From NY DAILY NEWS:

Joe Torre calls incentive-laden contract offer an 'insult'

To Joe Torre, the extra millions George Steinbrenner offered him weren't an incentive to win - they were an unforgivable insult.

"I'd been there 12 years and didn't think motivation was needed," Torre said yesterday, masking his bitterness beneath a gentlemanly veneer in his first public comment since rejecting Steinbrenner's $5 million offer.

"I didn't think it was the right thing for me, the right thing for my players," said the future Hall of Famer who led the team to four World Series championships and a dozen straight playoff appearances. "Incentives, to me, I took it as an insult."

Less than 24 hours earlier, Torre rejected a "performance based" one-year contract with a $3 million "incentive" if he led the team to another World Series.

Torre said Steinbrenner's offer was nothing "to sneeze at," but it was still a big pay cut for Major League Baseball's highest paid manager.

"The fact that somebody is reducing your salary is just telling me they're not satisfied with what you're doing," Torre said at a 67-minute press conference.

Later, on WFAN's "Mike and the Maddog" show, Torre said it would have been better if Steinbrenner had simply fired him instead of making him a contract offer he had to refuse.

"That would have been a lot more honest," he said. "What I was asking for wasn't out of line."

Neither Steinbrenner nor the rest of the Yankee organization made any public statements after Torre spoke out.

There also was a deafening silence from Yankee stars like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, who thrived under Torre's leadership, although former Yankees like Rick Cerrone and Lee Mazzilli came by his Harrison, Westchester County, house to visit.

Torre had nothing but praise for his players and urged them "to do what's best for them and their families."

"I appreciate their loyalty," he said.

His voice trembling at times, Torre started off the presser by thanking Steinbrenner "for trusting me with his club for 12 years" and expressing his gratitude to his family, and especially the fans.

"You can feel their heartbeat" in Yankee Stadium, he said. "It's a very special place to play baseball, to manage baseball, to feel the whole Yankee scene."

Torre said managing the Yankees was "the most exciting time of my life professionally."

Then Torre described the 20-minute showdown in Tampa on Thursday which ended with him tendering his resignation and shaking Steinbrenner's hand in farewell.

Torre said he had an inkling about what kind of an offer he could expect as he flew to Florida on Thursday and that he harbored hopes he might be able to convince the Boss to sweeten the deal.

"We all know that George has been that tough taskmaster who wants what he pays for," he said.

Torre said he knew Steinbrenner was bitterly disappointed when the Yanks failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year. "When I did take off the uniform, I did think this could be the last time," he said.

Torre said one look at Steinbrenner and his sons, Hank and Hal, was all he needed to know they had made up their minds.

"I basically asked if they wanted me to manage this team," he said. "I talked about the 12 years" and how successful his Yankee teams had been.

The Steinbrenners were unmoved and told him no other team would give him as good a deal. He said only general manager Brian Cashman appeared to want him to stay on.

"I looked around and saw business people, people who are very successful," Torre said. "The game is very personal to me ... but in that room it just appeared to me there were people who didn't waver off their opinion."

Torre said his famously fickle former boss, who had run through a gamut of managers before hiring Torre in 1995, could never appreciate the team's successes.

"My goal was to make him proud of what we did, even though he was never satisfied," he said.

Torre said beating the Mets in the 2000 World Series was like "nirvana" to him, but instead of enjoying the moment, Steinbrenner "went right after about what we would do next year."

"That was why he kept that drill going all of the time," he said.

Torre said he hasn't ruled out managing elsewhere and declined to speculate on who might replace him. While Steinbrenner has a history of reversing course and rehiring managers he just fired, Torre said that's unlikely.

"I'm no fortune teller," he said. "I can't answer that question because I don't anticipate it happening."

Asked if he felt bitter, Torre confessed that even after 12 years with the Yankees, "I still feel very much like a visitor to that organization."

And he will let somebody else clean out his office.

"I walked out of there and I'm not going back," he said.

Torre said he expects the realization that he is no longer the Yankees' manager will hit him hard around the time spring training starts up. He said he has no regrets about saying no to Steinbrenner.

"I am very much at peace with my decision," he said.

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COMPLETE COVERAGE

Bill Gallo:

To me this signals two things:

1) Hank and Hal Steinbrenner have inherited the full measure of their father's legendary obstinacy and pigheadedness, but none of his acumen or vision. Expect to see eight Yankees managers in the next decade.

2)Andy Pettite will not, repeat, not exercise his $16 Mil player option for next season.