….now fuck off (from Newday’s Neil Best, link taken from Hot Foot)

Michael Kay (above) criticized Joe Torre on YES after the Yankees’ not-so-grand finale, then did it again last week on his radio show. On Sunday, he went national on ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters,” lampooning the notion Torre has a tough job and has been made a “martyr” by some.

“Joe Torre very simply has the best job in pro sports,” he said, noting the team’s $200-million payroll, Torre’s $7-million salary and George Steinbrenner’s support.

“I should have such a tough job,” Kay said. “If there’s a broadcast entity out there that wants me to work in the greatest city in the world, have the best of everything at my disposal and pay me much more than anyone in the business, please contact my agent.

“Also, if it’s OK that I completely miss my company’s mission statement for six straight years and not be fired, that would be cool, too. I should be such a martyr.”

On the matter of another microphone fiend, Dodger Thoughts’ Jon Wiseman writes of Steve Lyons,

How is it that Lyons is not good enough to work for Fox but good enough to work for the same team that employs Vin Scully? I have two guesses. One is that the Dodger organization just likes the guy, personally, and didn’t want to pile on. So the Dodgers protect themselves by putting Lyons through sensitivity training and on probation, and move on to other matters, the same way “The Office” would.

The other possibility is that the Dodgers consider the candidates to replace Lyons to be simply more of the same “ ex-players who consider their personal experiences and beliefs to be so compelling that they no longer really study the game, but simply regurgitate the gospel they have been taught. Strangely, it’s what baseball teams seem to be looking for in a broadcaster. It’s not as if some of that gospel isn’t true, but at a certain point, we’ve heard it all before.

There isn’t enough interest in finding someone with something new to say. Forget about wallets. The problem symbolized by Lyons is that better voices aren’t being schooled or that they aren’t being heard.

Catfish Stew’s Ken Arenson is having a laugh over any suggestion of Rev. Wristbands becoming the new skipper in Oakland.

Dusty Baker will not and should not be the next A’s manager, guys. It has nothing to do with Billy Beane’s ego. It’s about belief systems. Their personalities might not clash, and yes, Baker is good in the clubhouse, but besides that, no two management philosophies are more at odds than Billy Beane and Dusty Baker. Beane is all about the rational approach to management; Baker is all about instincts and tradition. It could never, ever work. It doesn’t take a wild dream to see that hiring someone who believes the total opposite of what you believe is a bad idea.

My six-year-old daughter is a better fit to be the next manager of the Oakland A’s than Dusty Baker. That’s no joke.

If the Rangers make Ron Washington an offer, Ken’s daughter might get an interview.