White Sox flawed Tony La Russa experiment ends exactly how we thought it would

Reports indicate that Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa will not be returning, which is not surprising at all.

Before the start of the 2021 season, the Chicago White Sox hired Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, a decade after he had retired from managing. While he was a Hall of Fame manager for good reason (winning the Manager of the Year Award four times, getting to the World Series six times, and winning three times), it was obvious from the get-go that La Russa wasn’t exactly his former self at managing.

Now, less than two years later and a disastrous 2022 campaign, La Russa will reportedly announce his retirement for the second time on Monday.

The White Sox will need a new permanent manager in 2022

Bob Nightengale of USA Today was the first to report on Sunday that Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa will be announcing his retirement from managing on Monday. However, Mike Rodríguez of Univision and the White Sox Spanish broadcasts reported that La Russa would not be returning on Tuesday.

La Russa, who turns 78 on Tuesday, has been out since late August with health issues, including heart issues. In the interim, his bench coach Miguel Cairo (who was also a former player under him with the St. Louis Cardinals) has been the interim manager.

The White Sox won the AL Central with a 93-69 record last year but they were vanquished by the eventual AL Champion Houston Astros in four games in the ALDS.

In less than two years with the White Sox, La Russa committed a number of managerial gaffes that drew the ire of White Sox fans. They included putting multiple players’ careers at risk by using them after injury or ignoring injuries, appearing to fall asleep in the dugout, intentionally walking batters after they had two strikes against them (multiple times), and the whole Yermín Mercedes debacle.

More importantly than the state of the team, though, is La Russa’s health and considering his issues in the last month, La Russa’s retirement is for the best going forward.