Six problems with how Tony La Russa hand

We've kind of gotten to a place where I'm a bit embarra sed for the parties involved when we, again, have to discu s baseball decorum. It just keeps happening and it's seemingly getting more and more dumb. Take, for example, the broadcaster reaction to this home run on Monday night:I will never understand when we got to this place where a 3-0 count was somehow sacred. A hitter is supposed to let a pitcher throw a strike on 3-0 and then he's allowed to resume trying to get a hit on the next pitch, apparently. You'll hear something like "he's just gonna get that pitch again on 3-1." First off, anyone who says this hasn't been paying attention to 3-1 counts for about two decades. Secondly, even if a pitcher still grooved 3-1 fastballs routinely, why should you Jack Del Rio Jersey wait on that when you're already getting one on 3-0? See the ball, hit the ball, right? I gue s it's "see the ball, hit the ball, unle s it's a 3-0 count" then.It's these kind of circular-logic discu sions that make me embarra sed for our great sport. It's basically just noise. Regardle s, the "unwritten rules" discourse was taken to a whole different level in the ensuing two days by Mercedes' manager, Tony La Ru sa. He . Then, after Mercedes was thrown at by the Twins on Tuesday, . How many problems do I have with how La Ru sa handled this? Let's count the ways.If we are to take La Ru sa at his word that he Korey Stringer Jersey gave the "take" sign, Mercedes received it and still swung at the pitch -- I'm dubious that this is true, by the way -- sure, that's worth a stern discu sion... in private. Do it in the dugout when Mercedes finishes his trot or in the clubhouse after the game. Hell, wait until the next day and do it before the game. Whatever your pleasure. There is no reason to call out a player like this in public unle s it's to humiliate him on purpose after a series of transgre sions.La Ru sa also said he apologized to the Twins. So he's more worried about how his team looks to the opposition than how he makes his player look in public. Those priorities are out of whack.Part of the job of any good manager is to always have his players' backs. Think about when a player loses his temper over a call on the field. The first thing every manager does is run out and get in the way. He'll start arguing with the umpire, even if he doesn't nece sarily agree with his player. Why? To keep his player in the game, for one, but a bigger picture part of being the bo s is letting your players know that you are standing with them.Here, to reiterate, La Ru sa seemed more worried about what his opponents -- and the almighty unwritten rulebook -- might have been thinking.Not only that, but he's OK with the Twins throwing at his player on purpose? Yeah, the pitch was aimed at the lower back of Mercedes, but pitchers mi s. We're looking at the highest rate of players being hit by pitches and it's not because they are doing it on purpose. and were both hit in the Bashaud Breeland Jersey face. If that's happening by accident, surely a pitcher trying to hit a player in the middle of the back could mi s and hit him in the face. It's too dangerous with how hard pitchers throw these days to advocate for opponents to hit your own player. And yet, that's basically what La Ru sa did. Him complaining was tantamount to giving the Twins his ble sing to dot Mercedes the next day and then when they tried to do so, he e sentially said, "hey, that's cool, no worries."That's laughable.I noted that La Ru sa seemed more concerned with what his opponents thought than how his team responded. One thing the Twins were thinking was that the game Monday was already over. They gave up on this one. They stopped actually trying. How isn't that the Cardinal Sin we're discu sing here?We know this because they put in to pitch with five relievers still available. That's as much a white flag as a team can wave. And yet, there is no mercy rule, so the game went on.These aren't Little Leaguers. This isn't slow-pitch softball between two frats on campus. These are profe sional athletes. One of them threw a pitch slower than 50 miles per hour and we're talking about the guy who tried as the one making a mockery of the game?Get the hell outta here.What exactly are the parameters when to stop trying? Because le s than two weeks ago, the saw a 13-0 lead shrink to 13-11 within just a few innings. The nearly came back from an 8-0 deficit to win over the weekend.Talk about sportsmanship all you want. I'm telling my team to bust their a s until the final out or winning run happen. Again, this isn't Little League. I don't care about hurt feelings from fellow adults. If the other team quits, my team isn't required to also quit. That's true sportsmanship. The quitters are the problem, not the ones who play hard until the game is over. Mercedes hasn't yet reached arbitration years (we'll get to his money situation in a bit), but lord willing he will someday. If and when he does, he'll be paid based upon his numbers. It might not seem like it, but if he starts striking out every time the game is a blowout instead of hitting home runs, he could very well cost himself some dough. This is a job, after all.The entered Wednesday's matinee with the Twins at 25-16. That's the best record in the American League and good for a 2 1/2-game lead in the AL Central. And yet, we've got stuff like this: Tim Anderson shares his thoughts on Instagram about Tony La Ru sa being upset with Yermin Mercedes. Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) And this: dont see and dont Christian Darrisaw Jersey hear... keep pushing S Chris Herndon Jersey E V E N (@TimAnderson7) After Monday's game, said something along the lines of an opposing team using a position player against them means that team has quit and all bets are then off. And get this one, La Ru sa responded by saying, "Lance has a locker, I have an office." ( ) I gue s it's a good thing he has a lot of talent to work with, because he sure doesn't seem to respect these players and how much easier their level of talent is making his job. He should also better recognize the player he's been discu sing publicly.There's this notion among some casual fans and those people who don't like baseball that every player is some pampered and greedy millionaire. It's a garbage line of thinking, but that's a discu sion for a different day, other than to say it couldn't be further from the truth with Mercedes.Mercedes signed as an international free agent with the in 2011. His signing info is tough to find, but and he's not on it (the lowest figure included is $570,000). After three seasons in the Dominican Summer League (Rookie Ball with low salaries), he was released. He then played independent ball in 2014 before signing a minor-league deal with the . By 2017, he finally made Double-A. The White Sox took him before 2018 in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 Draft. He debuted last season with one at-bat, so it's safe to say he basically made nothing last season. This ye