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Originally Posted by Déjà Bru
Jeez, this just keeps getting worse! (Not you and Boomcoach but La Russa, about whom, I should add, I had nothing but vague thoughts about until this incident.)
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I rearranged this sentence — the latter part of it — in case you guys read the previous version and did this:
What I meant was, I gave La Russa nary a thought until now. And I accepted his managerial greatness prima facie. Not any more; not by a long shot.
Regarding this:
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Originally Posted by thehef
Given a) the likely dissatisfaction among the younger players with the old man regarding this incident, and b) the fact that the White Sox are a legit contender, seems to me it might be a good time for the vets - Abreau, Grandal, Eaton, Lynn, Keuchel - to be doing some counseling of the younger players (and some go-betweening with them & old guy) to make sure that while the younger guys' perspectives aren't to be dismissed, the goal is to stay together, look beyond this incident, generally respect the manager's experience & authority (and LaRussa to understand that the younger guys on his team are not the same as the younger guys of his heyday), and focus on the real goal.
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Nice. Sometimes the real leaders of a team are guys like these, not necessarily an old guy who may be coasting along and trading in on past glories and a HOF membership.
As I said earlier, some people change as they get older in terms of attitudes and abilities. He holds four Manager of the Year Awards. Without descending to questioning whether his
players and general managers got him those awards, I will merely point out that the newest of those awards was bestowed nearly 20 years ago.
I must tread lightly here because ageism is ugly. No one should assume that someone who is 76 necessarily cannot hack it anymore. I know how that feels on the receiving end. It's just that I don't see how anybody who has bungled a situation like La Russa has done here would ever deserve to be Manager of the Year. So if he did deserve those awards, then to me he seems to be a different man today if this story is any indication.
Because a good manager, let alone a great one, does not create a controversy like this merely by openly speaking his mind to the media. Far from it. No matter what the provocation or violation that caused it. The media is NOT your friend if you manage a professional sports team and the smart ones know it.