His reaction to the feedback from his comments yesterday regarding the New York Mets:
“I apologize to Jerry Manuel and to all the other managers. I don’t blame them; they don’t want to get stepped on. I think it’s the wrong thing to do and I apologize. It certainly wasn’t my intention to do that.
I’m closing the door on managing the Mets and probably everybody else. Because I don’t want to mislead anybody. When I leave here…I’m anticipating that will be my last game as manager. I didn’t have any anticipation that I’m going to manage anywhere else. But I don’t want to shut any doors to what possibly could be the next phase of my professional life.
I would doubt very seriously that there would be anything that would entice me to manage again. As I’ve said a number of times, this is pretty good duty out here. It’s pretty good duty. This weather, this ballpark, the Dodgers which have been a storied franchise. I know right there are a lot of questions about what’s going on…but it’s still a pretty darn good place to be.”
On his interest level in writing a book about his time with the Dodgers:
“No. The New York thing was much different…the roller coaster ride and all that stuff. And when I first started there and was there three years like I am here, I had no interest in writing a book. Once you spend as much time as I did there and had excitement from winning and depression about losing, and not really wanting to talk about it, because it wasn’t finished yet. And I still wouldn’t have written the book unless Tom [Verducci] had come up to me and asked if I had any interest in the kind of book he wanted to do. But no, I have no interest in writing a book [about the Dodgers].”
On the possibility of writing a book with LA Times beat writer Dylan Hernandez:
Torre jokingly responded, “It would have to be a children’s book if [Hernandez] was going to do it.”
On the Dodgers interest level in playing the role of spoiler:
“I hope so, because it’s really all that’s left for us. It’s more, have an impact on a pennant race. In our division, we’re pretty lucky, because we have three of them [contending teams]. If I’m sitting in one of those other dugouts or clubhouses now, in San Francisco or Colorado, I’m hoping that we’re going to play like hell to beat [the Padres]. And that’s only fair to do. And that’s the way we’ve arranged our pitching. The other day, being back 6-1, we certainly didn’t throw in the towel in that game and I was proud of that. But it is tougher to play this time of year, and that’s really the only thing that gets your blood boiling a little bit. That’s what the game is supposed to be.”
On which players Torre is considering to let manage at the end of the season:
“I’m considering Russell [Martin]. Where I normally favor the older guys, I may be thinking more of the younger guys. I’ve thrown it out to them. Ausmus maybe, but he’s going to catch the last game. That’s going to be his swan song…we’re going to be swaning together.”
Joe Torre’s Pre-Game Quotes
Better late than never…
His reaction to the feedback from his comments yesterday regarding the New York Mets:
“I apologize to Jerry Manuel and to all the other managers. I don’t blame them; they don’t want to get stepped on. I think it’s the wrong thing to do and I apologize. It certainly wasn’t my intention to do that.
I’m closing the door on managing the Mets and probably everybody else. Because I don’t want to mislead anybody. When I leave here…I’m anticipating that will be my last game as manager. I didn’t have any anticipation that I’m going to manage anywhere else. But I don’t want to shut any doors to what possibly could be the next phase of my professional life.
I would doubt very seriously that there would be anything that would entice me to manage again. As I’ve said a number of times, this is pretty good duty out here. It’s pretty good duty. This weather, this ballpark, the Dodgers which have been a storied franchise. I know right there are a lot of questions about what’s going on…but it’s still a pretty darn good place to be.”
On his interest level in writing a book about his time with the Dodgers:
“No. The New York thing was much different…the roller coaster ride and all that stuff. And when I first started there and was there three years like I am here, I had no interest in writing a book. Once you spend as much time as I did there and had excitement from winning and depression about losing, and not really wanting to talk about it, because it wasn’t finished yet. And I still wouldn’t have written the book unless Tom [Verducci] had come up to me and asked if I had any interest in the kind of book he wanted to do. But no, I have no interest in writing a book [about the Dodgers].”
On the possibility of writing a book with LA Times beat writer Dylan Hernandez:
Torre jokingly responded, “It would have to be a children’s book if [Hernandez] was going to do it.”
On the Dodgers interest level in playing the role of spoiler:
“I hope so, because it’s really all that’s left for us. It’s more, have an impact on a pennant race. In our division, we’re pretty lucky, because we have three of them [contending teams]. If I’m sitting in one of those other dugouts or clubhouses now, in San Francisco or Colorado, I’m hoping that we’re going to play like hell to beat [the Padres]. And that’s only fair to do. And that’s the way we’ve arranged our pitching. The other day, being back 6-1, we certainly didn’t throw in the towel in that game and I was proud of that. But it is tougher to play this time of year, and that’s really the only thing that gets your blood boiling a little bit. That’s what the game is supposed to be.”
On which players Torre is considering to let manage at the end of the season:
“I’m considering Russell [Martin]. Where I normally favor the older guys, I may be thinking more of the younger guys. I’ve thrown it out to them. Ausmus maybe, but he’s going to catch the last game. That’s going to be his swan song…we’re going to be swaning together.”
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