Tony La Russa’s inflammatory comments on Yermin Mercedes should be a fireable offense

Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa doesn’t get it and his handling of Yermin Mercedes is the latest example of the game passing him by.

The Chicago White Sox are one of the leading contenders to win the World Series despite their Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa who continues to prove the game has passed him by.

La Russa didn’t come to the defense of his player, Yermin Mercedes after he hit a home run in Monday night’s blowout win over the Minnesota Twins, and essentially advocated for him to get thrown at.

“Big mistake,” La Russa said Tuesday. “The fact that he’s a rookie, and excited, helps explain why he just was clueless. But now he’s got a clue.”

“I took several steps from the dugout onto the field, yelling, ‘Take, take, take,'” La Russa recalled. “The way he was set up, it looked to me like he was going to swing.

“I was upset because that’s not a time to swing 3-0. I knew the Twins knew I was upset. … He missed a 3-0 take sign. With that kind of lead, that’s just sportsmanship and respect for your opponent.”

La Russa chalked up the 28-year-old who leads the American League in batting average to a learning experience for which he’ll have to pay the price.

Hitting a home run after toiling in the minors is an offense now?

Tony La Russa gave permission to the Twins to throw at Yermin Mercedes

Yet the team that put their reserve catcher on the mound to serve up the home run is fair game, and throwing at Mercedes to teach him a lesson is not only acceptable, but encouraged, by the guy’s manager?

Make it make sense.

Tyler Duffy threw at Mercedes late in Tuesday’s game when he threw behind the right-handed hitter. He was promptly ejected along with Twins manager Rocco Baldelli.

Even the umpires who should be replaced by robots have enough sense to know what the Twins did was wrong. Why do the hallowed unwritten rules of baseball have an issue with a player swinging at a 3-0 pitch in a blowout but throwing a 94 MPH fastball with the intention of hitting the guy encouraged?

Baseball is a great sport but some of these old customs need to go away forever.

La Russa’s hire raised eyebrows all across baseball, especially along the South Side of Chicago where fans knew it wasn’t a great fit to bring the “old school” La Russa for a very “new school” roster of talent that is among the best collection in baseball.

His doubling and tripling down on making an example of Mercedes — for hitting a home run — is the latest example that the game has passed La Russa by. The “respect the game” nonsense has to stop and the fact La Russa took no issue with Mercedes getting thrown at and even defending the actions of the Twins is going to alienate him with his players. He’s already lost the fans despite their success thus far this season.

“I don’t want to ever give the other team an excuse to take a shot at one of our players,” he said. “We were taught from day one to respect the game, respect the competition, respect the opponent. “I heard he said something like, ‘I play my game.’ No, he doesn’t. He plays the game of Major League Baseball, respects the game, respects the opponents. And he’s got to respect the [take] sign.”

La Russa should think about respecting his players, his team, his fans and stop worrying about the precious unwritten rules of baseball.

How ironic is it that the White Sox motto this season is “change the game” and yet La Russa is dedicated to keeping the game the way it was 100 years ago?