MIKE FRANCESA AND JOE TORRE

Here is an on-the-fly transcription of Francesa's interview with Joe Torre. Just so you know, a closed question is one that asks for a yes or no response. An open question is the opposite. Supposedly, a good interviewer uses more open questions than closed.

"What was the motivation for this book?" Nice closed question. Vague Torre answer.
"You wanted someone else to be the voice of the book." This is not a question
"What was the reason why it was written in Tom's voice and not your voice?" Not bad. Torre's answer was basically, 'I'm not interesting enough for a full book'.
"How do you condone(Single White Female) if you don't know what it is?" This question seemed to get Torre backpedaling slightly.
"How about the idea of Mussina going after Rivera?"(this was followed by a long post-question amble). Torre answered this question with a question.
"People are gonna say, Why would Joe say that about Mariano?" Joe tries to slip out of this one. Says it was just a statement of fact.
"How would you describe the relationship you had with A-Rod?" Torre very evasive. 'I don't think it's changed. But that doesn't mean that it was bad.' This is a total non-answer. He finally said 'Our relationship and what he we said about each other has been documented.' Huh?
"Cashman - Was it a bad relationship after '06?" A closed question but got an ok response from Torre. Mike came back at Torre a little here, but I was too busy typing the A-Rod stuff, that I couldn't make sense of it.
"That did tick you off that he(Cashman) didn't agree with you about the Bernie thing." This is not a question.
"Was Randy Levine out to get you...Did he get you in the end?" Good Question.
Mike then asked if they had made up. Uh. Who cares if Torre made up with Randy Levine?!He went on some question about if things would have been different if George was in charge.
"What is your reaction to the David Wells quotes?" Good question.
"When you look back...was Clemens in a roid rage with the Piazza thing?" Torre, I guess sort of answers yes. Says he was in his 'own place'. Then brings up Bob Gibson.
"Do you think you had an inordinate number of players doing steroids?" Interesting question. But it was closed so Torre could duck it pretty easily.
"Did you violate the sanctity of the clubhouse?" Closed question. Torre used the excuse that he wasn't really breaking news because some of these things had been reported before. Weak.
"What was your reaction to Ball Four?" Picture half of this blog, googling 'Ball Four'.
"Is there anything in the book that you wish wasn't in the book?" Torre 'Not from my perspective.'
"What about Verducci?" Torre totally sells out Verducci by saying that he didn't have final say on the whole book. This is a cop out.
"Do you worry about your Yankee legacy?" Totally preposterous question. Do you really think Torre is worried about this Yankee legacy if he writes this book? Mike obviously cares about Torre's legacy, but I don't think Joe gives it much thought.
"Is your legacy important?" This was for some reason a better question than the previous one. Don't ask me why. You had to be there.
Some long, rambling non-question about how Joe should have known about the reaction to the book would be like this.
"If you were A-Rod, would you have been upset about the A-Fraud stuff?" Joe Torre is not Alex Rodriguez. Weak response from Torre 'This wasn't stuff that was said behind his back.'
"Did you leave there thinking he(Cashman) wasn't an ally." Closed question but illicited the most honest answer 'I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure.' Sort of like when Tom Skerritt asks Jester(Michael Moriarity)'if you had to go into battle,
would you want him with you?' 'I don't know. I just don't know'.
"Was there one decision that you wish you could have changed?" Torre says, 'good question'.
"Was Pavano your biggest disappointment?" 'Probably and Randy Johnson'
"Any second thoughts about doing the book?" umpteenth closed question prompted an obvious answer 'No.'
"The book wasn't written out of bitterness?" 'No'
"Were you bitter?" 'I was unhappy at times.'

Ok. There was more but I need to wrap up.