Tearing apart the Tony La Russa cult

Say it is so, Joe!

Joe Posnanski rips Tony La Russa a new one on the Brendan Ryan trade and more, saying one-yearitis seems to be at hand. Fan comments on the blog post are even more scathing.

But, in Redbird Land, St. Louis Post-Dispatch scribes Joe Gordon and Joe Straus, on the other hand, are in La Russa's corner 110 percent.

And, I'm not in St. Louis, BUT ... is Brendan Ryan THAT disruptive on clubhouse chemistry? Probably no more than Rasmus, eh? But, he doesn't have Rasmus' bat. So, TLR and management trash him, then trade for Theriot? Well, of course, all they could get for Ryan at that point probably was an A-ball pitcher.

And, the "grit" angle? Not all Cards fans buy it.

Oh, and Gordon and Straus "conveniently?" overlook that Theriot hardly played SS last year and was almost entirely at 2B.

And, besides, Joe Gordon's "chemistry" claim in saying Whitey Herzog was the same way as La Russa, on trading a "better" Ted Simmons after getting Darrell Porter? Fungoes says Gordon is full of crap. Baseball-Reference backs Fungoes up the the hilt.

Fungoes also supports the "one-yearitis" angle of the stupidity of the Theriot deal.

As for the one-yearitis in general, I think that, however the one-year contract situation started, in the last few years, it's become an ego trip for TLR. Every year, Cardinal management has to wring its hands, wonder if he wants to come back, wonder how the team can make him happy enough to want to come back and so forth. GM John Mozeliak should just give Tony the Pony a blow job in front of the Musial statue and be done with it!

As a manager? Overall?

La Russa reminds me a lot of Roy Williams. Not the bad-hands Dallas Cowboys receiver.

The college hoops coach, formerly of Kansas, now at North Carolina. Both good, overall, on talent spotting. And, often, on its development. But, too, too wound up as coaches. For Roy, with the one-and-done of college hoops, it cost him at least one title at KU, I think. For TLR, it might have cost him at least the 1988 World Series, I'll guess.

Unfortunately, TLR is still that way since coming to St. Louis, while Williams unwound a bit, at least, in Chapel Hill. Probably related to La Russa being a lawyer, too.

Can you say "control freak"?

Seriously, look at TLR's career record. He needs two more years to pass John McGrow into second place for all-time managerial wins.

Mozeliak should have offered him a two-year deal, and, if he didn't take it, be prepared to look elsewhere.