Report Tony La Russa is expected to announce his retirement

Report: Tony La Russa is expected to announce his retirement on Monday

White Sox manager Tony La Russa is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow, according to a report by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. La Russa, who turns 78 on Tuesday, has been missing from the team since late August due to a medical problem.

La Russa previously retired from management in 2011 after spending more than 30 years skippering the White Sox, Athletics and Cardinals beginning in 1979. Then, after a decade out of the managerial chair, the White Sox made the amazing decision to bring him back for the 2021 season.

His first season out of retirement went very well, with the Sox winning 93-69 last year and taking the AL Central Division title. However, it has been a strong downside here in 2022 as the club is currently running a record of 78-80 and is way out of playoff contention. La Russa came under fire for some bizarre management decisions earlier this year. Perhaps the most notorious example was his decision to go for a walk on purpose Trea Turner despite Turner deficit in the count 1-2. In the left-vs-left game, La Russa wished Max Muncy hit a three-run home runoff Bennett Sousaadding to fan frustration and scrutiny of La Russa’s decision-making.

In June, it was reported that La Russa was handed a three-year deal when he was hired, meaning his deal runs until 2023. However, it appears that his health issues will prevent him from honoring last season. He left the team after missing the August 30 game due to an undisclosed medical issue related to his heart. Today’s Nightengale report says La Russa had his pacemaker repaired at the time and has now been advised against returning to a managerial position. According to the report, La Russa is likely to remain with the organization in some sort of special assistant role that is unlikely to require as much work on a day-to-day basis.

The White Sox now need to add a manager search to their off-season to-do list. One option would be to just keep Miguel Cairo, who took over on an interim basis when La Russa left just over a month ago. As Nightengale noted, the club went 13-6 at the top for the first few weeks but have plummeted since then. They eased that stretch with an eight-game losing streak, helping them go 2-9 and 15-15 overall since Cairo took over in their last 11.

However, if they decide to look outside of the organization, they would be sixth of 30 MLB clubs looking to fill a vacancy. Don Mattingly and the Marlins recently announced they were parting ways after this season, while the Blue Jays, Phillies, Angels and Rangers all fired their midseason managers. It’s possible some of these clubs will forgo a lengthy search to retain their interim manager, with the Blue Jays reportedly leaning in that direction with John Schneider.