It's Official

Joe Torre is the new Dodger skipper.

People have been asking me how I feel about the Joe Torre signing and I am forced to drop vague catch phrases like, "dude, he's the Phil Jackson of baseball." I really don't know much about Joe Torre and have no idea what to expect. All I know is, he wins titles, he cries in press conferences from time to time, and he looks authentic in the Yankee uniform.

But good old Dodger Thoughts collected some information from some knowledgeable sources (Bronx Banter, Baseball Prospectus) about some of Joe Torre's managing habits. Here's a sample, but you should go read the whole thing at DT.

"In his first season with the Yankees, Torre billed himself as a 'National League manager,'" Goldman (Baseball Prospectus) wrote. "This mostly displayed itself in the frequent use of the hit-and-run, though that year Torre also called more bunts and squeeze plays than he would in any other season. He rapidly cut back on bunting and squeezing, and with his powerhouse teams of the late 1990s, he mostly stayed out of their way. Post-2001 he was a little more active with the one-run strategies, but was never fanatical about it. This was one of Torre's best qualities as a manager: he recognized the kind of team he had and didn't try to play a style of offense unsuited to the roster."

Other than that, it sounds mostly like Torre should employ similar strategies as Grady Little. Of course, we all know that there is a lot more to managing a team than strategy. And many, rightfully or not, think that Torre's personality and charisma would have been able to repair the rift in the clubhouse between the youngsters and the vets last season, something that Grady failed to do. Well, he'll get his chance to prove that theory.