Tony La Russa: will he or won’t he return for another season as manager of the Cardinals?
Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is about as close to the team’s thinking as a columnist can get and passes along some insight in his Sunday edition of “Bernie’s Bytes.”
First, Miklasz says that the decision to return or not to return will be up to La Russa himself. Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt III and GM John Mozeliak are firmly in the skipper’s corner despite a disappointing 2010 finish and a highly publicized mid-season rift with star center fielder Colby Rasmus.
If La Russa leaves, it will be because he wanted to go. If he stays, it will be on his own terms.
By all accounts, the 65-year-old La Russa should commit for at least one more season in St. Louis. He’ll have a roster in 2011 that includes this generation’s greatest hitter in Albert Pujols, two Cy Young candidates in Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter, and a well-paid and highly-productive left fielder in Matt Holliday. Oh, and let’s not forget about young left-hander Jaime Garcia, who might win the National League’s Rookie of the Year this season.
La Russa also ranks third on the list of all-time managerial wins with 2,628, behind only Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763). It’s feasible that he will catch McGraw and move into second place all-time with just two more years on the job. That might not be the most important thing to La Russa, but he’s certainly not immune to the lure of establishing a long-lasting legacy.
La Russa has been operating on one-year contracts for a few seasons now. If we’re to believe the current indications, he will likely ink a similar deal before winter fully sets in.