in YankeeFantasyLand. Remember Bob Watson’s infamous remark about the baseball people being inside someone’s head.
hey Tim aka Hey Knowitallbraham …....I know some Professionals that can help you….really.
Tim i take it you removed your torre autographed poster off ur wall?
Yeah, good one. Take a shot at Girardi by saying his team was sub .500
Interesting in that despite that record he was voted Manager of the Year. Yeah, he sucks alright.
Also funny that I intended to mention the “highest payroll in the game” but didn’t. Yeah, we’re spoiled. We expect the manager to be able to take the highest paid team in the game to the playoffs. No, it’s not a lock, but I’m pretty sure being able to pay more for the players than any other team in the game tends to make winning games a wee bit easier.
It’s also not just failing to win a single postseason series in 3 years, it also comes down to 2 putrid starts in 3 years. There were SOME extenuating circumstances in both cases, but the horrible play extended much longer than can be excused. The team simply failed to play with any sense of urgency for the first 2 months of the season.
Pretty telling that not one person has tried to address the fact that those championships were won on the backs of some really, really talented teams.
Still amazes me that Wang collapses in the playoffs, pitches two games worse than an “A” ball pitcher, the “Ace” of the pitching staff, and Torre turns into the worst Manager in the world all of a sudden.
Time for a change, maybe, but let the blame fall where it should, on the guys that didn’t do their jobs on the field.
Cashman and George hired these guys, not Torre.
A-Rod, Jeter and Posada hit for squat and Torre is to blame. The whole team went flat, it is not all Torre’s fault. 200 million dollars or not, the money doesn’t guarantee a cohesive team or a winning team. It just means they spent a lot of money and got a poor return.
It’s even funnier that Girardi, who managed a total of “ONE” whole year, is suddenly the best thing since the invention of the wheel. Not to say he’s bad or good but one year is no measure of what he will do over time.
I wish him good luck, he’s gonna need it.
Funny stuff.