Joe Torre may be worried about the state of the Dodgers, but he isn’t concerned about the ability of Don Mattingly to handle the three-ring circus that has surrounded the franchise, which filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday.
“I learned a long time ago that, as a manager, whatever is happening with the ownership is really no concern to you, because you really can’t do anything about it,” said Torre, who managed the Dodgers from 2008-10 with Mattingly, now the manager, as his hitting coach. “It’s just about doing your job, and I know Donnie is going about it the same way.
“Donnie and I have had plenty of conversations, not only about the Dodgers but about the experience he had [as a player]. He played with a pretty distracting organization in the times he played for the Yankees . . . There was always something going on that could distract you from thinking about what was going on the field.”
Torre, speaking at a golf outing for his Safe at Home Foundation at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., said he was disappointed at the way things have unraveled for the Dodgers.
“It’s sad, the Dodgers were a very storied franchise in my years in Brooklyn, growing up, and as a player going out to L.A.,” Torre said. “I know the decisions that the commissioner has made certainly weren’t easy for him to make. He felt that the organization, and the city, deserve better than that.”
Torre, now working for Major League Baseball as the executive vice president of baseball operations, had planned his schedule so he could be on hand for Derek Jeter’s quest for 3,000 hits before the Yankees shortstop went on the disabled list with a calf injury.
Torre followed the Yankees through Chicago and Cincinnati and participated in Old-Timers’ Day at the Stadium for the first time Sunday afternoon, and said he hoped to be able to return to following the Yankees once Jeter, who is rehabbing in Tampa, is back in the lineup.
“I thought he was very selfish in getting hurt, because I had this thing all figured out where I was going to see 3,000 on that last road trip,” Torre said with a smile. “I talked to him a few days ago and he felt he was getting close to doing some activities down there [in Tampa], so hopefully I can be there when he gets that 3,000th.”
When asked if he might some day follow the same path as 80-year-old Jack McKeon and 68-year-old Davey Johnson in returning to the bench, Torre, 70, said he already had dismissed any such notion after retiring at the end of last season.
“I thought about not doing it anymore, and let’s admit it: New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers . . . that’s pretty cool,” Torre said. “You walk away from that, where are you gonna go?”
