Joe Torre's Return Highlights How Little He's Missed

Joe Girardi has proved to be an able replacement.

Joe Torre got the longest ovation during Sunday's Old-Timers' Day festivities and the adulation was well deserved.

Torre's years in the Bronx were absurdly successful and his contribution had never been fully addressed by the fans because of the circumstances surrounding his departure.

Sunday rectified that and the long, sustained applause finally put to bed any of the bad feelings generated by the way the team handled him after the 2007 season, his petty book full of dirty laundry and everything else that sullied the good years.

Seeing Torre back on the field in pinstripes also provided an opportunity to reflect on how things have gone since he left town.

There have been times in the last three years, they usually come after a bunt or a pitching change or a camera shot of Joe Girardi leafing through a binder, when the thought of Torre sitting motionless in the dugout just letting the game unfold over him doesn't sound so bad.

But those moments pass pretty quickly. It doesn't take long before memories of Torre turning the arms of guys like Scott Proctor into gruel because he refused to pitch other relievers come rushing back to offer a reminder that every manager has his shortcomings as a tactician.

Tactics are one thing, managing the personalities in the dugout are another and, surprisingly, Torre is missed even less in that regard. Yes, the short book on him as Yankee manager was mostly about how good he was at juggling the personalities in the clubhouse, but he would be the wrong man for this job.

Torre struggled to deal with the changes to the team's roster after the 2001 season, most notably objecting to the acquistion of Jason Giambi to replace Tino Martinez. He also did nothing at all to deal with the festering sores in the clubhouse that opened when Alex Rodriguez came to town and, by batting him eighth in that series with Detroit, probably made them worse. 

Can you imagine, then, how he would deal with the decline phase of Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada? He probably wouldn't deal with them because, like any father to sons, he is inclined to see only the best and none of the flaws.

Girardi, for his myriad infuriating tactical flourishes, hasn't shown any proclivity to treat those players with more than the appropriate modicum of deference. He played with them, of course, and that makes him something closer to a brother than a father.

What's more, Torre's vaunted ability to keep the clubhouse together has kinda been proven to be overblown. We're halfway through Girardi's fourth year on the job and the only big flareup came when Posada refused to play this season, a situation that came about because Girardi was being a responsible manager trying to give his team their best chance to win.

None of that changes how much Torre accomplished during his era, of course, but it does provide a little comfort for the other alterations to come for the Yankees.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.

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