CC Sabathia threw a high hard one under Tony La Russa’s chin.
The former Yankees and Indians pitcher, a Cy Young winner and six-time All-Star, called out the White Sox manager for his old-school take on not swinging at 3-0 pitches with big leads.
La Russa calls it a sportsmanship matter.
Sabathia said La Russa shouldn’t be managing the Sox.
“Tony La Russa is out of touch with the game, cuz,” Sabathia said on his R2C2 podcast with Ryan Ruocco. “He should not be managing one of the best teams in the American League, period. The fact that Tim Anderson, basically the captain of their team, had to go on Instagram and step up for his teammate like, ‘Yeah, the game wasn’t over.’ ”
Publicly, Sox players have been much more reserved with reactions to La Russa’s views and for calling out his own player, Yermin Mercedes, for missing a take sign before he homered against Twins position player Willians Astudillo. On an NBC Sports Chicago Instagram post, Anderson, the Sox shortstop, said, “The game wasn’t over! Keep doing you, big daddy.”
To which Mercedes responded, “Yes sir, let’s do it, baby.”
Sox pitcher Lance Lynn said anything goes when position players are pitching, and Sabathia agreed. In much louder, profane tones.
“If you’re going to put a (expletive) position player in there to pitch, guess what? If he’s going to lob (expletive) over the plate, we going to (expletive) tee off,” Sabathia said. “Put a 10-run rule up there, cuz. If y’all don’t want to see people get embarrassed and you don’t want to see position players pitch and people swing on 3-0 counts and all that [expletive], then make it a 10-run rule so the [expletive] game will be over and you don’t have these stupid unwritten rules.
“That’s just (expletive) stupid. It’s stupid. Period. I’m sorry. This (expletive) is terrible. He shouldn’t be (expletive) managing that team. If you not going to step up and have your players backs, what’s the point of being the (expletive) manager of the White Sox?”
