What Did You Really Say!

The uproar over Joe Torre's departure as Yankees manager has cast the club's president, Randy Levine, in a new and challenging role - that of a major-league New York-style lightning rod.

The pins being stuck in Randy Levine dolls by his detractors come courtesy not only of Torre fans, but critics who were put off by the way this postseason Yankee opera played itself out.

Some see this politically connected Republican lawyer-turned-exec as having engineered a way to insult Torre out of the job by making an offer the 12-year manager would only refuse - including a pay cut, performance incentives, and no wiggle room. Levine denies it went down that way.




Others say Torre took umbrage at Levine's clubhouse news conference declaring "an atmosphere of lawlessness" during on-the-field and bullpen fights between the Yanks and Red Sox in 2003. Levine's allies insist that Torre never made him aware that he objected.



Early warning signs

Still others recall a flap in 2001 over contract clauses that might have formed the first frost between Torre and Levine during contentious negotiations. Levine even was faulted for feeding critical questions when Torre was interviewed on the team's YES Network in 2005. There was also Levine's noting the lack of a Yankees World Series win since 2000 during his announcement of the Torre denouement last week - and Levine's raising the issue of Torre's motivation.

No, it is not about sports, but the politics of business and the art of spin and public relations. It is about money and who takes the hit for what - in other words, Levine's world. Working the system, promoting the bosses' agenda and dealing in high-stakes contracts are part of his official role - and have been since his days as a power player, top deputy and labor official inside Rudy Giuliani's City Hall.

To be fair, did Levine pretend otherwise?

"As president of the team, I'm here to represent ownership," Levine explained yesterday. "Once a decision is made - sometimes when I've agreed with it, sometimes when I've disagreed with it - my job is to implement that decision and defend it as if it was my own."

And do not expect to hear Levine confess any cynicism in the offer to the 12-year manager. "The decision to make this offer to Joe Torre was unanimously agreed on by everyone in the room," he said, including himself and other top Yankee executives. Officials said this includes general manager Brian Cashman, and that each part of the Torre offer had its precedents and rationale.

"I would not be here defending the offer that was made if there hadn't been agreement on it," Levine said.

"Everyone expected him [Torre] to come back," Levine said. "More importantly, this was the limit of what everyone believed was fair."



Torre's icy response

For his part, Torre was asked about Levine at his news conference last week. "I don't deal with Randy," he said with chilly brevity. "I deal with Brian Cashman."

***********Randy Levine-The Not So Smart Giuliani Puppet

Levine's agendas and style have always had their fans and foes, as does his role. At City Hall, how many of the off-the-record grumbles about Levine were really meant for his boss Giuliani? Nowadays, how many shots at Levine might otherwise be directed to the Steinbrenners, or others in the hierarchy?

During ceremonies and news conferences in the 1990's in City Hall's Blue Room, he would thunderously lead the laughter on a Giuliani joke - sometimes before the punchline was out. He'd charm some and put off others with a kind of backslapping frat-rush gregariousness. A decade ago, there was a Levine-organized news conference in which a union leader's endorsement of the mayor for re-election backfired into a grilling session from reporters on the official's grandiose perks.