Torre, Yankees part ways

Joe Torre, one of the most successful managers in the long history of the Yankees, walked away from the job Thursday, spurning an unconventional offer from the team’s owners that was probably designed to get him to do just that.

“We respect Joe’s decision,” said team President Randy Levine, who gave the Yankees’ side of talks with Torre in a conference call with reporters. Torre will hold a news conference today in Rye Brook, N.Y.

Torre, 67, managed the Yankees for 12 seasons, the longest stint in the job since Hall of Famer Casey Stengel from 1949 to 1960. Torre won 1,173 games with the Yankees, second to Hall of Famer Joe McCarthy’s 1,460. Torre’s teams reached the postseason every year, most recently as the wild-card entry in the American League. The Yankees won the World Series in four of Torre’s first five years, and reached the Series in six of his first eight, but since losing the AL Championship Series to the Red Sox in 2004, they have not advanced past the first round.

“We know we can’t win the World Series every year,” said Hank Steinbrenner, the older son of owner George Steinbrenner and, by appearances, the new dominant voice in management. “But that’s our goal. Anything less than that has to be considered unacceptable.”

Torre’s bench coach, popular former Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly, is considered the leading candidate to take over as manager. Joe Girardi, a former Yankees catcher and Florida Marlins manager, could also be a candidate. General Manager Brian Cashman said the process will take time and may have some “surprises.”

Torre, who took the job in 1996 at a salary of $333,000 a year, has been the highest-paid manager in baseball history since 2001, when he signed a $5 million-a-year contract. Over the last three years, his salary has increased to $7.5 million, more than twice as much as the next highest-paid manager, Lou Piniella of the Chicago Cubs.

After the Yankees held two days of high-level meetings this week at team headquarters in Tampa, Fla., Torre went there Thursday and was offered a one-year deal guaranteeing $5 million with incentive clauses. He would get $1 million if the Yankees made the playoffs, another $1 million if the Yankees advanced to the ALCS and another if they reached the World Series. If Torre and the Yankees were to reach the World Series, he would get an extension to 2009, when the new Yankee Stadium is scheduled to be completed.

Torre, who did not comment before or after flying back to his home in Harrison, N.Y., objected to either the cut in salary or to the incentive clauses, which are unusual in baseball, because they could prompt a manager to overuse pitchers to win the game or series on which his money, or job, depended.

“We’ll let Joe speak for himself,” Levine said. “We thought this was a win-win situation for everyone. Joe would still have been the highest-paid manager in baseball, and he would have the opportunity to make more money than he does now.”