Torre Deserves Better Than To Twist In The Wind

If I was Joe Torre, I'd tell the Yankees to take their job and shove it. And that would be the kindest way that I'd phrase it.

I would tell them, "You either want me or you don't want me. Period. So what's the big holdup?"

Torre has been twisting in the wind ever since the Yankees' capitulation to the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS. That makes seven years since the last championship for the Bronx Bombers -- a time frame in which they've blown a 3-0 lead to the Red Sox in the ALCS, seen a heavily underdog Florida team upend them in the World Series, and doing so just two years after seeing the heavily underdog Arizona Diamondbacks upend them in the World Series. OH, and last year, the heavily underdog Tigers upended them in the ALDS.

OK, so there seems to be a pattern of post-season failure here. And if that's enough to cast Torre aside after 12 seasons, then so be it. But so be it SOON, instead of this nonsense where team execs hole themselves up in a conference room in Tampa and emerge with no news as to whether the 67-year-old will manage the team in 2008.

Torre has won four World Series as Yankees manager. Granted, they came within the first five years of his tenure, but he still deserves better than sitting at home, wondering if he'll be back. The Yankees have been out of the playoffs for a couple of weeks now.

It's not idiotic to suggest that sometimes players need a different voice. Torre is easily the longest-tenured manager in the American League because he wins, and because there really hasn't been anyone else who could handle managing under the circumstances that he manages under. Yet 12 years is a long time, and despite the annual trips to the playoffs, maybe it indeed is time for a new leader. Fine. Just make a decision, already.

Just about everyone has weighed in on the Torre Question. Everyone that is, except the people who decide his fate: GM Brian Cashman, and owner George Steinbrenner. All the Internet polls and talk radio discussions in the world don't change this distinct fact: that Joe Torre has no idea what his status with the Yankees is this morning. And that's shameful, even for an organization as filled with drama as the Yankees'.

Part of the drama is self-assigned. I don't know what's taking the powers to be so long to come to a consensus. Either you want Joe Torre as your manager, or you don't. Period. I can see arguments for both yes and no. And, presumably, so can the Yankees brass. They're just taking far too long in sorting those arguments out.

To quote The Clash, "Should I stay or should I go now?"

Yes? Or no?