November 1, 2007

Wait 'Til Next Year!

Hey, New York! Guess who the Dodgers found looking for a job?

Joe Torre was hired Thursday to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers, taking the job two weeks after walking away from the New York Yankees.

Torre moved from one storied franchise to another, getting a three-year contract. He takes over a team that finished fourth in the NL West this season and hasn't won the World Series since 1988.

The 67-year-old Torre becomes the Dodgers' eighth manager since they moved west from Brooklyn for the 1958 season. Torre grew up in Brooklyn, rooting for the rival New York Giants and detesting the Dodgers.

"As a kid growing up, you didn't like them," Torre said on WFAN radio in New York less than an hour before the hiring was announced. "As a player, to me the Dodgers were the Yankees of the National League because ... you either loved them or you hated them."

The Dodgers have to put the talent on the table, of course, in order to build a champion team. How much will it help to have Torre on the bench in attracting that talent to Los Angeles? I'd say players will want to play for a man who has one of the best managing records in the game, especially those desperate for a ring in 2008.

Twenty years is a long drought for Angeleno baseball fans. The long wait may soon be over.

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It's official - Joe Torre is New Manager for the LA Dodgers! Actually, it will be official on Monday. But the celebration can begin! He's still a Yankee at heart telling WFAN Radio: "As a kid growing up, you didn't like them ... but as a player, [Read More]

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