# Tony LaRussa is (being) an idiot. (Re: Yermín Mercedes) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [May 20, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559 "2021-05-20T15:48:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/21 "2021-05-21T15:00:06Z")
Again, it’s not like La Russa’s been living in a cave the last 10 years; he knows the game has changed (though he might want to brush up on NL extra inning rules). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/22 "2021-05-21T15:00:35Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Tony La Russa is arguably one of the most successful baseball managers in the history of the game. Save the outrage for someone else. He’s trying to get across to his young players that baseball is a team sport, and that it’s not all about you and your stats. Much of his success came from managing the most 'roided-up team in history, while he turned a blind eye and pretended he never knew. Save your respect for someone who deserves it. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/24 "2021-05-21T15:12:51Z")
Drugs and roids were a rampant problem in the 1980s and 90s. He’s hardly the only manager to have overlooked that problem. Hell Bud Selig overlooked that problem too ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/25 "2021-05-21T15:17:34Z")
How many other managers have had multiple drunk driving arrests? But yeah bat flipping is the problem. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/26 "2021-05-21T15:26:23Z")
Which is worse for the game: La Russa’s off the field DUIs or changing pitchers every inning. Playoff games rarely end before midnight now and frequently go well into the early morning. Who’s killing baseball here? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/27 "2021-05-21T15:31:59Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > What risk was there? Getting a strike? > > The count was 3-0. There was no risk. It was literally a low-risk, low reward situation. At worst, Yermin pops it up for an easy out. And what would that have risked? An extra out in a game that was already out of hand? As it was, the reward was an extra run in a game that was already out of hand. > > If the count was 3-2, I might agree with you, but there was literally no risk and it was not only Swinging at the pitch had a higher likelihood of getting a HR but also a higher likelihood of making an out, as compared to taking the pitch. As such, it was a high-risk-high-reward approach. You’re correct that neither approach was likely to impact the game based on the score. That’s exactly why you don’t play aggressively at that point. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/28 "2021-05-21T15:36:18Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Drugs and roids were a rampant problem in the 1980s and 90s. The A’s were the first team to really show the rest of the league what you could do with 'roids. If La Russa had shut it down, maybe the rest of the 80s and 90s would have been different. He opened the door to all that. > [@asahi](#): > > Playoff games rarely end before midnight now and frequently go well into the early morning. Who’s killing baseball here? You’re complaining about the length of games, but also saying that batters should be working the count for a walk instead of swinging away when up by 10 runs. Freely swinging when a game is out of reach might get a few more hits, but it will end the game faster and make the final innings somewhat watchable. You and **Fotheringay-Phipps** are advocating for a style of baseball that might please the purists but is loathed by the majority of fans. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/29 "2021-05-21T15:42:18Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I love the fact that some Tim Anderson came out and contradicted La Russa in public. Good for him. Giolito as well. A lot of players, and not just on the White Sox, have come out in support of Yermin. Way to lose the locker room by throwing your player under the bus, TLR. These unwritten rules are causing massive damage to the reputation to the sport. A lot of young fans simply think baseball is a bunch of old farts wagging their fingers at anyone trying to have fun. And that bears out in the rating numbers (and the demos). ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/30 "2021-05-21T16:02:31Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > You and **Fotheringay-Phipps** are advocating for a style of baseball that might please the purists but is loathed by the majority of fans. FWIW, I myself don’t care one way or the other, from the perspective of a spectator. The issue in these types of situations is not about the fans but that losing team feels disrespected and that the winners are trying to rub their noses in their defeat by running up the score and making a humiliating loss even more humiliating. This contributes to making it more difficult to play the game in an atmosphere of mutual respect and sportsmanship. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/31 "2021-05-21T16:13:57Z")
I’m sorry, that’s complete horseshit. These guys are professionals making ridiculous amounts of money, and your concern is that their feelings will be hurt if someone beats them badly? Respect the other team by playing hard, not by going easy. I’ll leave aside your argument that the game isn’t for the fans, because that is plain senseless. ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/32 "2021-05-21T16:26:12Z")
