Hank Steinbrenner to Joe Torre: You’re still fired

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

A nice coup for the Sporting News. They published a first-person article by Hank Steinbrenner, who makes some good points about baseball records in relation to which teams make the playoffs.

In other words, it’s not an apology for firing Joe Torre.

As defensible as his opinion might be on that particular subject, it comes off as defensive. New York Times columnist George Vecsey wrote last week that the Yankees might be better off if they still had Torre as manager, pointing out that the Dodgers appear headed to the playoffs and Steinbrenner’s team isn’t going.

‘Baseball went to a multidivision setup to create more races, rivalries and excitement,’’ Steinbrenner wrote. ‘But it isn’t fair. You see it this season, with plenty of people in the media pointing out that Joe Torre and the Dodgers are going to the playoffs while we’re not. This is by no means a knock on Torre -- let me make that clear -- but look at the division they’re in. If L.A. were in the AL East, it wouldn’t be in the playoff discussion.’’

Steinbrenner is like a good politician, avoiding Vecsey’s point. The question for him is not about the Dodgers, but about how the Yankees would have done if he hadn’t replaced Torre with Joe Girardi.

-- Randy Harvey