About a week after saying Joe Torre wasn't to blame for the St. Louis Cardinals' troubles, general manager Walt Jocketty fired him as manager Friday.
The Cardinals replaced Torre with Mike Jorgensen, who has been the team's director of player development since 1992. Jorgensen was in uniform for Friday night's game against San Francisco.Torre, 54, was in his fifth season with the Cardinals and had a record of 351-354. The Cardinals were 20-27 and in fourth place in the National League Central, 10 games behind Cincinnati.
Earlier, Jocketty had attributed the team's problems to injuries. Several pitchers have been hurt and shortstop Ozzie Smith is out for about two months following shoulder surgery.
"Ten days ago, I was hoping that we would have a 10-game winning streak or whatever to try and turn this thing around," Jocketty said. "I think Joe did as good a job as he could with the problems we have with injuries, but I just felt after looking at it again for another 10 days or two weeks, that a change was needed."
The move came hours after the Cardinals traded first baseman and cleanup hitter Todd Zeile to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Mike Morgan and two minor-leaguers. The Cardinals purchased the contract of Chris Sabo from Triple-A Louisville, where he was batting .346 in eight games, to play first base.
Although Jorgensen didn't plan any major lineup alterations for his debut, Jocketty said more changes may be made.
"Clearly, we are not satisfied with the Cardinals at this point," Jocketty said. "We're not satisfied that we're 10 games out, we're not satisfied with the team chemistry, and we're not satisfied with the focus and direction of the ballclub. We will not stand pat."
Team president Mark Lamping echoed those remarks.
"I don't think that we want to become an organization that sits back and hopes things will change," Lamping said.
After Thursday's night's 2-1 victory over San Diego, Torre spoke optimistically about the team's chances of getting back in the race. Then again, he wasn't surprised about the change.
"St. Louis and the many great Cardinals fans will always hold a special place in my heart," Torre said. "My only regret is that we were never able to deliver a winning team while I was here."
Torre's best season was 1991, when he led the team to an 84-78 record and second-place finish in the NL East. The Cardinals finished third in each of his last three full seasons.
St. Louis has struggled most of this season but has shown signs of life in recent games, winning four of the past five. Jocketty wasn't impressed.
"We could sit here and wait another week, another two weeks, until we lose four of five in a row," Jocketty said. "Ultimately, I think we felt we had to make the change. I think the timing was right with the trade of Zeile."