White Sox: Tony La Russa’s latest mistake is another fireable offense

Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa has now made the same mistake twice, intentionally walking Jose Ramirez on an 0-1 count.

And you can guarantee La Russa will defend himself postgame, just as he did earlier in the season.

As great as Ramirez is, if Chicago were going to walk him, they should’ve done so from the jump. Rather, they wasted a pitch, and then opted to put him on base.

After one pitch, La Russa changed his mind. This isn’t the first time this season La Russa has opted to intentionally walk a player mid at-bat. Look no further than a mid-June game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With Trea Turner then up to bat, La Russa called for an intentional walk on a 1-2 count. Surely that was one of the dumbest mistakes on the MLB season so far. It overshadows TLR’s decision-making against Ramirez tenfold.

White Sox: Does Tony La Russa want to get fired?

La Russa’s White Sox are struggling heading into the All-Star Break, and the veteran manager has been mentioned as a candidate to be fired after the season should he not turn things around. Reports of clubhouse disfunction aren’t helping matters, either.

In a report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Sox clubhouse is in disarray, in part because of La Russa’s failure to contain matters.

"“No one has been more disappointing than the Chicago White Sox, who must take a good hard look at what went wrong if they miss the playoffs. There have been a lot of whispers of unrest, cliques and the lack of player leadership inside the clubhouse tearing apart this talented team.”"

In-game mistakes such as the intentional walks to Ramirez and Turner are only further proof that the game has passed La Russa by. There’s no shame in that, as he’s 77 years old. But it’s time for the White Sox to go with a fresh approach.

La Russa’s style has grown stale.