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The moment almost no one was waiting for....I finished reading the book "The Yankee Years" by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. Hard to believe now, what with A-Roid-gate and all, but a few weeks ago, this was THE STORY in baseball. So, as a Yankees fan, what did I think? As a fan, I found it very interesting, a little sad, and it was more a confirmation of things that we all already suspected than it was shocking revelation. To me, the book read more as Tom Verducci's analysis peppered with anecdotes and quotes from Torre, although in fairness, I will always give Joe Torre the benefit of the doubt because of my great love of the Yankees during the early part of his tenure. I still love the Yankees, but not like I loved the teams between 1996 and 2003. First off, it is very clear that Torre's heart will always be with the title winning teams, and why wouldn't it be? He has a clear affection for almost every member of that team, and his thoughts on many of the players the Yankees signed from 2001 to 2007 are clearly colored by comparisons to O'Neill, Martinez, Bernie and most of all Derek Jeter. As I said, this shouldn't surprise anyone. Most of the thoughts on ARod have already seen the light of day. They never seemed THAT inflammatory to me. I can see why Rodriguez himself wouldn't be thrilled with some of the material, but if you read it carefully, you sense Torre also has a great amount of sympathy for the crap ARod has to endure because he's "AROD". The guy that really takes a hit in my opinion is Brian Cashman. He comes off as a bit shadier than I think most people see him as. He also comes off as a guy trying to jump on the statistics bandwagon without really understanding how other GMs used it to find success. The book definitely hammers home the littany of mistakes the Yankees have made in the pitching department, and doesn't really inspire much confidence that 2009's big money acquisitions will fare any better than those of recent vintage. He seems to be the guy who saw an ETrade commercial and thought it would be wise to plunk his life savings down on a single stock without really understanding how the market worked (not that anyone does these days). He is shocked when it doesn't work. While I suspect Verducci had much to do with painting him as the eventual villain of the tale, I don't know that I buy that he is as misguided as he sounds in the book. Having said that, I don't fear his eventual departure from the Yankee organization the way I might have a few years ago. I am a little surprised that Mike Mussina's quotes in the book haven't generated as much buzz. He makes several observations that are very insightful, but do come off as a tad biting. I found myself rereading several of his quotes to get the true meaning. The one thing I don't get is why so many Yankees fans are up in arms over the book. The book does tarnish the teams of the 2000's, but I think most of us that are real fans of the team already had a somewhat negative view of those years. It made me long for the "glory days" of the late 90's when you could like the team without having to consistently apologize for the latest controversy or spending spree. It also made me appreciate just how good of a job Torre did during his final 3 years with the team. Those teams should have all missed the playoffs but he found a way to make them go. True, the seasons ultimately ended in disappointment, but in hindsight, their playoff runs in those years are probably more incredible than most realize. Perhaps it was the build-up I had read in the NY newspapers, but there wasn't a single revelation that REALLY surprised me and none of it devalued my opinion of the Yankees themselves. Overall, the book makes Torre look great. There are some great facts to throw in the faces of those who suggest Torre was just a babysitter for talented teams that would have won with Zippo the Wonder Chimp as manager. You see just how much he had to deal with to get this team to the playoffs each year. I think this is also a book that will change the viewpoint of many of his detractors. Most of us will never think of Torre as the great cerebral manager of the era, but you appreciate how much his handling of the monster that is NYC played into the team's success. The other point that is made quite often towards the end of the book. The stat-heads have changed the game, but many have forgotten that baseball remains and always will be a game with a heart. You can crunch numbers and look at spreadsheets, but if you forget the human element, you'll probably still make the wrong call (such as $46 million to Kei Igawa -- a guy the bullpen catcher immediately spotted as a failure).