Tommy La Stella: Chicago Cubs or Retire
Veteran infielder Tommy La Stella has broken his silence as he spoke for the first time since being demoted by the Chicago Cubs in late July.
On July 29, the Chicago Cubs demoted veteran infielder Tommy La Stella to Triple-A Iowa. It was more of a business decision than a baseball decision as La Stella was one of the few logical position players that the Cubs could send down considering he still had minor league options left.
La Stella did not take the news well and the Cubs granted him extra time to report on Iowa. What the Cubs did not realize is that La Stella would return to his home in New Jersey and contemplate whether or not he wants to continue playing baseball.
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During this time, the Cubs were forced to answer questions on the whereabouts of La Stella while the veteran infielder remained silent. La Stella broke that silence on Tuesday as he spoke with Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago.
La Stella told Rogers that he would rather retire than play for a team besides the Cubs. La Stella explained that he, as a person, is not tied to the game of baseball.
“I’m a baseball player by profession. My identity is not tied up in that,” La Stella said in a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon.
“That’s not who I am as a person. I don’t need to make every life move centered around my profession, because that’s not who I am. I kind of disassociated with that identity. It felt a lot better to me going out there playing because that’s what I felt in me, not because I felt obligated to do it. It was a lot more enjoyable this year.”
La Stella also stressed that he understood why the Cubs made the decision to send him down.
“It’s a reflection of where I am in my life and my career,” La Stella said. “I told them, ‘I know you have a business decision to make.’ I completely understand where they’re coming from. I don’t fault them for making that choice one bit. They’re doing what’s in the best interest of the team. I understand that 100 percent.”
For La Stella, playing this season was not about the money. If that were the case, La Stella would have retired last off-season. La Stella returned this season because he loves playing the game of baseball with the Chicago Cubs. La Stella feels that love was taken away from him when he was optioned to Triple-A Iowa on July 29.
La Stella certainly deserves some degree of respect. In a professional sports, players are nothing more than pawns controlled by upper management. As much as that may seem wrong, it is the way of life in professional sports. That is something that La Stella knew coming into the 2016 season. La Stella certainly deserved to remain on the Major League team but he fell victim to a numbers game considering he had minor league options left on his contract. The crazy thing is that La Stella likely would have been back with the Major League team by now had he taken his assignment when the Cubs originally optioned.
Instead, Cubs’ general manager Jed Hoyer and the rest of team is left in a waiting game as La Stella sorts out his thoughts.
“The perspective we’ve chosen to take is, we’re dealing with 25 different human beings in that clubhouse and everyone has different backgrounds, and we try to be understanding of that,” Hoyer said. “I know his teammates like him I know he can help his teammates win. Right now we’re trying to give him time to clear his head.”
Was Tommy La Stella right in his actions? Sound off in the comments section with your thoughts.