January 31, 2009

Joe Torre Statistics Bias

Now I'm not one to criticize other writers. However, in this particular case, I felt the need to. A writer, who's name will not be mentioned, had a story about Joe Torre in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. It had to do with all the controversy he's created with his new book, the Yankee years. Now as I was reading it, it all seemed to be going pretty well, except I noticed one thing. The article said that the Yankees had made Torre a 1-year deal worth $5mm, "a 33% pay decrease from his '07 salary." Now 33% sounds like a lot, but don't be deceived. If the offer was for $5mm, then that means that Torre actually made $7.5mm in the previous season, a pay decrease of just $2.5mm. That's $3mm less than the pay decrease that Andy Pettitte would've received if he had taken the Yankees initial offer ($10.5mm). Plus, the most his contract could be worth if he reaches incentives is $12mm, still a $4mm pay decrease. 

So does Torre really have a right to be upset? Did he receive a fair offer from the Yankees considering his club hadn't won the world series in seven years (a lot for the Yankees)? Have you lost your respect for Torre, not just because of this article, but for all that he's done with his book? These are all questions I'd like to hear your answers to. Please comment below.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

From what I read, the paycut issue with Torre was media-created controversy. He said the main issue was spending another year under a lame-duck contract. He wanted that second year added to try to avoid some of the midseason firing bullshit he had to deal with throughout 2007. I can definately see Joe's side of it and it's pretty obvious the Steinbrenners were ready to move on and just wanted to save face by making a token offer. He probably shouldn't have allowed some of the more intinate clubhouse details to come out, but se la vie.

Anonymous said...

Didn't he end up taking a similar paycut in his Dodgers contract?