Larry Brown Sports

Breathe, Angels fans: not physical pain. They say money isn’t everything. Surely there are plenty of unhappy billionaires in the world, but that doesn’t mean we have to feel sorry for them. Albert Pujols just inked a contract that guarantees him $245 million over the next ten years of his life. Most of us would cut off a finger for that type of financial security, but his former coach says Pujols is not completely satisfied with his life.

According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Pujols has been “in pain” since he decided to sign with the Angels.

“I know it was a painful decision and it pains him now,” La Russa said. “He deserves what he got. He earned it. There’s no bad guy here. I think the Cardinals went where they thought they should go. If they can’t go farther, they shouldn’t. I believe in Albert’s case he was disappointed there wasn’t more enthusiasm from the Cardinals. The (Miami) Marlins came at him hard and then here comes Anaheim. I think that the Cardinals were being careful.”

If the things Deidre Pujols said earlier in the week are true, it is plausible that Pujols could be hurt by the lack of aggression the Cardinals showed in trying to retain him. That being said, the guy just made a quarter of a billion dollars.  La Russa obviously has a great relationship with both Pujols and the Cardinals organization, so he has no choice but to tread lightly.  Pain or no pain, Pujols shouldn’t expect any sympathy from the people who have turned his jersey into a money symbol.

Fist pound to Hardball Talk for passing the story along.

Tony La Russa is a well known animal lover, so it’s no surprise to hear about the first job offer he’s received since retiring as a manager. Appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman Monday night, the former manager made a funny.

“I actually got a job offer [Monday]. I swear. There’s a group called Performing Animal Welfare Society just outside of Sacramento,” La Russa said, “and they offered me a job as an elephant keeper.”

PAWS just announced that they’re receiving three elephants from Toronto, so maybe Tony will be responsible for taking care of them. If he does take the gig, it should be perfect for him; he’s already used to dealing with large figures and putting up with a lot of crap.

La Russa just can’t resist talking about animals, can he?

Whether it was John Elway or Jerome Bettis walking away from the game after winning the Super Bowl, not much compares to seeing a sports figure leave the game on top. Tony La Russa may not be a player, but seeing him leave after managing for 33 years following his third World Series title is pretty cool.

La Russa says he began thinking about retiring midway through the summer. He says the team’s wild card and World Series run were coincidental. He also said he won’t be back, but he wouldn’t rule out another job in baseball.

La Russa is 67 years old and seems to be pretty sharp, so this was unexpected. The man seems perfectly capable of continuing to manage in the bigs.

Because he just won a World Series and retired unexpectedly, his name will be popular when openings are mentioned. Will he resist all overtures? He’ll probably have a lot of opportunities to turn down, so that won’t be easy. Maybe he will stay true to his retirement plans. If he does, he’ll leave the game having won three World Series, six pennants, and four Manager of the Year awards. He’s third all time in career wins as a manager.

And now he doesn’t have to worry about bullpen phones not operating properly.

Chris Carpenter pitched on short rest to win Game 7 of the World Series Friday and give the Cardinals their 11th title in franchise history. It was an impressive start for Carp who gave up two runs in the first inning and shut out the Rangers for the next five innings in St. Louis’ 6-2 win. He and the bullpen combined to allow no runs and three hits the final eight innings of the deciding game.

Carpenter’s performance was impressive for several reasons: it was his third start of the series; he was pitching on short rest; and he wasn’t deterred by a poor start. The Cardinals could have gone to Kyle Lohse or Edwin Jackson for Game 7 — both of whom were on full rest — but they gave the ball to their ace.

After winning the World Series, manager Tony La Russa said pitching coach Dave Duncan made the decision to start Carpenter an easy one.

“I called [Duncan] in the morning,” La Russa said, “and I said ‘how about the alternatives?’”

“He says ‘are you kidding? It’s Chris Carpenter,’ and he hung up.”

That’s fantastic. It really is an easy decision, and I’m glad the Cardinals didn’t mess around. Carpenter went 4-0 in the postseason and St. Louis won five of his six October starts. After he had beaten Roy Halladay 1-0 in Game 5 of the NLDS, the decision was easy. What a clutch performance by Carpenter. Dude was nails.

With Game 6 of the World Series postponed until Thursday night, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said he was going to hit the movie theater to watch Moneyball.

Moneyball has been viewed controversially since the book was released in 2003. It helped change baseball and it shaped the way front offices conducted business. Many people viewed it as progressive, but others felt differently. La Russa is one of those people. The Cardinals manager disagrees with the importance of on-base percentage, which was championed in the book.

“On-base percentage is one of the most dangerous concepts of the last seven, eight years because it forces some executives and coaches and players to think that it’s all about getting on base by drawing walks,” La Russa said to the media Wednesday.

“The fact is that the guys that have the best on-base percentage are really dangerous hitters whenever they get a pitch in the zone. So if a pitcher knows that, he works on the edges. So the question is do they get a good pitch to hit?”

Sounds like the words of a grumpy man, but hey, how many World Series rings does he have and how many do I have?

Rangers manager Ron Washington, who was a coach in Oakland while Moneyball went on, enjoyed the movie. But he recognizes that it was meant to entertain, and that it had its shortcomings.

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Those of you who watched Game 5 of the World Series Monday night were likely left scratching your heads like the rest of us.  With the game tied 2-2 in the eighth, Michael Young led off for the Rangers and ripped a double off Octavio Dotel.  The hit prompted Tony La Russa to get on the phone with the bullpen immediately, but what transpired from that point on was bizarre to say the least.

After the phone call, left-hander Marc Rzepczynski began warming up in the bullpen.  According to La Russa, he had asked for right-hander Jason Motte to begin warming at the same time but bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist apparently could not hear the request over the roar of the crowd.  When La Russa realized Motte was not throwing alongside Rzepczynski, he called Lilliquist again to get Motte up.  Once again, Lilliquist allegedly did not hear him correctly and instead thought La Russa asked for right-hander Lance Lynn to begin throwing.

“It’s just like any other park,” Lilliquist explained according to an MLB.com article. “You get a bunch of people and it’s loud and he wanted Motte going easy to back [Rzepczynski] up, and I thought I heard Lynn.”

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Cardinals manager Tony La Russa made history Monday for an unusual accomplishment, and no, it wasn’t for making the highest amount of mistakes involving Allen Craig caught stealing. By bringing in four relievers during Game 5 of the World Series, La Russa broke the record for most pitching changes in a single postseason. He has now made 65 pitching changes during the playoffs.

The previous high mark was 62 pitching changes made by the Giants in the 2002 playoffs (they played 16 games). Prior to Game 5 (through 15 playoff games), La Russa had matched the ’97 Indians who made 61 changes in 18 games. With his four changes in Game 5 — including bringing in Lance Lynn solely to issue an intentional walk — La Russa blew right past the previous high mark.

So how did we get to this point? You can really point to La Russa’s odd managing in the NLCS.

Chris Carpenter was the only Cardinals pitcher who lasted long enough to get a win against the Brewers, and it was when he went five innings in Game 3. Out of the six games against Milwaukee, four pitchers were pulled in the 5th inning. Game 6 starter Edwin Jackson was relieved after two innings in the series-clinching victory.

La Russa looked like a genius for most of the playoffs because nearly all of his decisions went well. Now that he’s made a few mistakes — such as having Mark Rzepczynski pitch to Mike Napoli in the 8th Monday — he doesn’t look as smart. It’s amazing how much perception is influenced by outcome, rather than by how sound the decision was.