La Russa: White Sox probably don't need me

To hear Tony La Russa tell it, the former Cardinals manager won’t be joining the White White Sox as an adviser any time soon.

On ESPN 1000-AM’s “Waddle and Silvy Show” Thursday morning, La Russa said the Sox are in good hands and that he might prefer lending an assist where he’s needed more.

“I think they’re really set up,” La Russa said. “And I think that’s the problem. I think they really are. They got their steps in place. [General manager] Kenny [Williams] does a good job. They got [assistant GM] Rick Hahn.”

La Russa was fired by the Sox in 1986, a decision chairman Jerry Reinsdorf regrets to this day. Reinsdorf has remained close to La Russa and attended La Russa’s last game, a Game 7 triumph for La Russa’s Cardinals against the Texas Rangers.

On Monday, La Russa suggested he would work for an owner such as Reinsdorf or the Haas family in Oakland, for whom he has managed in the past.

“I think it would have to be for an owner I know, like Reinsdorf, the Haas family, the people [in St. Louis],” La Russa said. “Those are the owners I’ve known, the ones I’d want to make happy.”

But on Thursday, La Russa said the Sox are already in good hands.

“They’re really set up,” he said. “I think I can get back into baseball somewhere, but you don’t want to go into some place where they already got it figured out.”

“I like responsibility. I like to wake up in the morning with something to do. So if I think there’s somewhere hopefully you get an opportunity, then you really prove you’re really willing to work and have something to contribute.”