The White Sox announced that Tony La Russa will not return for the remainder of the 2022 season after being forced to leave the team due to his heart condition. After the news was announced, the focus turned toward his future with the team moving forward.
There have been conflicting reports on which direction the White Sox will go, but the growing signs point to the White Sox cutting ties with the Hall of Fame manager.
A Torn Front Office
But according to Bob Nightengale, the White Sox front office is torn on whether they should run it back with the 77-year-old manager. He discussed the situation in his weekly MLB Notebook column in USA Today.
According to Nightengale, “there’s a deep divide in the Chicago White Sox organization on whether they should bring him back, boot him upstairs, give the manager’s job to interim Miguel Cairo-or look outside the organization.”
Nightengale has been very plugged into the White Sox organization. He was the one that broke the news that the White Sox were hiring La Russa back in 2020, so his reporting regarding the team carries some weight.
It is well known at this point that team owner Jerry Reinsdorf was behind the hiring of La Russa. He and La Russa are good friends. Reinsdorf felt terrible about firing him back in the 80s and wanted to make things right.
Many assume that general manager Rick Hahn wanted to hire former World Series champion, AJ Hinch. The White Sox press release for La Russa mistakenly included AJ Hinch’s signature in the graphic.
It should be noted that Hinch’s stint with Detroit has been a disaster, as his Tigers team drastically underachieved after making some big moves in the offseason. Things haven’t worked out well for either team.
Signs That La Russa Is On His Way Out
Meanwhile, Mike Rodrigues, a baseball analyst for Univision, claims that a source told him that Tony La Russa and the White Sox will end their relationship next season.
La Russa has a 169-144 record during his second stint with the White Sox. He also guided the team to a 93-win season and a division title in 2021. Under Miguel Cairo, the team has plateaued to the point they were under La Russa.
So why do the majority of fans want La Russa out? Because he has turned the White Sox into a circus act that produces headlines on a weekly basis. That’s not to say all the White Sox issues are related to him. Rick Hahn gave him a flawed roster, and many key players drastically underachieved.
Tony is not the one on the field swinging the bat, nor was he telling the players to not hit home runs. However, it is clear that he is out of touch with some of the players. That was evident by the boost the White Sox got after he was forced to leave the stadium on August 30th due to his heart condition.
La Russa is the wrong guy to manage this roster. He also adds extra distractions. In the past two years, we have seen everything from forgetting a rule, scolding one of his own players for hitting a home run, intentionally walking someone on a 1-2 count on multiple occasions, falling asleep in the dugout, and everything in between.
The White Sox would be wise to cut ties and conduct a real manager search for somebody outside the organization. It would allow the team to bring in someone with a new perspective and give them a much-needed fresh start.
The above says that La Russa guided the team to a 93-69 record and a division title in 2021. Actually, La Russa had been guiding the White Sox toward a crash since the 2021 All Star Break! After being 54-35 at the 2021 All Star Break, the team barely played over .500 the whole second half of the season! I know some people who said the team just took its foot off the gas. However, anyone watching Sox games could tell that after the 2021 All Star Break, the team was a train that had derailed! They would look unbeatable… Read more »
It was easy to tell that this time around, La Russa was there just to collect a paycheck! He never confronted performance issues such as sloppy fielding and sloppy baserunning! Engaged managers would nip those issues in the bud! He knew that he couldn’t get fired! Any other team would have run his butt out of town not long after the start of the season! Poor decisions not only cost the White Sox games, but aggravated existing injuries to two players-Luis Robert and Michael Kopech! His mismanagement of the team was criminal! Of course, Reinsdorf was his partner in the… Read more »
I think the White Sox fans should boycott games of Tony is back.
Those “deep divides” are partly the reason for what is wrong. Ownership and the front office have to be a team before they can expect the guys on the field to become one.
With $4 million remaining on his contract… and how Reinsdorf operates. The smart money would be TLR is back in the dugout next season.