Wow.

What is an "unusually passive" Joe Torre?

Is that like an "unusually wet" Pacific Ocean?:

"Mike Mussina seemed to be speaking for the entire team when he said, 'We loved Joe, but we all knew things had to be different. Especially the guys who've been here a while and haven't won, we were very disappointed at the way things had been going.'

...

Torre himself seemed unusually passive, staying in the dugout when Joba Chamberlain was being swarmed by midges in the decisive Game 2 of the Division Series at Jacobs Field. Torre repeated this week in Vero Beach, Fla., what he'd said in October, that he should've asked the umpires to stop play. Instead, Torre said, 'I didn't act on it, and I regret that.'

...

Girardi has done it by mingling with players, which Torre did less and less in his later years, choosing to leave the policing to Jeter. Damon says, 'Joe [Girardi] walks in here and he asks for your opinion, he asks how you're feeling, he gives you the feeling that what you think matters.' "

They all knew they needed a change.

Torre's departure was best for both parties.

Yet, anybody who suggested such a thing got shouted down.