Following up: Kenny Williams also uses the passive voice with Tony La Russa

So far, the Tony La Russa hiring has been incredibly beneficial to White Sox fans who wanted to learn the inner workings of Maricopa County’s justice system.

For instance, did you know that there are 26 separate jurisdictions within the Maricopa County court system? I do now, because La Russa’s DUI charge was filed in the wrong one, leading to the dismissal of the case and briefly causing a Monday morning uprising among people who thought Jerry Reinsdorf pulled strings with the prosecution.

Instead, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office refiled the case with the proper jurisdiction, so La Russa’s legal fate remains unknown. So too does the timeline of the case, which was supposed to have a pretrial hearing on Dec. 8. The White Sox have said that they’re not going to comment on the case until it’s resolved, so this is either the last thing they wanted, or the thing they most wanted.

Probably the latter, because, Kenny Williams finally emerged from the shadows to talk to Scott Merkin about La Russa, and he too disassociated himself with the hiring. Williams pulled the same move as Rick Hahn — claiming to stand by the decision, but only referring to it in the passive voice.

The final decision to return was discussed among Reinsdorf, Williams and general manager Rick Hahn.

“You know, you sit in a room and you debate, you discuss,” Williams said. “And you come out of the room and you come out pulling from the same rope and headed in the same direction.

“So, it doesn’t really matter how it came to the decision. The decision was made, and now it’s up to all of us to pull together and make it work.”

Williams’ halfhearted attempt to present a unified front is undermined by Hahn already being on the record. Put ’em together, and if there are three men in the room, and two of them don’t want their names attached to La Russa, then the idea of a consensus can be laughed right out of whatever world they’re trying to create for themselves.

Take a second to support Sox Machine on Patreon
20 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
To Err is Herrmann

Kenny went much further in passivity than did Hahn. He pretty much said explicitly that this decision was not his at all. If I am Jerry Reinsdorf I am not happy with this passive-aggressive backpedaling. If I am Jerry Reinsdorf I also don’t care about anything except sticking by this decision come hell or high water so I remain oblivious to the massive outpouring against my decision and my top executives’ use of the passive voice. The decision it was made —the decision is a being with a volition of its own. Quite a thing.

oldtimer

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Three men in a room. The democratic outcome was obviously 2 – 1. The one has all the power hence we have TLR. As my father told me many years ago. “This too shall pass” . However, it may take awhile.

carbiner

With Great Tony comes Great Responsibility

ParisSox

Your dad is Ditka?

zevsenesca

Oh agreed. It will pass, like a kidney stone, but pass all the same.

VAChisox

Mistakes were made.

karkovice squad

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

asinwreck

Melodramatic? Things are past that–remember, these are men with switchblade mentalities who run the world as if it were Dodge City.

asindc

I don’t think “guyS” should be criticized in this instance.

asinwreck

Contrast all this with recent events in Queens.

Last Tuesday afternoon, Alderson spoke publicly for the first time since the sale of the Mets. Under the Wilpons, the task of communicating directly to fans often fell to Alderson. As general manager, he used humor to mask his stoicism. So it was conspicuous when Alderson mostly dispensed with the one-liners. His tone was different. He could barely hide his giddiness as he laid out his vision for the franchise. Said one confidant: “He sounds like a free man.”

Root Cause

Taking from a John Wayne quote, “Winning is hard. It’s a lot harder when it isn’t the goal.”

digger0910

I keep trying to shake this off and find a way to be optimistic (Katz) or simply still enjoy being a Sox fan (Jose MVP). It never lasts. This really stinks. FJR.

dwjm3

I’m not sure it is possible to shake this off. The hiring didn’t make sense on so many levels. If they sign a tier 1 free agent it might sooth us a bit, but Jerry took away some of the joy with this team for his own selfish purposes.

GoGoSoxFan

There was a consensus reached for sure. It was hire Tony La Russa or take a hike. Hahn and Williams obviously agreed with JR on the former.

asinwreck

Not every Chicago baseball executive is content to hang around for a regular paycheck. Theo Epstein is resigning from the Cubs effective Friday.

CarolinaSoxFan

You imply Hahn should’ve walked in protest when Reinsdorf knee-capped him?

Regardless of what his response should have been, it’s easy to believe that that Rick Hahn in particular would regard the hiring of LaRussa as a breech of trust with the owner.

it would not be at all surprising to see Rick Hahn go elsewhere soon. He can afford to bide his time and choose wisely.

evenyoudorn

Epstein hopes to stay involved with baseball while he plots his next move. He plans to run a team again, though probably not next season. He would like to be part of an ownership group at some point.

????

asinwreck

Theo! We know a team that could use an ownership group! You wouldn’t have to move!

dwjm3

Theo we know a team that needs an owner that doesn’t hire people based on 1980s regrets.

raylewis67

Well, this is satisfying to read from a confirmation bias perspective. I was nervous that perhaps Rick was actually the minority and KW was somehow behind Jerry’s line on this hire, but KW’s passivity makes me feel better at least about compartmentalizing all that’s currently worth disdaining squarely in the hands of just one person.