By Ken Rosenthal Sep 14, 2022

Tony, first off, I hope you’re feeling well. You haven’t managed since Aug. 28, missing time
because you required a procedure to repair the circuitry of your pacemaker. You’re watching games
from a suite at Guaranteed Rate Field and White Sox general manager Rick Hahn told reporters
Tuesday the team will follow the advice of medical experts as to if and when you will manage
again. Returning would mean resuming a stressful job at the most stressful time of the season
with a heart problem as you turn 78 on Oct. 4. But even if doctors cleared you to work again, this
no longer is simply a medical question. Not if you are thinking of the best interests of the team.

I know you’re watching the games. I know you’re aware the White Sox, 63-65 when you left the
club, are 10-4 since bench coach Miguel Cairo, 48, took over as acting manager. You can
rationalize this turnaround following a five-game losing streak, dismiss it as coincidence.
Knowing you since the late 1980s, I imagine that’s exactly how you see it. You’re Tony La Russa,
three-time World Series champion, Hall of Fame manager. You didn’t reach those heights
thinking someone else could do a better job.

But Tony, it’s more obvious every day: Cairo is doing a better job. Yes, the team finally is getting
healthier, the offense finally is hitting with power, the players finally are responding to the
urgency of their situation, three games out in the weak AL Central with 20 to play. Maybe all
that would have happened if you were still the manager. But Cairo is bringing energy.
Communicating with players. Holding them accountable. All things maybe you thought you were
doing. But evidently, weren’t doing well enough.

Under Cairo, no longer are there occasionally bizarre in-game decisions that spark outcry. No
longer does the club operate as a fiefdom where the manager’s word rules above all. And most
important, no longer are the players underachieving the way they did for five months.
Meanwhile, the question looms over the club: Are you coming back? You might say, “That’s up to
the doctors.” But really, it’s up to you. Your reputation has taken a hit during your second tenure
with the White Sox, even though the team won the division last season, your first as a manager
since 2011. By stepping down, you could exit gracefully, show dignity and do right by owner Jerry
Reinsdorf, who brought you out of retirement as a way of atoning for firing you in 1986.
There, Tony. I’ll say it. You should announce that you no longer will manage the White Sox. That
you want only what is best for the team. And that what is best for the team is Cairo continuing in
the position for the rest of the season, with your complete support.

Such a gesture, I know, is not in your nature. You are a fighter, always have been. And if you and
Reinsdorf had been more self-aware, he would not have asked you to come out of retirement in
the first place, and you would not have accepted. Reinsdorf’s loyalty is perhaps his finest quality.
But his stubbornness in hiring you jeopardized the team’s competitive window. Beneficial as it
might have been for you, Tony — and the way White Sox fans get on you, I’m not sure it was all
that beneficial — the move was a disservice to the team’s front office, its coaches, players and fans.
Almost no manager is thought of highly by all 26 of his players. Pitchers see things differently
than hitters. Veterans see things differently than youngsters. But Tony, I think you would agree
it’s a different generation of player now. Some might be intimidated by you. Some might prefer a
looser environment. Some might require more energy from their manager. Obviously, you can
never please them all. And players should be accountable for their own performances, especially
when you almost always try to protect them publicly.

Still, what did Cairo do after his first loss on his first night on the job, as first reported by USA
Today? Call a meeting and call out players for their lack of effort. New expectations were set. The
message, according to one player, was simple: Give me what you got.

Maybe you conveyed the same thoughts, Tony. But maybe some players needed to hear the
message from a new voice. Not all — certain veterans, in particular, function just fine no matter
who the manager is. But Cairo is only 10 years removed from his playing days. He walks up and
down the dugout, talking to players, encouraging them. And though you speak fluent Spanish, at
least one White Sox person believes that Cairo, a native Venezuelan, connects more naturally with
the team’s sizable contingent of Latin players.

Other White Sox people think the team’s rash of soft-tissue injuries perhaps stemmed, in part,
from the players’ lax approach — not always running hard, then asking too much from their
muscles in short bursts. Such analysis is purely anecdotal. But the inference was clear: A team
takes on the personality of its manager, and you did not hold the players to a high enough
standard.

Your relationship with coaches was another issue. Most staffs today are highly collaborative. Your
style is far more autonomous. Some coaches were OK with that, I’m told. Others were not. Your
emphasis on hits and contact ran counter to the hitting coaches’ goals for achieving power
through patience. Cairo cited his respect for you in explaining why he refrained from calling out
the team sooner; clearly, he did not feel empowered to take a stand.

None of this is new. Tony, while you always had coaches you trusted — Dave Duncan, Dave
McKay, among others — you also were always something of a one-man show, and not without
reason. You were Tony La Russa, and if some people sneered at you for acting like the smartest
guy in the room, well, you often were. Your supporters say you can still run a game as well as any
manager, but input from your coaches is nevertheless essential. Today’s game is so much more
complex than it was in the early 1990s, or even the early 2010s. Not that ordering intentional
walks on 1-2 counts was an acceptable strategy in any era, much as you might argue it was.

Cairo, at least so far, seems to have no such problems motivating players or including his coaches
in his decision-making. His move of Elvis Andrus to the leadoff spot proved a master stroke,
helping spark the offense. It’s impossible to say whether the White Sox are playing more freely
because they’re winning, or whether they’re winning because they’re playing more freely. The
defense, according to the leading metrics, is still rather flawed. And the way the Guardians,
winners of five straight, are playing, maybe the Sox’s belated push under Cairo will prove to be
too little, too late.

Doesn’t matter. Tony. You’ve got a chance to take the high road here, to back up the team-first
ethos you’ve always preached. It’s actually an easy way out, and I’m fairly certain it would be well-
received, because it’s the right thing to do.

For those who knew you at your best, it’s difficult seeing you portrayed as a cartoon. Younger fans
and players might never appreciate all you accomplished in Oakland and St. Louis. At least let
them see you, in your final act, respect the game, your organization, the owner who made the
controversial decision to hire you, the coach who succeeded you as manager.

tl;dr

Remember this is from the same group of guys who think it’s disrespectful to speculate on the nature of Hub Arkush’s health and that his privacy should be respected .

RIP Sini

RIP Sini

At this point the bagging on TLR is really lazy and stale. Direct that angst where it belongs....Jerry.
Fuck Ken Rosenthal.

At this point the bagging on TLR is really lazy and stale. Direct that angst where it belongs....Jerry.
Fuck Ken Rosenthal.

writing an 'open letter ' = tell me you're gay without telling me you're gay

I doubt Ken Rosenthal, among others at The Atlantic, has any idea who Hub is.

At this point the bagging on TLR is really lazy and stale. Direct that angst where it belongs....Jerry.
Fuck Ken Rosenthal.

*Caller Bob immediately starts writing an open letter*

writing an 'open letter ' = tell me you're gay without telling me you're gay

You think sportswriters don't know who Hub Arkush is?

You think sportswriters don't know who Hub Arkush is?

so if Tony was a cancer, can we similarly launch Tim Anderson then ? They seemed to do a lot better without him

Every so often I hear it on the broadcast. Over the last three seasons, the Sox have something like a .600 win% when Anderson scores a run. Generally as he goes, the Sox go.

Yes, the man has had a rough year, but is there ANY doubt he can barrel up a ball and spray to all fields? When he's going good he hardly even fouls it back. It's just rope after rope. Dolphin needs to calm himself.

only one way i'm calming down