Former Cleveland president Gabe Paul once said that “a manager really gets paid for how much he suffers.”
If so, Tony La Russa deserves a raise.
No one has suffered as much as the Chicago White Sox coach, who still talked about baseball on Friday a day after the “walk.”
Since Kevin Cash lifted starter Blake Snell to Game 6 of the 2020 World Series, a strategic move has not generated so much contempt.
On the left, Bennett Sousa ordered a deliberate walk to Los Angeles Dodgers hitter Trea Turner with a 1-2 count and first base open in the sixth inning on Thursday, La Russa unwittingly opened the door to a world of pain.
When Max Muncy followed up with a three-run home run, the second-most winning coach in history knew the decision would be questioned. However, La Russa maintained a post-match stance of being completely taken aback by the questioning, which worsened the moment exponentially.
It was the intentional walk heard by the world of baseball, in which a 77-year-old coach made an indefensible play, then went on the defensive trying to defend it. If this were just the usual Sox Twitter mafia behind it, La Russa could possibly have avoided it as once again on the road in its much publicized comeback after leaving the dugout in 2011.
From the Yermin Mercedes incident last season to Thursday’s deliberate 1-2 walk, La Russa has been in a few crazy episodes but has survived them all. Teflon Tony was real.
But virtually no one agreed with La Russa, leaving him on an island. Even Fox News called him “perplexed” and mentioned a Sox fan shouting “Hit twice, Tony!”
NBC Sports Chicago analyst Ozzie Guillen told WSCR-AM 670’s “The Mully and Haugh Show” that he was “shocked” by the measure. The MLB network showed that 42.8% of the batters with a 1-2 count, and the former Major League player Cameron Maybin raised the other decisions of La Russa.
No one was fooled that La Russa would not survive this. President Jerry Reinsdorf is a loyal friend. Case closed. But he gave the already considerable legion of doubters of La Russa one more reason to ask for a change.
The move has already climbed to the top of the “Top 40 of La Russa” lists, overcoming “YermínGate”, the controversy over homering in a 3-0 throw in a defeat. The Russian left Liam Hendriks as a ghost runner last season, unaware of the rule, and took Tanner Banks to the left to face New York Yankees right-hander Giancarlo Stanton last month.
Unless another coach asks for a deliberate walk on a 1-2 field, La Russa will have the category for him for the rest of the time. Imagine that.
A decision in a game is not the end of the world. The Sox entered Friday’s game against the Texas Rangers knowing that starter Lance Lynn would return soon, with shortstop Tim Anderson not far behind. And La Russa is not the first coach to make crazy moves.
Former Cubs coach Don Zimmer, who was loved in Chicago for ignoring conventional wisdom in the summer of 1989, said that season he never cared about the reaction of fans or the media as long as he had a good explanation for every decision he made.
The Russian also had an explanation: a left-to-left confrontation — Sousa against Muncy — had a better chance of success than Sousa facing Turner, even with two blows. Russa challenged an MLB.com writer, asking if she knew Turner and Muncy’s numbers.
As shown by an MLB Network chart, Turner had a .254 career average with a 1-2 count and a .378 average this season, with a put rate of 31.4%. Muncy is hitting .146 against lefties this season (and was at .125 before the baptism, one of the worst of the majors in that category). During Muncy’s career, MLB Network noted that he has a much more respectable .252 average against lefties.
A statistic that both MLB Network and La Russa ignored belonged to Sousa, 27. Left-handed batters are hitting .364 against Sousa, who has an 8.20 ERA. Just because he’s left-handed doesn’t mean he’s been successful against left-handed batters.
Do not care. The act is done. Now is the time to watch the falls.
General manager Rick Hahn did not fire La Russa on Thursday night while everyone was asleep despite requests from Sox fans on Twitter. Hahn, who did not personally choose La Russa, casually commented this week on how he reacts when bad things happen to the Sox.
“I have (things),” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. I leave home when I’m not with the team. In fact, here (at Guaranteed Rate Field), I walk a lot through the tunnels. My wife accuses me of acting like Jerry West in ‘Winning Time’, which I think is (inappropriate). I don’t do that. I think it’s a slander, apparently West and I. “
Hahn is not the first GM of the Sox to wander around picking up his thoughts when things go wrong. When Executive Vice President Ken Williams was GM in 2002, he took a long walk through Edison Field during a 19-0 loss to the Anaheim Angels, the most unbalanced defeat in team history.
At the very least, the GM Sox traditionally intervene during times of stress.
So what about the Sox? Is it time to hear?
Cubs president Jed Hoyer spoke of adding last June before a streak of 11 straight losses resulted in the biggest sale in team history. Hahn said he does not expect to be in “sale mode” by the trade deadline.
“I really don’t expect to have to sit here in six weeks and eat those words,” he said.
The Sox invented the “White Flag Trade” in 1997. Don’t expect the same on the 25th anniversary this July.
But at least it should be an interesting six weeks for the Sox and La Russa, who seem to be living in the words of Gene Mauch.
“I’m not the manager because I’m always right,” Mauch once said. “But I’m always right because I’m the manager.”