Torre Not Talking About Sosa Yet

Joe Torre had been around too long to get trapped. Or so he thought.

And then, the Slammin’ Sammy storm came blowing into the Bronx.

Normally, the New York Yankees manager does a great job of deflecting distractions. Usually, he quickly defuses any discussion about hypothetical deals. Always, he points out baseball’s tampering rules and abides by them.

But this time, he found himself ensnared by the swirling Sammy Sosa trade rumors.

“I thought I was pretty good at this stuff, but I guess I wasn’t,” he said. “I wound up getting caught in this barrel and talking in circles.”

As Torre said, he “answered too many questions about things that don’t exist.”

Overwhelmed, he made a new plan.

“I just decided I wasn’t going to talk about it because there’s nothing happening,” he said. “The players aren’t here yet -- if they ever get here.”

Earlier this week, Torre called a team meeting before a game against Boston, one of the other teams interested in Sosa. Torre later admitted he did it to give his players a break from talking about Sosa.

“I just wanted to keep it closed to sort of calm everything down,” Torre said.

To many, Torre’s greatest asset is his ability to prevent craziness from creeping into the clubhouse.

To some, that means acting as a buffer between owner George Steinbrenner and his rants, the kind that made him infamous in the days of Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin.

Of course, with the Boss now believed to be the Yankee most interested in Sosa, Torre might have a little more trouble keeping it tranquil.

“We’ve been pretty fortunate the past three or four years,” said third-base coach Willie Randolph, who played for those tumultuous Yankees. “We had a nice little run where things had been pretty calm for the most part. You get lulled into thinking everything’s OK.”

REMEMBER WHEN: It’s been 30 years since he was run over by Pete Rose at the All-Star game, but Ray Fosse is reminded about it all the time. By his left shoulder, that is.

Fosse said he still feels pain from that collision, in which his shoulder was broken and separated.

And every season, as summer approaches, the former Cleveland catcher and current Oakland broadcaster finds himself talking about that career-altering hit.

“People really don’t let it go away, with Pete being in the spotlight for the last 10 years for his reasons. And when they’re showing highlights of his career, that’s usually one of the highlights,” Fosse said.