Chicago White Sox Rumors: Tony La Russa not returning to organization

The Chicago White Sox still have a faint chance at backing into the Major League Postseason as an American League Wild Card team but after consecutive sweeps against the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers, chances are the White Sox will be done playing baseball after October 5.

Managing the White Sox for the final week and a half of regular season games will be interim manager Miguel Cairo.

White Sox manager Tony La Russa has not managed a game since August 30 due to health concerns and the team announced earlier this week that La Russa will not be returning this season but a decision regarding 2023 hasn’t been made.

La Russa is under contract to be the White Sox manager in 2023 but after a disappointing postseason exit in 2021 and the team likely missing the postseason in 2022, speculation has centered around the Hall of Famer’s job security.

Speculation has turned into the first credible report being made regarding La Russa’s status for 2023.

Dan Bernstein of 670 The Score is reporting that La Russa will not be brought back as the White Sox manager in 2023 and will have no affiliation with the organization.

Once the White Sox makes the news official, that’ll be confirmation that the team has made the decision that La Russa is so much of a deterrence to their chances of winning that they do not want him involved with the organization in any capacity.

Tony La Russa reportedly will not return to the Chicago White Sox in 2023.

La Russa was not the sole reason for the failure that was the White Sox season in 2022. The White Sox core underperformed throughout the entire season and coupling that with injuries and a manager in La Russa that was incapable of adapting to modern baseball and you have a recipe for the dumpster fire that was the White Sox season.

All eyes will now turn toward the White Sox front office structure. White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf opened the possibility of a dangerous precedent when he overruled general manager Rick Hahn prior to the 2021 season and hired La Russa as manager instead of A.J. Hinch.

Reinsdorf was attempting to right a wrong in his decision to bring back La Russa and now he has to go to Hahn with his tail between his legs and admit that the general manager needs to have full autonomy over managerial decisions.

It goes without saying that Hahn can not miss on the hiring of the next White Sox manager. The White Sox competitive window is already teetering on closing and that is with a team still having not won a postseason series in 17 years.