Joe Torre bound for Los Angeles

Ending a 12-year managerial tenure with the Evil Empire, Joe Torre inked a 3-year, $13M deal yesterday to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers. This comes two weeks after he left the Bronx. He succeeds Grady Little as manager, with many observers questioning the mechanics of how Little was fired, if Torre was offered the job before Little "resigned," and when did L.A. go after Torre after their first choice, new New York manager Joe Girardi took a pass on the Dodgers.

L.A., which is allegedly losing traction in regional popularity to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, had to make a big move. This is big. It sure beats returning to the broadcast booth, where Torre has been before and where he was recently offered a chance to add his voice to Fox's World Series coverage.

There are also two speculative arguments going on around the game about Torre going to L.A. Here they are, briefly:

1. If Torre's Dodgers underperform during his tenure, will it cast a pall over his many accomplishments while with the Yankees? Some argue that, should Torre's team stumble early, late (like this past season), and/or often, it should cause people to re-evaluate the success he had in New York, with the supposition that anyone could have achieved such great results (3 World Series titles in 4 years, appearances in the Fall Classic in '96, '98-'01, and '03) if given the lineup of superstars and their mega-contracts that came calling to the Bronx, especially after 1998.

I don't agree with this argument. Given the rabid New York press and all of the super-egos who have trod through that clubhouse over the years, I would argue that few managers could have kept an even keel and managed teams to impressive overall results year after year. Torre did that, every year.

2. With Torre in L.A., and with the club needing a big name to compete against the Angels for attention, this provides an opening for Alex Rodriguez. CNNSI's Jon Heyman covers this debate pretty well, so here it is:

Where Will A-Rod go?

Frankly, I'm tired of all of the A-Rod talk. I admire his stats and his skills. I'm glad he'll one day break Barry B*nds' all-time home run record. But I have become increasingly skeptical and unimpressed with who A-Rod is as a person. There was the trash-talking of his former best friend, Derek Jeter, in 2001. There are the adultery scandals. The inconsistent statements he's made about New York. The melodrama in the club house and the attention-craving little girl he oftentimes appears to be.

My message is simple: A-Rod can go anywhere he wants, so long as it is not Boston. I may even cheer for him, as long as he's not wearing Yankee pinstripes.