Two ongoing issues plaguing AL Central teams pivoted in a new direction on Sunday.
For the White Sox, James Fegan reported that Tony La Russa will plead to lesser charges to resolve his drunk driving arrest.
Last Wednesday night, La Russa’s attorney Larry Kazan submitted a plea agreement to the Maricopa County Justice Court. The agreement calls upon La Russa to plead guilty to a charge of reckless driving, a class 2 misdemeanor, as opposed to driving under the influence.
A copy of the agreement, acquired by The Athletic, comes with the terms that La Russa will serve a day in jail, but stipulates that the state is not opposed to work release or home detention if La Russa qualifies and a judge approves. A Maricopa County Justice Courts spokesperson indicated that a mandatory day in jail is typical for DUI offenses, but it will be determined at the Dec. 21 hearing if that requirement will be necessary for La Russa’s plea of reckless driving, which is a lesser charge.
This seems like the result of the kind of lawyering that the wealthy can afford, and it gives the White Sox a couple of courses for whatever response they've spent a month cooking up. The hope is that the Sox will still address the significance of the incident even without a court convicting him of a specific DUI charge, because La Russa's previous conviction and the details of the police report indicate an underlying problem, and by hiring La Russa, they've now bringing him and his still-active driver's license to Chicago's roads.
(Regarding our Hall of Famer Baseball Person t-shirts, we're down to our last medium and three smalls. We'll be donating the proceeds to the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists later this month.)
* * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Indians won't be the Cleveland Indians for long.
The New York Times reported Sunday night, and the team confirmed today, that the Cleveland franchise will finally move toward a new mascot after 105 years.
It's a good move, but the Indians are going to take their time making it. The team name will remain the same through the 2021 season, and Chief Wahoo -- the biggest issue with the Cleveland brand -- will still be on merchandise during that time.
In defense of the team's ownership, switching names was probably a lot easier before the organization had to secure every single social media platform in advance. It just sets up an awkward year, and a whole host of bad-faith arguments for people who can use this topic to restate their political priors.
(Photo by Gage Skidmore)
