Here's how Rick Hahn described his future manager as they set out on the hiring search to replace Rick Renteria earlier this month:
"This is an opportunity for us as an organization," Hahn said Monday. "Ultimately, I think the best candidate or the ideal candidate is going to be someone who has experience with a championship organization in recent years. Recent October experience with a championship organization would be ideal. But we're going to keep an open mind."
Here's how Jerry Reinsdorf described his man, Tony La Russa, after yet another managerial non-search resulted in an underwhelming selection made official this afternoon:
Sure it isn't. Just like Reinsdorf and La Russa denied having an active role in getting Harold Baines into the Hall of Fame. (Speaking of which, Bob Nightengale says La Russa wants Baines back on the coaching staff. His presence didn't yield any incredible benefits the first time around.)
I've been disinclined to defend Hahn for ownership-related issues over his tenure because it's part of his job to succeed within the boundaries ownership sets. Here, I don't blame him if his aspirations got trampled. Hahn said he wanted to avoid being "insular," and Reinsdorf instead wanted to make amends for a decision plenty of White Sox fans weren't even alive to see.
There's a chance this could end up working out, if only because talent dictates results more than management, La Russa knows how to manage conflict, and he's probably more analytically inclined than he lets on. There's also a chance it could explode, because he seems like the worst candidate to oversee a clubhouse of expressive individuals in an era of player empowerment.
There's also the matter that he hasn't managed since 2011, which is around the time Don Cooper's effectiveness started to tail off. The White Sox fired Cooper because they needed to overhaul their approach to developing pitchers. The White Sox now hired a manager who hasn't shown particular acumen for evaluating talent under modern training regimens.
Sox fans have generally known that their hopes ride on the weird whims of a billionaire who doesn't really keep them in mind, and this confirms it more than anything. As always, there's no choice to but to see if the guy who interrupted one potential White Sox golden age by engineering a labor stoppage will avoid short-circuiting another by hiring his ostensibly out-of-touch friend at a critical juncture in his team's development in an attempt to correct a decision from the 1980s.
There are way more questions than answers, and it's worth scanning the skies to look for potential fallout from the undermining. For the time being, If you're looking for solace, at least La Russa now has something to do..
This is the only job that would lure him out of retirement simply to help realize Reinsdorf’s dream of winning at least one more time.
Besides, to be honest, La Russa has been bored.
(Photo by Jerome Davis/Icon Sportswire)
