Torre Rips Yankees In Latest Book

It seems that former Yankee manager Joe Torre had a lot of time on his hands the past few months. The four time World Champion manager put a book together with Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci titled The Yankee Years, which highlights Torre's bumpy 12 year stay as manager.

In fact, the book goes deeply into Torre's unhappiness with the Bombers in his last few years with the team. Torre claims that superstar third basemen Alex Rodriguez drew the ire of his teammates, who labeled him "A-Fraud" in the clubhouse, and that Rodriguez felt he was competing for the spotlight with short stop Derek Jeter.

The book goes into the tensions Torre had with Yankee management. Torre says that GM Brian Cashman betrayed him when the club was ready to let Torre go.

The book comes out February 3, but Torre is expected to make a few public appearances on David Letterman, and probably Mike Francesa's radio program on WFAN to talk about the book.

This is the first time since Torre's firing a year and a half ago that he has spoken about his time with the Yankees. It should be interesting to see how the Yankees answer constant questions about the book, instead of talking about the signings of Mark Tiexeria and C.C. Sabathia. Last year the Yankees had to deal with the black eye of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite's steroid scandals just weeks before spring training. Now they have this latest distraction.