White Sox manager Tony La Russa doesn’t seem to be gaining any fans following his criticism of Yermín Mercedes on Monday.
La Russa chastised Chicago’s catcher following a home run in a blowout win over the Twins, leading to significant backlash across the sport. And one former player had some particularly harsh words for La Russa.
“Tony La Russa is out of touch with the game. He should not be managing one of the best teams in the American League period,” former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia said on the R2C2 podcast. “If you’re going to put a f—ing position player in there to pitch, guess what? If he’s going to lob s— over the plate, we going to f—-ing tee off.”
Sabathia isn’t the only player to back Mercedes for his home run off of Twins position player Willans Astudillo. White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson and pitcher Lucas Giolito both noted their support for Mercedes in recent days, as did Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer. It seems as though La Russa is at least a bit out of touch with today’s players based on the pushback he’s received over the last week.
“This guy has been carrying you. And now you don’t have a problem with the f—ing weird-a– Minnesota Twins throwing behind one of your biggest hitters?” Sabathia added. “That’s just f—ing stupid. It’s stupid.”
“He shouldn’t be f—ing managing that team. If you not going to step up and have your players; backs, what’s the point of being the f—ing manager of the White Sox?”
Perhaps La Russa now has a locker room problem on his hands, though it doesn’t seem to be impacting the White Sox’ performance. Chicago enters Thursday atop the AL Central at 26–16.
More MLB Coverage:
• Corey Kluber Reclaims His Ace Status
• Tony La Russa, MLB’s Keeper of the Unwritten Rulebook
• What’s Behind Baseball’s Hit-by-Pitch Epidemic?
