Report: Mets might be able to lure Torre..

wilheim · Sep 18, 2010

Former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre won't hang up the phone on the New York Mets if the team wants to bring him home, the New York Post reported Saturday.

Though the 70-year-old is leaning toward calling it a managerial career, after Friday announcing he will step down as Dodgers manager at the end of this season, a person close to the Brooklyn native said the Mets might be the only team that could lure Torre back to the dugout for 2011.

The Mets are expected to announce within the next three weeks that they will not be picking up the option for next season on manager Jerry Manuel's contract. Wally Backman remains the front-runner for the job, but an organizational source would not rule out the possibility of the Mets at least inquiring about Torre, who has a strong relationship with principal owner Fred Wilpon.

Wilpon became Mets president in 1980, a season before Torre was fired as the team's manager. Wilpon is a supporter of Torre's Safe at Home Foundation.

"The Mets are certainly an inviting situation because they have a lot better personnel than their record shows," the person close to Torre said. "The injuries have hurt them."

Though Backman led the Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones to the playoffs this season, there is some question within the organization whether he is ready to guide a major league team. One line of thinking is the Mets could hand the reins to Torre for two years and put Backman next to him as the bench coach. Backman would then be groomed for the top job, in the same manner Torre worked with Don Mattingly, who will be succeeding him with the Dodgers.

Torre would not come cheaply. He is completing a three-year contract worth $13 million, and would want to be compensated in the same annual range by the Mets, according to the source.

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NyMets609 · Sep 18, 2010

it doesn't even matter who manages this club unless they change the front office around. The decisions by Minaya and the rest of the front office have been just horrendous and it effects the entire organization. There needs to be a completely new culture if they want to start winning and be respectable.

IMO they need to bring in Kevin Towers and go from there....

JohnnyMac · Sep 18, 2010

Torre to the Cubs.

eoghater · Sep 18, 2010

Torre can't even compete with talent around him now. That Dodger team should've contended this year and you can't even blame it on Manny being a distraction because they are sucking even more without him.

If he manages the Mets, it'll be a disaster. If Minaya returns, any manager will fail.

JoeFalls · Sep 18, 2010

torre wouldn't make a difference there. hang it up joe, you're 70 yrs old. he does have experience in the booth.

donkeybucks · Sep 19, 2010

Joe is ready to retire.........he's had enough.

VIEJODINOSAUR · Sep 19, 2010

Like to see Joe in the booth also....

wilheim · Sep 21, 2010

Torre won't rule out return to Mets..New York Post article.

Joe Torre could see himself coming home again.

Torre, who is stepping down as manager of the Dodgers at the end of the season, wouldn't rule out the possibility of returning to the Mets next year.

"I am curious," Torre said on WFAN yesterday when asked about what teams might be interested in having him in their dugout next year. "When the season is over, I hope the phone will be ringing."
The Mets have to decide whether they want to make that call.

The comments came after The Post reported last week that Torre, who guided the Yankees to four World Series titles, could possibly be lured back to his former team -- with whom he got his managerial start as a player/manager in 1977.

"That's where it all started for me in '77; it would really be weird," Torre said of a potential return to Queens.

The Mets are not expected to bring manager Jerry Manuel back after this season, which will almost certainly be their fourth straight season -- and second under Manuel -- without a playoff appearance.

Torre said he has not talked to the Mets or any other team.
"I have not had and nobody that I know of has had contact with anybody," said Torre, who has a relationship with Mets owner Fred Wilpon.

The 70-year-old Torre announced last week that he would not return to manage the Dodgers and he will be replaced by Don Mattingly, both of whom were at Yankee Stadium yesterday when the team honored late owner George Steinbrenner.

If the Mets were to talk to Torre, they would likely have to match the contract he had with the Dodgers, which was a three-year deal for $13 million. There's a chance the Mets don't want to make that kind of financial investment in a manager and could hire Wally Backman instead -- or they could bring back Bobby Valentine if they opt to spend that much money.

The Mets might not be an ideal fit for Torre because they have plenty of questions heading into next season. Torre is leaving a Dodgers team that was disappointing this year and whose ownership is in a state of flux.

"I was very frustrated by the ballclub really spinning their wheels over the last year," Torre said of his final season in Los Angeles. "I made up my mind about a month ago and let Donnie know how I was feeling, but I didn't want to say anything until we were completely out of the race."

Torre also hasn't ruled out a possible return to the Dodgers in a different capacity and said he plans on meeting with Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti to discuss staying on with the organization.
But Torre, a Brooklyn native, also made it clear that he wouldn't rule out returning to the dugout.

"I made the announcement about not coming back to the Dodgers and I left the door open," Torre said. "I don't really anticipate managing again, but I think it would be unfair not to listen just out of curiosity to see if something excites me. . . . I am not sure if something will intrigue me, but I am not shutting the door."

It will be up to the Mets to decide whether to keep it open.

New York Post..

BostonBettor · Sep 21, 2010

I don't think Girardi has a contract for next year. If he isn't rehired, I wonder if Joe T would come back to the Yankees? Stranger things have happened . . . .