DUIs kill people so um that one? Personally I find the DUIs more problematic than the steroid stuff for similar reasons. A large part of the issue is cultural. La Russa is an old white guy and wants the game played like old white guys played. Latino baseball is a very different thing. Showing emotion and bat flips are part of their game. And if you look at White Sox roster there is a lot more Latino than old white guy. If you can’t respect how your players play the game and their heritage, you shouldn’t be managing them. It is not clear to me what La Russa is bringing to the table. He is bad at tactics. He doesn’t respect his players. He is a poor role model. Just the fact he won a lot of games many years ago? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/33 "2021-05-21T16:33:58Z")
And they need to shut their asses up and just play. Even if they don’t like the manager attacking one of their players publicly, which is probably a valid complaint, they are just as bad if not worse for suggesting some sort of mutiny in public. The Sox players seem to be a pretty talented club, but they are not capable of managing themselves. They might think that they are, but they are not. They are a talented, but otherwise unproven team that has no track record of success since 2008. At season’s end Tony La Russa will have more managerial wins than any manager in the history of professional baseball, except for Connie Mack who managed teams over a century ago. Common sense dictates that he knows more about winning baseball games than any of the players on that roster do. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/34 "2021-05-21T16:38:02Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > And they need to shut their asses up and just play. TLR should probably just shut his ass up and manage. Attacking your player in public is strike 1, 2, 3 and the players are going to rally around the player in question. You want to lose the locker room. That’s how you do it. You want the game to lose relevance? Lift up those idiot managers. The game has already passed TLR by. He should just sit down and grab a drink… but try not to drive afterwards… again. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/35 "2021-05-21T16:39:33Z")
Yeah, I am getting the vibe that TLR’s problem is that he’s not woke. That never seemed to be a problem with most of the players he managed in the past. Role models? FFS, he wasn’t hired to be a role model; he was hired to help them win games, which they’re doing. And yes: the fact that he won a lot of games - shit, I don’t know what else you need to do besides that, really. And he’s apparently doing it right now. If the Sox go down the tubes, it’ll be because they’ve got triggered snowflakes for players. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/36 "2021-05-21T16:41:15Z")
Goddamn Cardinals fans are the fucking worst. The Nebraska fans of MLB. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/37 "2021-05-21T16:42:01Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I’m sorry, that’s complete horseshit. These guys are professionals making ridiculous amounts of money, and your concern is that their feelings will be hurt if someone beats them badly? Respect the other team by playing hard, not by going easy. > > I’ll leave aside your argument that the game isn’t for the fans, because that is plain senseless. No matter how much money these players are making, they’re still people with the same emotional makeup as any other people. And if this type of thing makes them feel disrespected and makes them respond with less sportsmanship on their own part (e.g. by throwing at batters) then it’s bad for the game. Including fans, many of whom might like seeing HRs in the short run but would prefer more sportsmanship in the long term. > [@Hawkeyeop](#): > > A large part of the issue is cultural. La Russa is an old white guy and wants the game played like old white guys played. Latino baseball is a very different thing. Showing emotion and bat flips are part of their game. And if you look at White Sox roster there is a lot more Latino than old white guy. If you can’t respect how your players play the game and their heritage, you shouldn’t be managing them. Out of curiousity, what would be your position on a team’s management if they used the supposedly different culture of Latino players as a factor against hiring such players? ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/38 "2021-05-21T16:52:17Z")
Here’s a great video from Antonelli Baseball: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/oBRVY7eE6ac/maxresdefault.jpg "Tony Is Throwing Everyone Under The Bus 🚌") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBRVY7eE6ac) ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/39 "2021-05-21T16:55:33Z")
Lance Lynn should shut up; he’s had trouble staying fit his entire career and never really lived up to his potential. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/40 "2021-05-21T16:57:55Z")
And all the players I’m assume? They just need to say “Yes Massa”? If you hadn’t noticed, Yermin Mercedes is the best player on the team. And when the rest of the players see him getting thrown under the bus and come to his defense, then you know the manager doesn’t have the trust or respect of the locker room. (also Lance Lynn is 4-1 with a 1.55 ERA and 267 ERA+ this year… best on the team… he’s also a career 118 ERA+ pitcher.) ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559/41 "2021-05-21T17:06:29Z")
La Russa should resign. If he doesn’t respect his players enough to keep internal issues in the clubhouse, then he’s lost the clubhouse. If he stupidly had a problem with Mercedes swinging at that cookie, the public should never have even caught a whiff of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tony-larussa-is-being-an-idiot-re-yermin-mercedes/942559.md?page=3)