This You Tony?

When the Chicago White Sox hired Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa I didn't see the appeal. The White Sox are a young talented team with the potential to go as far as the World Series and with the right leadership the future would be bright in the Southside, but LaRussa isn't it. After his hiring a lot of analysts pointed to the revolutionary things LaRussa did as a manager in the 80's and 90's (some say the modern bullpen is based on his handling of the Oakland A's bullpens of the 80's and LaRussa was an early adapter of the defensive shift in the 90's), but this is 2021. Players are aloud to show more of their personalities than they were when LaRussa was in his heyday. Bat flips and trash talk is not only accepted, but encouraged all in the effort to allure more youthful fans so that baseball seems more fun than golf. Managers like Tony LaRussa aren't helping the cause. As much as he or his bosses want to say that LaRussa is able to adapt to the modern game and letting the "kids play" I don't believe it. The first example came to light these last couple of games where LaRussa not only scolded his rookie player in public, but then went ahead and justified the same player getting retaliated against by the opposing team. 

Instead of publicly supporting the player he's going to see everyday or at least trying to minimize the damage that happened Tony LaRussa stoked the flames and when his player got hit by a pitch LaRussa came out and gave a whole bunch of excuses as to why it wasn't too surprising or he wasn't sure whether it was retaliation or not. Tony LaRussa  has been managing before I was even born so for him to say he wasn't sure whether that was retaliation or not then LaRussa really shouldn't be managing. Yermin Mercedes deserves better from his manager. The White Sox players deserve better from their manager. A manager should defend and his players from scrutiny while teaching from behind closed doors. This is a fireable offense and shame on LaRussa for defending the unwritten rules when he barely knows the written rules.