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I was reading in the paper yesterday that George Steinbrenner had given Joe Torre a "vote of confidence" and will see whether he can improve a struggling Yankees team. As we all know, Steinbrenner wants quick results for his money, and will settle for nothing less than an MLB title. And as we also know, it seems that every time a coach gets a so called "vote of confidence," he is fired at the end of the year.

Also, it has been a few years since the Yankees have won a title, and the last two years they lost in the World Series and in the ALCS, both in 7 games. It's looking like they can't even make it that far this year. So here's the question: Since even if it IS Steinbrenner's lousy spending hurting the team this year, you can't fire the owner of the team. Will Joe Torre be the fall guy?

My guess is that the pitching coach (Stottlemyer ?) and hitting coach (Mattingly) will go before Torre. I can't imagine who Steinbrenner would have in mind to replace Torre in midstream. The Yankeess are still only 6 out with 100 games to go. Too early to panic, even for Steinbrenner.

I have to agree with O.A.R. I don't think for a moment that Torre is untouchable, but Stottlemyer will be the first to go. Mattingly is too much of a Yankee favorite to get the 'boot'.

How hard will it be to replace Stottlemyer? How much coaching do you have to do with guys like Johnson, Mussina, and Brown? Jon Kruk could coach that pitching staff.

If the Yankees are under .500 at the break then Torre will be let go. Also I think that many of their older players will be traded.

The Yankees really can't trade anyone. Their farm system is bare and the guys in line-up have huge contracts that other teams will unlikely want to take on. Who would pick up Kevin Brown's 15 million or Bernie William's 12 million?

how steinbrenner is he would probably just release them

I know some of baseball's owners are crazy (see Phillies' signing of Jimmy Rollens), but why would any owner want to help Stennebrenner?

But we all know what will happen. George will offer to pay part of the player's salary and some knucklehead owner will not be able to pass up the opportunity. Then George will take more money and sign the top free agents for next year to replace the departed player.

Torre is a good manager. I don't think he's the best (Lou Pinella or Tony LaRussa and begrudginly Bobby Cox) but he's good enough. The problem with the Yankees is they have too many stars and not enough role players.

But yes I believe that in the end if the Yanks don't turn it around Torre will take the fall. I agree that Mattingly will take some of the crap but will not get the axe b/c he's a Yankee favorite.

Torre is a good manager, seeing as since he started in 1995, he led the Yankees to four world series titles, and about 7 world series appearances. So this gives Torre a little immunity. However, baseball, like all sports, is a what have you done for me lately proposition. Last two seasons, Yanks lost the World Series in 7 games, then totally collapsed after a 3-0 lead over their hated rivals, the Bo Sox, last year in the ALCS. Right now, they're struggling to stay above .500, and have lost 11 of the last 14 games.

Another thing is that to those whom much is given, much is expected. Torre has a 200 million dollar payroll with about half the team being a who's who in baseball. In other words, he's expected to deliver results, and to George Steinbrenner, that means nothing less than a world series title. However, if he makes it into the ALCS, he may last another year. If he doesn't make it into the playoffs, I look for Steinbrenner to try and get another manager who can get his money's worth out of 200 mil.