(670 The Score) In the wake of White Sox manager Tony La Russa taking an indefinite leave from the team to undergo further testing for a medical issue, television analyst Steve Stone called it “difficult” to watch La Russa deal with the agony of a disappointing, underachieving season.
The White Sox carried championship expectations into 2022 after winning the AL Central last season, but they’ve sputtered all season and sit at 63-66 entering play Wednesday. They’re six games behind the AL Central-leading Guardians.
“He still anguishes over each and every loss and each and every thing that goes wrong,” Stone said on the Parkins & Spiegel Show on Wednesday afternoon. “This year was tough on him, because he’s a man with a great deal of pride. The team that he envisioned and the team that the front office envisioned … coming back from 93 wins (in 2021) with the improved bullpen that they sought, they felt this team was going to be at least the equal of last year’s team and probably better because the bullpen was going to have five, possibly six high-leverage guys. And as we know, it didn’t work out that way.”
Stone and La Russa have been friends for years, and they sit next to one another on team flights. So Stone has had a firsthand look at how the season has taken its toll on La Russa.
La Russa, 77, is often at the ballpark by noon for games that start around 7 p.m., Stone said, and he also usually reports to the office on the team’s off days.
“It’s a very stressful job,” Stone said. “And it’s stressful every day because it is a seven-day-a-week, almost a 24-hour-a-day endeavor.
“The stress level is astonishing. I want people to realize that he’s as prepared as anybody around. Again, you can quibble with his decisions. But you can’t quibble with his preparation.
“(The job) takes its toll on anybody who wants to do it as well as they can possibly do it.”
La Russa will undergo heart tests, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported Wednesday. La Russa didn’t manage in the White Sox’s 9-7 loss to the Royals on Tuesday, with the team announcing his medical issue about an hour before first pitch after he’d earlier held his usual pregame media session.
La Russa will travel to Arizona to meet with his personal physicians.
“Nobody will ever know the effect of what the Sox not living up to their billing this year will have on everybody associated with this team, but I know Tony wasn’t the happiest man around a lot because he’s a prideful guy,” Stone said. “He took a lot of pride in his performance. I consider myself a pretty good friend of his. It was difficult for me to watch him going through this.”
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