(670 The Score) While the game is changing before him, White Sox manager Tony La Russa still adamantly believes the unwritten rules of baseball should still apply.
That has been a topic of great debate in recent days, as La Russa has come under great scrutiny from many across the baseball landscape for criticizing rookie designated hitter Yermin Mercedes swinging away and crushing a homer on a 3-0 pitch in the ninth inning of the White Sox's 16-4 blowout win against the Twins on Monday night.
"I still think those rules still exist," La Russa said Wednesday. "You then have to make some adjustments and be flexible. In the days of (Hall of Fame manager) Sparky Anderson and some of the older managers, the unwritten rule was if you had a five-run lead after the seventh inning, you shut the offense down because a grand slam can't beat you. Well, the game has more changes with more croaked numbers going up. The ballparks are more hitter-friendly. Now we still make the decision when you have scored enough runs. I think anything beyond that disrespects the opposition."
Mercedes' homer Monday didn't just come in the context of a 3-0 pitch. It also came off Twins infielder Willians Astudillo, who lobbed a 47-mph pitch toward the plate. With that in mind, La Russa was asked if a position player pitching changes the equation at all, given that the opposing team has clearly given up in any effort to win.
"It is tough to tell a position player to make an out," La Russa said. "If you still have at-bats, how can you take that away? So what I would do if I could, (I'd) pinch-hit pitchers or coaches. When you have been on the other side of a romp like that, you do want to get it over with because it's not fun. It comes down to if you think you have enough runs, stop pushing. Just respect the game and the opposition. It's important for the Twins or anybody else to know we believe in sportsmanship."
La Russa, 76, noted the game has changed a great deal in recent years when it comes to players expressing their emotions. Before the White Sox hired him last October, La Russa hadn't managed since 2011.
"Major League Baseball decided several years ago they wanted the players to be more expressive," La Russa said. "When the leaders in the sport opened those doors, you saw the players become more exuberant. A lot of the fans like to see that emotion. They want to see the pitchers and players showing more personality. The golden rule now is if your players and pitchers show emotion, you can't be hypocritical if the other team does it. That is baseball today and the adjustment you have to make."
La Russa's criticism of Mercedes on Tuesday afternoon – in which he called Mercedes swinging away a "mistake" that would be followed by a consequence – has been the talk of MLB across the past 24 hours, but he seemed unaware of that fact until he received a barrage of follow-up questions from reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the series finale between the White Sox and Twins in the afternoon.
"I am totally oblivious to that and don't pay attention to it," La Russa said. "The point you bring up about concentration on the team is well-taken. The No. 1 rule in coaching and managing is the attention goes to the competitors and not the staff. You can not make attention to the staff or manager. It's not acceptable and it's not realistic."
La Russa has accepted the fact that many will disagree with his viewpoints.
"If there is part criticism and disappointment come my way, you can't dodge that as a decision-maker," La Russa said. "But if it has anything else to do with taking away from the players, show me one quote from any staff member or me giving credit to anyone but the players. This is America and the media can focus on anything they want to. The one thing I admit to is you need to be accountable and keep players in a positive frame of mind as long as you are honest with them. The analogy is this is a family, so if the kid does something wrong, you don't blame him. You must do a better job of parenting. I do accept that."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
