The White Sox’s playoff hopes are all but gone, and now the team will have to finish the year without its manager.
Chicago announced Saturday that Tony La Russa will not be returning to the dugout this season. Miguel Cairo will remain the interim manager.
When La Russa stepped aside on Aug. 30 before the team’s game against the Royals, the White Sox were 63-65. Since then, Chicago has gone 13-10. But a recent three-game sweep by the Anerican League Central-leading Guardians all but assured the White Sox would fall short of the division title and miss the postseason.
The White Sox’s elimination number in the division is four — three considering Cleveland holds a tiebreaker — while their elimination number in the wild-card chase is six. They are eight games back of Cleveland entering play on Saturday and 6.5 back of Seattle for the third wild card in the AL.
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Here’s why La Russa will miss the rest of the campaign.
Why Tony La Russa will miss rest of 2022
The White Sox announced Aug. 31 that La Russa would be stepping away from managerial duties with an unspecified medical condition. There hasn’t been any clarity since then on what the condition is.
In their announcement Saturday, the White Sox said La Russa had been directed by doctors not to return to the team “after undergoing additional testing and medical procedures over the past week.”
La Russa, 77, told The Associated Press’ Janie McCauley on Sept. 11 that he had a pacemaker inserted for his heart and called it a relatively “simple” procedure.
White Sox manager Tony La Russa confirms to me he had a pacemaker inserted for his heart. He is grateful for having undergone a relatively “simple” procedure and is coming along well, working to regain his strength. It’s unclear when he’ll be ready to manage again.
— Janie McCauley (@JanieMcCAP) September 11, 2022
“Health ain’t nothing to mess with,” La Russa said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “I got checked in Chicago and the reason I flew to Arizona is because that’s been the place since the ’90s I’ve had physicals. They addressed it, they fixed it, now it’s just a question of regaining strength. Don’t mess with health.”
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This hasn’t been La Russa’s best season as a manager. He has made several high-profile, questionable decisions while the White Sox have underachieved in a season in which they expected to be World Series contenders.
The White Sox were coming off back-to-back postseason appearances and had a strong core that included 2020 AL MVP Jose Abreu, dynamic stars Luis Robert, Tim Anderson and Eloy Jimenez, and a strong pitching staff featuring Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn and Liam Hendriks.
Who is the White Sox’s acting manager?
Miguel Cairo has been the White Sox’s bench coach since 2021 after spending part of his coaching career as an infield coordinator in the Yankees’ system.
Cairo played for La Russa from 2001-03 and in 2007 with the Cardinals. Overall, he spent 17 years in the majors as a utility player for nine different teams.
The 48-year-old Cairo has been praised during his time as interim manager, with former MLB manager Jerry Narron telling the Chicago Sun-Times that Cairo will be a “hot commodity” as a managerial candidate.
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