The Chicago White Sox have been dealing with a lot over the last few days. It is all because of Tony La Russa being a bad manager and not defending his own player. By now, you know the story about Yermin Mercedes’ home run on a 3-0 count off a position player in a blowout. The unwritten rules are a joke and so is Tony La Russa as a manager. However, the White Sox continue to win and the Minnesota Twins continue to lose. Tyler Duffey of the Minnesota Twins might be the actual victim of the situation here.
The Chicago White Sox manager clearly didn’t help the situation with what he said.
Tyler Duffey didn’t seem to acceptTony La Russa’s misguided apology and he still threw at Yermin Mercedes anyway. The pitch missed him but everyone knows what his intent actually was. The Twins were too cowardly to let their starter do it to avoid him getting thrown out of the game. Duffey decided to be the guy who took matters into his own hands.
Well, Major League Baseball handed him a nice three-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his efforts. It was well deserved as throwing at hitters is a disgrace to the game. The Twins want the White Sox to be respectful but there is nothing respectful about throwing a baseball at an opponent.
In a way, this helps the Twins a lot because it is taking a bad reliever out of an already bad bullpen. Maybe, while he is gone, they will replace him with someone who doesn’t have an ERA over four or a negative WAR.
The White Sox need to just keep on winning with all of this drama behind them. The future with the manager remains to be seen but the roster is good enough to win no matter who is the “boss”. The players handed this situation about as good as you could ever want them to.
There is a clear disconnect with the manager but that doesn’t matter right now. Will it matter in a few months? Maybe, but for now, they have the best record in the American League and it would be nice to see them keep it that way.
A huge series with the New York Yankees looms this weekend. They will see Gerrit Cole on Saturday so you know some good talent is clashing here. As long as the White Sox keep their focus, they should be able to take care of them starting with the big game on Friday. Hopefully, Tyler Duffey enjoys his well-deserved time off in the meantime.