Self Respect > $5 Million

To add my two cents to this Joe Torre saga, I'm pretty sure this is all about him keeping some shred of dignity. Undoubtedly he had grown very weary of "The Boss" and his antics. I mean, who wouldn't after a dozen seasons? Ted Turner now probably looks like a Care Bear to him by comparison.

Five million dollars is a lot to give up. You have to figure it was actually probably at least $6M since that's what he would've gotten for just making the playoffs. Here are the next 3 closest managers in terms of salary (HT: mlbcontracts.blogspot.com):

Lou Piniella (CHC) - $3.5M
Bobby Cox (ATL) - $3.0M
Tony LaRussa (STL) - $2.8M

After the next few, the dropoff gets fairly considerable, with Manny Acta of the Nationals actually being paid in Spaghettios. So clearly, Torre was earning well above his peers, pay cut or not. Some argue, of course, that working under the pressure of the New York Yankees spotlight makes one more than earn their pay.

(Note: I do think it's kind of lame that, after winning the 4 World Series, he renegotiated a super-great deal, and that now that after he's gone a long time (relatively speaking, Cubs fans) without winning one, he won't allow the pendulum to swing the other way. I suppose this is, to some extent, human nature.)

Anyway, I feel that's where we can really see his true reasoning. He cannot reasonably expect that he'll get $5-6 million out on the open market, despite some teams' desire to spend money on unnecessary things. Even if a bidding war emerges, I think the most he can get is around 4, maybe 4.5 million per year. He's giving up around $1 million just to not have to work for this man anymore. Quite frankly, that says a lot.