Tony La Russa calls out Cardinals for spreading rumors about Mike Shildt

Tony La Russa had some thoughts about Mike Shildt being fired by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Even though he is the manager of the Chicago White Sox, Tony La Russa maintains close ties to the St. Louis Cardinals organization, as well as its former skipper, Mike Shildt.

While not a ton was gleaned from Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY’s Sports’ feature on why the recently fired skipper is out of work, La Russa held nothing back on how he feels about the whole thing. Shildt had been a longtime coach in the Cardinals organization before leading the big-league ballclub for the first time in 2018. Oliver Marmol takes over the Redbirds at the ripe old age of 35.

Here is La Russa’s entire quote on the matter.

“That one frosted my ass,’’ said La Russa. “My comment was that if it was toxic, it must be in the front office. … I’m for the Cardinals. Everybody makes their own decision. But when you start talking about that, it might damage his chance to manage again for those that don’t know any better. He did a hell of a job.”

“Philosophical differences? Ok. But toxic?”

“He’s a special guy. That’s why it’s so important for his reputation to be intact and not smeared.’’

Tony La Russa goes to bat for Mike Shildt after the St. Louis Cardinals fired him

Toxicity is a label nobody wants attached to their name from a past, present and future employment standpoint. While nobody knows for certain what was going on inside of the Cardinals organization other than those who are already in the building, something is undeniably off with St. Louis parting ways with Shildt after he regularly guided the team into the postseason.

There is a chance the front office believes he hit his managerial ceiling with the organization. That is fair, but keep in mind that the Cardinals play in the same NL with the likes of the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers, two of the very best teams in baseball. Even though the Cardinals did not win the NL Central a year ago, they were still a top five team in the Senior Circuit anyway.

As for La Russa, he may still have a lot of attachments to the Cardinals organization, but he has got a contending team over in the AL Central to manage. The White Sox are the easy favorite to repeat in the division. Frankly, anything short of an ALCS berth would be seen as a failure for the South Siders. Their competitive window is now and La Russa cannot be cornered with the past.

Whether it is Pujols’ return or Shildt’s termination, La Russa has been all about St. Louis of late.