I’m not sure exactly why I bought. I definitely don’t have the time to read a 500 page book right now. I’ll admit that I’m curious about what happened between Torre and the Yankees in October of 2007 and why he didn’t return as manager. I want to read about all of the stories about A-Rod. However, I would like to know the full story, how it’s written in context.

I’ve been reading all of the blogs and it seems like many are taking a very negative view on Torre and the book. They complain about everything from Torre breaking the dugout code of silence to this being a sign that he’s turned his back on New York.

I don’t want to believe any of it. Joe Torre is still the stoic manager that led the Yankees to four world series championships and I grew up loving like he was my grandfather.

I’m going to try to read the book as quick as I can and I’ll have my review with my own opinion once I’m done.

It’s a lot of money in my book, but the amount he’s guaranteed to make is less than the original offer from the Yankees. But in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think that will matter to anyone besides Andy after a week or so.

I’m just glad to see Andy back in pinstripes for another year and not just for sentimental reasons. It really does give the Yankees a solid rotation and someone that will eat up innings. It looks like we now have pitching staff that can take on any batting line up that comes their direction.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a little bit more relaxed. I’m not so worried about the 2009 version of the Joba rules. It also means that Phil Hughes will probably start the season in the minor leagues, but he’ll probably be pitching in the majors again pretty quickly.

According to NY Daily News, Torre detailed how Yankees General Manger Brian Cashman back stabbed him several times, especially in October 2007 when Torre was negotiating with the Yankees owners to extend his contract.

Torre talks about Alex Rodriguez and how he was called A-Fraud by other players in the Yankee dugout. From what I’ve read so far, it doesn’t say whether this was something that Torre felt or if he was just talking about the way the other Yankee players felt.

Also included is A-Rods relationship with Derek Jeter, saying that the third baseman was practically stalking Jeter, wanting to be like him with the same sort or reception in New York, by the other teammates, etc.

My first reaction is that I didn’t expect something like this from Joe Torre, someone who was so “stoic” and generally did so well with the press. Of course, we’ll have to read the book to get the true context.

Does any of it really matter?  Joe Torre is managing in Los Angeles now and the Yankees have a new manager that has to step up to the plate and lead the Yankees into the post season.

This just in from Josh Q. Public, Torre will be on the David Letterman show the day the book is realsed. That should be an interesting interview.

Which raises the question – do the Yankees need Andy Pettitte. They just signed C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, so do they still need a 36 year old pitcher who is probably past his prime?

For purely sentimental reasons, my answer is yes. However, I decided to do some purely unscientific (and very sarcastic) research to see if the Yankees really need Pettitte. What I did was add up the total number of wins the Yankees projected 2009 rotation had in 2008. There’s a lot of ways to interpret the numbers and really they don’t mean much – they are just numbers, but it looks like the Yankees could use Pettitte to really guarantee themselves a position in the 2009 post season.

The 2009 rotation looks like it’ll be C.C. Sabathia who had 17 wins last year, A.J. Burnett who had 18 wins last season, Chein Ming Wang who had 19 wins in 2007 (I’m not counting 2008 because he was injured halfway through the season).

Then it starts to get a little grey and blurry. We have Joba Chamberlin who was injured and became a starter halfway through the season – he had 4 wins last season. Then you have Phil Hughes, and while the expecations are high, he did only have 5 wins last season before he was injured too. I’ll even be nice and throw in the six wins that Mariano Rivera had.

That’s 69 wins. Throw in a some wins from the bullpen and it’s still short of the 97 wins that Tampa had last season to clinch the American League East.

It’s more than likely that Joba and Phil will have more wins this season, unless of course they get injured again or another pitcher is put on the DL for an extended ammount of time. I’m pointing to A.J. Burnett who does have a track record with some time on the DL.

Andy Pettitte had 14 wins last season which would definitely put the Yankees a lot closer to 97 wins. He may be past his prime, but he’s still only 36. There’s a good chance that he still had more wins in that arm – at least another season’s worth. I know I’d be a lot more comfortable with someone like Pettitte holding down the tail end of this rotation.

Of course this is all based on pure speculation, zero scientific fact and could all be thrown out the window if the Yankees sign Freddy Garcia or Ben Sheets.