JOE Torre loves managing the Yankees. It has transformed him from loser to winner, rich to super rich and regular Joe to Father Joe.

He would do plenty to retain the job – such as sacrificing time with his 7-year-old daughter, Andrea – to keep the difficult hours and road schedule into his 60s. But Torre will not surrender all self-respect. There is little he treasures more than the pristine reputation that has been formed from shepherding this dynastic team. If George Steinbrenner is determined to soil that reputation, it would seem doubtful Torre would accept the smudges.

That is why this feels like Torre’s last year, especially in the aftermath of Steinbrenner’s decision to defect Jose Contreras from Columbus to Tampa against the decision of his manager. Torre might think he has enough adoration to survive a public skirmish with The Boss. He doesn’t.

First, Steinbrenner owns the team and isn’t going anywhere. Second, Steinbrenner lives in the dirt, is not afraid to roll around it and loves to bring others down there with him.

Torre has worked too hard on his image to wage the kind of tit-for-tat public squabble with Steinbrenner that made, for example, Dallas Green’s Yankee managerial tenure so entertaining and, of course, short-lived. Torre is bright and will see that if he lets Steinbrenner dictate how his term ends, it will end poorly.

Meanwhile, Steinbrenner has created an unacceptable paradigm for himself. He will do anything to win, but the more the Yanks win the more credit Torre gets and Steinbrenner hates how much credit Torre gets. Thus, even winning can no longer be a shield for Torre.

So I fully expect – championship parade or not – that Torre will step away after this season with a year and around $5 million due him. Torre loves his money, but he could always get more of that on TV, the lecture circuit or writing books on leadership. He only has one reputation and the post-career opportunities will diminish if Steinbrenner muddies him too badly.

No one talked to yesterday who knows Torre and Steinbrenner expects Torre to resign during the season or The Boss to fire him. They feel Torre is too committed to his players to pull a Roy Williams and walk away. But they figured with Torre’s buddies, bench coach Don Zimmer and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, likely to go after this year, he will simply follow.

Torre hates that he has done so much to bring dignity, success and finance to Steinbrenner’s team, and yet The Boss has no qualms about trying to humiliate him publicly.

Those with insight into Steinbrenner say, on some level, he understands he would wreck the team with another manager during this season. But, they say, Steinbrenner is so clueless to others’ feelings and such a babyish micro-manager set on getting his way, that he probably didn’t even recognize his big-foot move to send Contreras to buddy Billy Connors in Tampa would be seen publicly as undermining Torre.

Torre’s decision to go public for the first time against Steinbrenner on this relatively minor issue screams that he has grown tired of Steinbrenner’s missteps – intended or not. And we know Steinbrenner is tired of Torre’s acclaim. Thus, their patience with each other is exhausted.

For the good of this season, they very likely will let this latest unease fade away. I smell a fake hug coming soon at the Stadium.

Then who knows how much Steinbrenner will speed up his timetable to get rid of Torre and – just as relevant if the callousness continues – how much Torre will speed up his timetable to get rid of Steinbrenner.

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WHAT IS GOERGE THINKING?

With the Yanks off to the best start in club history, it would seem George Steinbrenner would leave well enough alone with Joe Torre and Co. Now, with Torre miffed about being overruled on the Jose Contreras designation, The Boss is in danger of having his greatest manager walk away next year. A look at Torre’s Pinstripe resume:

Years: 8 (1996-present)

Record: 701-448

Winning pct.: .610

Avg. season win total: 98

100-win seasons: 2

90-win seasons: 4

AL East titles: 6

AL titles: 5

World Series titles: 4

Manager of the Year: 2 (’96, ’98)