'Tis The Season For Me To Huck Verbal Rotten Apples At Tony LaRussa

I read an article by Rob Neyer last weekend. It's about baseball, and so is this post, so consider this a warning beforehand, if you're allergic to baseball.

Here's the link.

It's not the stuff about shortstops that interests me. I'm a Cardinals' fan, I know they haven't developed a shortstop in my lifetime. Except for Brendan Ryan, and he couldn't (and can't) hit, but oh, he could field. But he was a little goofy (and possibly has ADD*), and Tony LaRussa wasn't going to have any truck with that. So he was traded for Maikel Cleto, who threw hard, but couldn't find the plate with a road map, and was released three seasons later, having accomplished very little. Never mind Ryan was the best defensive SS in baseball at the time (and for at least two years after); that the Cardinals' pitching staff under LaRussa and pitching coach Dave Duncan routinely ranked in the bottom third to quarter of the NL in strikeouts**; that Duncan's philosophy was for his pitchers to get groundballs, which might be aided by good infield defense; that having good infield defense was already a challenge with a converted outfielder - Skip Schumaker - playing second. No, much better to dump Brendan Ryan, and go with Ryan Theriot, who had less range at shortstop than my dead grandmother. It worked out so well, the Cardinals went back to the Dodgers in the middle of the season and asked them to trade the Cardinals another shortstop. But no, Tony LaRussa's a genius.

I said, this wasn't about the shortstop thing, and it isn't, really, despite the above paragraph. I just like to rant about that whole mess sometimes, because it feels a bit like Brendan got scapegoated for the 2010 Cardinals' failures, which is garbage.

Anyway, Neyer sort of screwed up the facts on the end of Ozzie Smith's time as the starting shortstop (after pointing out that Ozzie's presence had long removed the need to develop a shortstop). This being the Internet, people corrected Neyer, and I guess he added the excerpt for LaRussa's recent memoir to clarify things further.

All it did for me is raise my ire, but there are so many things to appreciate first. Like LaRussa chiding Ozzie for how he handled things, then using Reggie Jackson, Mr Straw that Stirs the Drink as an example of a veteran being more helpful. Of course, Tony undercuts his argument by crediting Reggie with showing Human Train Wreck Jose Canseco how to behave, but I'm sure Tony meant it in a complimentary way. Then there's Tony criticizing someone for being too concerned with alleged disrespect. If I had a thousand bucks for every time during Tony's stint as Cardinals' manager where he complained about an opposing player or team disrespecting the Cardinals or baseball in general, I could buy Guam. If we include his time in Oakland and with the White Sox, I could probably upgrade that to New Zealand.

Sure, I'm biased. Ozzie's my favorite baseball player ever, but Tony's hardly impartial here. He's certainly trying to make himself look better. "Oh, see how quietly I handled my retirement! See how I was so respectful towards Ozzie! I was just trying to be a good manager and run the team, but that darn glory boy athlete was just concerned with himself!"

What a load of tripe. But, OK, he's free to say what he likes, and I'm sure he feels he's just putting his version of the story out there in opposition to Ozzie's, since Ozzie's been willing to tell anyone who asks just why he felt disrespected. I might as well lay it out here, just as a counterpoint. Put simply, Ozzie says LaRussa told him the starting shortstop job for the '96 season would be decided in Spring Training. Ozzie and new acquired free agent Royce Clayton would each get their turn to play, and the better player gets the job. Ozzie outplayed Clayton***, LaRussa named Clayton the starter anyway, and claimed Ozzie misinterpreted what Tony said, that he never said anything about an open competition.

Which is possible, I suppose, but I have a hard time picturing what LaRussa could have said that would give Ozzie that impression. I think it's worth mentioning that in Spring Training of 2006, LaRussa claimed there was an open competition for the 5th starter spot between Adam Wainwright, Anthony Reyes, and Sidney Ponson. Incidentally, that's also the order their performances would be ranked from best to worst. When the season started, Reyes was in Triple A, Wainwright was in the bullpen, and Ponson was the 5th starter, while LaRussa claimed you couldn't make a decision like that based on only the 10-20 innings most pitchers throw in Spring Training.

Normally, I'd be inclined to agree, except for the part where he said that was exactly what he was basing it on. So there's a bit of corroborating evidence for Ozzie's side of the story, with the added bonus of making Tony LaRussa look like a spoiled 5 year old who changes the rules of the board game so he wins.

That's a bonus for me, anyway. Hey, he may have helped the Cardinals win a lot - I'd say Albert Pujols had a hell of a lot more to do with it than the guy who kept giving Aaron Miles 300 plate appearances, but whatever -, but he was still really irritating.

I sort of understand LaRussa's mindset. That if your GM goes out and gets you a 26-year old, fairly promising shortstop, you would plan on starting him ahead of the 41 year coming off an injury-shortened season. But part of being a manager - or any sort of boss - ought to be adapting to changing circumstances, or being able to recognize the talents of your subordinates. Like say, recognizing that even a 41-year old Ozzie Smith is still a better player than Royce Clayton at any age.

* I read an article about him by a guy who covered him while he played with the Mariners, and he mentioned Ryan had ADD while mentioning his constantly being late, but I'm not sure if he means Ryan really does have ADD, or meant it in that joking way you might say it about a scatterbrained friend.

** I went back through the records. The Cards' pitchers ranked 13th or worse in strikeouts every year from 2006 through 2011, LaRussa's last as manager. In 2005, they ranked 12th. All told in his tenure - 16 seasons - they ranked in the top half in strikeouts three times, none of those higher than 6th out of 14, none more recent than 2000.

*** Based on the limited spring training stats I've seen, Ozzie hit .270 and made no errors, Clayton hit .170 and made 6 errors, and it's doubtful Clayton walked enough to boost his on-base percentage above Ozzie, given Clayton's career OBP of .315, even with a .258 average. For the record, Ozzie has a career average only 4 points better, but his OBP is .337.