Torre comments on instant replay, other topics
LOS ANGELES -- Joe Torre generated plenty of attention when he was in uniform managing the Yankees and Dodgers, but these days as executive vice president of Major League Baseball, it's almost harder for him to just blend into the crowd.
Torre, whose schedule has called for him to be in a different city almost every day since the postseason began, was on the field while the Dodgers and Braves took batting practice at Dodger Stadium on Sunday. As he tried to exit the field, he found himself engaged in a lengthy question-and-answer session with the media near the Dodgers' dugout on a number of topics, including instant replay.
The 2014 season is the target date to implement expanded instant replay, and while that's still in the mix, the system is not quite ready yet.
"I'm pretty hopeful," he said of everything being in place by next season.
The postseason hasn't had too many debatable moments involving umpiring calls, save for the Dee Gordon caught-stealing ruling in the ninth inning of the Braves' 4-3 win of Game 2 of the National League Division Series in Atlanta. Torre said even with expanded replay, that's probably a call that wouldn't be overturned, mainly because even the slow-motion reviews were inconclusive.
"All the replays I looked at, it wasn't enough to tell," he said. "You really have to see something that's really defined to overturn it."
Torre was also asked to speculate on Don Mattingly's status as the Dodgers' skipper beyond this year and whether he thought Joe Girardi would seriously consider leaving the Yankees to manage the Cubs.
Torre, a master of diplomacy after years of working in the pressure-cooker that is the New York and Los Angeles media markets, stayed smartly vague.
"Donnie's a tough kid," Torre said. "He coached for me a number of years. When it came time for him to manage, he wasn't trying to copy anybody. He has his own ideas."
Torre also declined to speculate on Girardi, noting that the job Girardi did with the injured Yankees this year was "remarkable."