Tony La Russa Won't Return as White Sox Manager This Season After Heart Surgery
September 24, 2022
Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa will not return to the team this season after undergoing surgery to repair his pacemaker, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
Bob Nightengale @BNightengaleTony La Russa, as expected, will not return as manager with the Chicago <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WhiteSox?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WhiteSox</a> this season. His doctors advised him not to return this season after undergoing surgery to repair his pacemaker. He has one year remaining on his contract for 2023.
The White Sox confirmed that La Russa, who has been out since Aug. 31, will not return through a statement released Saturday. Miguel Cairo will remain the interim manager.
The 77-year-old La Russa, a three-time World Series champion and four-time manager of the year, is in his second season with the White Sox in his latest stint with the franchise.
La Russa also managed Chicago from 1979-1986 and led the team to the 1983 American League West crown and an American League Championship Series appearance.
As Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote, La Russa's status for 2023 is unclear at this time. He is under contract for the 2023 campaign after signing a three-year deal.
La Russa has largely been out of the public eye since leaving the team, but he did tweet congratulations to St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols after he hit his 700th career home run on Friday.
La Russa managed Pujols from 2001-2011 when both were with the Cardinals. They won a pair of World Series titles together.
As far as the present date goes, this year's White Sox team had playoff potential for much of the season, but Chicago has since slid eight games behind the Cleveland Guardians for first in the American League Central.
Their postseason hopes have all but been eliminated, although the team is still mathematically alive. The White Sox will look to break their four-game losing streak Saturday when they face the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.