The Out Route

I had a feeling the makeup of the Yankees was going to change after they predictably lost to the Tigers on Saturday, but I wasn't quite prepared to emerge from the bathroom of the Grand Saloon Saturday night to see Kyle pointing at a Sportscenter report with a bottom third that read, "REPORT: Joe Torre to be replaced by Lou Piniella."

Wanna get rid of A-Rod? I agree. Sheffield? Absolutely. Mussina? No doubt. But if Steinbrenner fires Torre, he's firing the wrong guy. He should direct his attention to the front office and GM Brian Cashman, who changed philosophies despite winning four World Series' in Torre's first five years. Those early teams were built on a great formula: one emerging young superstar (Jeter), a few talented veterans (Pettitte, Boggs, O'Neill, Williams) and a group of valuable role players (Girardi, Duncan, Hayes, etc). Suddenly, those talented veterans were replaced with on-the-decline veterans (Big Unit, Ventura) and just bad choices (Mondesi, A-Rod, White, Weaver, etc). The Yankees failed for the same reason the Olympic basketball, the World Cup, and World Baseball Classic teams (among many other compilations) have all failed. They lacked chemistry and played for themselves instead of each other. They lost to teams with chemistry. That's Cashman's fault (and probably Steinbrenner's as well; I'd imagine the newer All-Star philosophy sat really well with him), not Torre's.