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Trevor Bauer asked the multi-million dollar question.
Not about when the White Sox or Tony La Russa will address La Russa’s second DUI charge and why that hasn’t affected their decision to hire the 76-year-old as manager on October 29. (A spokesperson for the team reiterated on Wednesday that they won don’t comment until the legal case is resolved, which won’t be anytime soon). But rather this one:
“How are you [today’s players] is going to correspond with Tony La Russa, who hasn’t been in the game in this title for quite a while and the vast majority of his managerial career has been in a much different landscape of the game?
Bauer, who was named the winner of the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night and easily the top pitcher in the free agent market, a market the Sox must tap into to bolster a team they believe they can compete for a World Series, discussed by La Russa on his YouTube. channel.
Bauer, as usual, was not at a loss for words and thoughts.
“Is he going to use analytics in a way that can help people who have analytical minds, players who think that way, move them forward?” Bauer said.
“How are the players going to perceive the manager, and there’s all that stuff around him when he happens. The White Sox have a lot of young players, players from other countries … and they don’t know anything different. , they may have only had managers in their big league careers. How are these players going to react to this kind of firestorm? “
Right-hander Marcus Stroman, who would have integrated well into the Sox rotation, made it clear on Wednesday that he did not want to participate in such a climate with La Russa at the helm, accepted the Mets’ one-year qualifying offer of $ 18 million. Right-hander Kevin Gausman did the same with the Giants, clearing up the pool a bit more.
“I do not know [what direction the Sox are going]. I’m not one of the White Sox, ”Bauer said. “Maybe I’ll be at some point this offseason, maybe I won’t. But these are questions you need to think about in order to attract free agents. These are questions that I will ask the teams.
“The White Sox hired La Russa, and then the PR nightmare began. So what’s going on in Chicago? This is not how you would ideally write it and the first question is how are young players going to perceive the manager when he comes in and all of this is happening around him?
And what about the latest DUI, which could potentially put the manager in jail for at least a day, perhaps during spring training or the regular season? Bauer wasn’t sure this would affect a decision.
“I was pretty forgiving until I met someone in person and they interacted with me and judge their character for myself,” he said.
“I can talk to the manager of any team I’m going to sign with and get to know him and understand what his principles are and how he manages, his style and stuff like that. I want to be happy wherever I choose to go, and that’s largely because you interact with the manager every day. “
Last week, Sox shortstop Tim Anderson said La Russa had yet to contact him. Maybe other Sox players are waiting, like Anderson was, to hear La Russa and then play for him before forming an opinion.
Free agents have the luxury of simply avoiding making that call.
And that’s not necessarily a good thing for the Sox.
“If free agents are [anti-La Russa], so that really calls into question the effectiveness of a manager who can lead your team, ”said Bauer. “Because now you potentially have a player you would like to sign who doesn’t want to sign with you. If you lose with that free agent, it could be the difference between winning the World Series and not making the playoffs and not.
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