Thank you, Joe. You're welcome back here anytime.

I know Joe Torre wrote a book that really bothered a lot of people within the Yankee organization. I know Brian Cashman wasn't pleased that he was protrayed as a guy who became beholden to the designer stats of the day and, in the end, refused to stand up for Torre the way he had in the past. I know the Steinbrenner family was upset that Torre essentially outed how sick The Boss, George Steinbrenner, was by the time the 2007 season ended. We all know that Alex Rodriguez isn't a fan of Torre after his book painted the slugger as a self-absorbed prima donna who obsessed over Derek Jeter and couldn't come through in the clutch.
All of that is valid.
And, I know Joe Torre continues to hold a grudge against the Yankees for essentially forcing him out, but not having the guts to outright let him go for fear of the inevitable public relations backlash.
Again, valid.
However, if Joe Torre is truly done as a manager, and will now retreat to a job on television or, perhaps, with Major League Baseball, it is my hope that all old hard feelings subside and Torre can once again find a home with the Yankees.
Joe Torre is one of the great New York Yankees in history, as far as managers go. He led that team to four world championships. He was a part of a golden era for the Yankees, a dynasty, not just a string of good teams.
Some of his best managerial jobs came when the Yankees didn't even get out of the first round of the playoffs. If you have a chance on a slow Saturday afternoon (or a slow day at work) go check out the roster of the 2005 and 2006 teams, especially the starting rotations. Joe Girardi would have had a hard time winning 88 games with Aaron Small leading the way for half a season.
It's gotten somewhat foolish on the YES Network these days. Torre has been all but expunged from the Yankee history. There are no Yankeeography specials broadcast anymore. No more highlights of Torre crying after the 1996 championship. It's as if the Bombers managed themselves between 1996 and 2007.
But, what happens in the next six years when the Yankees want to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the '96 championship (my God, has it been that long) and everyone from Paul O'Neill to Tino Martinez, to Bernie Williams, to perhaps a recently retired Derek Jeter, show up at the stadium. Is Joe Torre going to be forgotten, even then?
Yogi Berra swore he would never set foot back in Yankee Stadium after George Steinbrenner calously fired one of the great Yankees of all time after only 17 games in 1982, and didn't even have the decency to speak to him personally. In 1999, he returned. Joe Torre is a Yankee icon. I hope for all our sake, and for his, this petty squabbling can be set aside and he can be welcomes back with open arms. The Yankees handled his departure about as poorly as possible. Torre perhaps could have been more diplomatic in his book about the Yankee years. Both share some of the blame for the split. Neither side did something so egregious that it should detract from what was acheived during those years. Joe Torre cannot be wiped off Yankee history. He had too much to do with writing that history, no matter what a schmuck like Michael Kay wants to believe.

A quick note about Donnie Baseball taking over as the Dodgers manager next year. I hope for his sake that the Dodgers get good again, and fast. I love Donnie and believe he will make a great manager. He knows the game, knows the players, and is one of the most respected guys in the sport. The idea that some Triple A guy in the Dodgers organization should have gotten the call over Mattingly is, to me, absurd. Donnie has been a long-time coach in this league, and was, at one time, one of the best players in the league, a guy who would have punched his ticket to Cooperstown easily had it not been for his back injuries. You honestly believe that some no-name Triple A guy is going to command more respect in the clubhouse than Don Mattingly? (yes, I'm looking at you when I say that, Edurado Perez)
What concerns me is the Dodgers. Frank McCourt is going through his blitzkrieg of a divorce and much of the speculation is that, for a team with talent, there will be little done in the offseason to compliment that talent and help the Dodgers regain NL West-leading form. If Donnie is given the right roster, I believe the Dodgers can once again be a contender. However, if the McCourt family's woes prevent any kind of action, I have no idea how, exactly, Donnie can turn that team around.
It will be tough, though, if Donnie starts to win, to see him celebrating in Dodger blue. Can we trade managers? Is that possible? Girardi for Mattingly, straight up?

Put the Phil Hughes Cy Young Winner celebratory cake on ice for a while.

I have not been a fan of Phil Hughes.
Part of my issue with him really has little to actually do with Hughes. He couldn't control how the Yankees promoted and hyped him, how they called him the "next Roger Clemens" (one assumes without the steroids), and how they refused to trade him for anyone. Listening to the breathless description of him as a pitcher, I was expecting to see a combination of Sandy Koufax and Jesus.
But, even though Hughes was lower on my favorite player totem pole, and even though I had serious arguements with my friends about The Franchise as a pitcher, I couldn't deny how Hughes started the season. April looked like the culmination of everything I had heard about Hughes. His fastball was exploding, his curve was 12-6, and he had great control. Unlike the other overhyped Yankee phenom, Joba Chamberlain, who was given his chance to start last year and failed, Hughes was efficient and effective every time out. My friends who insisted Hughes would find his feet crowed and I, as the Hughes detractor, admitted that I might have made a mistake. Maybe Hughes really was the next superstar pitcher in waiting.
Then May hit and things went back to normal.
In his first six starts of the season, Hughes was utterly brilliant, going 4-0 and producing a wonderful 1.38 ERA. Then, on May 17, he got bombed by the Red Sox and things have gone down hill from there. His June ERA was 5.17, his July ERA even worse at 5.52. In August, Hughes bounced back from being miserable to just being okay with a 4.22 ERA. As I write this, Hughes is making his first start in September and, so far, it is a normal Hughes start of three innings, two runs.
He has won 16 games because of the amazing run support he has received from the Yankee offense, almost 7 runs a game (the highest in the majors) and because the bullpen has, with the acquisition of Kerry Wood and the emergence of Boone Logan (who was finally given a chance to perform by the ever-inept Joe Girardi), become one of the best in the league.
Hughes supporters can talk about his wins all they want. They can also continue to insist that 24 is somehow too young to judge what a pitcher is or will be. The truth is, there is nothing on Phil Hughes' resume that would suggest he will ever be anything other than, at best, a third starter in this league.
His stuff is pedestrian. His fastball is 92 and straight, with a delivery that doesn't involve any deception at all. His curve is nice but certainly not devastating. His changeup, the pitch that supposedly earned him a spot in the rotation, doesn't exist, and his cutter is usually just a flat fastball.
I am not suggesting the Yankees trade Hughes (although I don't believe he or Joba should be untouchable) but it seems clear now that the most coveted Yankee pitching prospect in years is no more than Jon Garland in waiting. Considering they had a chance to trade for Johan Santana if they gave up on Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and Ian Kennedy, it would appear the Yanks sorely misread yet another prospect.