As Joe Torre gathers his entire team together Thursday for the first time this spring, the Los Angeles Dodgers manager has said he might make light of doubling this winter as co-author of "The Yankee Years."
Torre, 68, said Wednesday that he expects next season to be his final year as a manager, but he said he's still having fun. After making the playoffs 12 straight seasons with the Yankees, he said he has particularly enjoyed teaching the Dodgers' core of talented young players.
The reins of the team, after all, will one day be turned over to the maturing kids. Or has it already been done?
"We talked to several of them last year, saying, 'This is your ballclub,'" Torre said.
That meeting in Phoenix came Aug. 30, the day after the Dodgers had lost their eighth straight game, with Arizona pounding them 9-3 to take a 4-1/2-game division lead.
Jonathan Broxton, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, James Loney and Russell Martin were called in by the coaching staff and encouraged to take on more vocal roles. Chad Billingsley was excluded only because he was pitching that night.
"You guys are the future of the organization," Torre recalled telling them. "We let them know what we saw."
The Dodgers went on to beat Diamondbacks stars Dan Haren and Brandon Webb on successive nights, eventually stretching the winning streak to eight and taking first place for good.
"We learned to win and have fun doing it," Loney said of Torre's influence. "He played the game. I feel like he has all the knowledge. The rings prove it.
"You feel like you have a role on this team as far as trying to win."
Said Torre: "The thing I wanted was to get the young kids better subtly."
While Torre is likely to retire from managing after the 2010 season when his current three-year contract runs out, he said he would like to remain in baseball. He previously indicated he wouldn't mind being a special assistant to General Manager Ned Colletti.
"No more books," mused Torre, who has a non-disclosure agreement in his contract. "I don't plan to be somewhere that long that I'm going to have that info."
This spring, when Torre hasn't been calmly answering questions about the book and Alex Rodriguez, he's been evaluating a team that will be without Manny Ramirez for at least the early stages of the spring.
Spring training next year could very well be Torre's last as manager.
"That's going to be an emotional one," he said.
(Contact Diamond Leung at dleung@PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
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