Tim Anderson finally comments on Tony La Russa-Yermin Mercedes controversy
By Josh Hill
Tim Anderson has finally weighed in on the Tony La Russa-Yermin Mercedes home run controversy.
When Yermin Mercedes hit a garbage time home run off of a Minnesota Twins utility player during a blowout win, Tony La Russa’s screams from his front lawn rippled across baseball like the Death of Superman.
The oldest manager in MLB, managing the ninth youngest team in the league, has reignited the debate about unwritten rules. La Russa not only punished Mercedes for breaking a rule, he defended the Twins for throwing at his own player a day later.
In the wake of La Russa’s comments, which also included throwing Lance Lynn under the bus for having a locker not an office, it seems that everyone has aligned themselves against the White Sox manager.
Everyone except Tim Anderson.
What did Tim Anderson say about Tony La Russa drama?
Anderson threw in his two cents on the matter, which is invaluable to calming the waters.
“Tony is like that dad, we’re like his kids. We’re like the bad kids that don’t listen but we all get along so we’re going to keep pushing,” Anderson said on Friday.
After a week of everyone taking sides, Anderson defended both his manager and his teammate.
When La Russa was hired, the biggest question was how he’d mesh with young stars like Anderson who like to have fun while playing baseball (*gasp*, I know). Anderson’s big smiles and even bigger bat flips represent a new school of baseball that many expected La Russa to rejected — something he took less than two months to prove correct.
But Anderson appears to be the connective tissue between the two sides of the debate, which may have been La Russa’s plan from the start.