Alright, so I’ve already done my share of ripping Joe Torre for co-authoring his “don’t call it a tell-all” tell-all book. I reserved some judgment because I hadn’t yet read it, but still considered the entire gesture to be pretty poor on his part. No need to reveal some of the locker room gossip from the Yankee days. Well, there was an excerpt in SI that confirmed what I had read about the book — Torre harbors bitter feelings toward Brian Cashman for the way things ended. Anyway, once Torre spilled the beans you figured the players would start bad-mouthing him Jon Gruden-style. First in line as you might have imagined was David Wells. Check out what Boomer served up on The Monty Show on Sporting News Radio:
[Joe Torre] should be called J-Fraud. He managed guys like Jeter — guys that were very easy to manage — those everyday players. But when there were guys under the bubble that were struggling, or basket cases like me I guess, he didn’t want anything to do with us.
…
Joe, he wasn’t tough on guys, he just treated you like crap. If you weren’t in his little circle — the circle of trust — then he could care less about you. I’ve had quite a few confrontations with him. It’s like guys get to fly early … I had to fly with the team — it’s stuff like that. If you’re going to do it for one guy, you might as well do it for the rest, and that’s what he didn’t do with the majority of guys.
I’m not sure which players were given the preferential treatment, but I’m guessing it’s pretty easy to figure out. Boomer also said that the ’98 team was so close it was like they didn’t need a manager; guys always hung out together and went to restaurants together. Wells told the hosts that they could have managed the team that year, confirming what I’ve said all along. If players were going to come out and start bad-mouthing Torre now that he’s spewing all, no surprise it’s starting with Wells. I expect more to come. And I’m looking forward to more Roger Clemens testicle-rub down stories, too.
