FLASH: LARUSSA LEAVES AFTER POST SEASON, OQUENDO TO TAKE OVER

Close sources confirm that after the post season play, Tony LaRussa is headed home (probably San Francisco, but possibly back to Oakland) and Jose Oquendo will be the Cardinal’s new skipper next year. That’s right, you heard it here first. It can not be verified how accurate the information is from one source and other source may be one of those voices I hear when things are quiet, but all the pieces are falling into place. Okay, so my boss, who know some people in the industry, has been kicking this one around for a while and I’ve been ignoring it but now with the firing of Macha and the bickering with Rolen, I’m starting to see the pieces all come together.

Tony has never felt comfortable here nor has he ever really been accepted. He has had his teams and his time and has not been able to put it all together. His 2004 team was great, his 2005 team was even better. In 2006, he was dealt a bad hand and as the summer rolled on he (as we) thought the owners would shore up some holes. They never did. There were several times this past summer that he left players on the field when they clearly didn’t belong there just to make a statement to the owners saying in essence “these are the players that you gave me, this is what they can (or can’t) do”. The owners got the message and they were not happy with it. He is also getting fed up with players grumbling about injuries they should be playing through (Edmonds), players that should be keeping him informed about injuries they can’t play through (Rolen), a fan base that has never forgiven him for not being Whitey Herzog, and a parochial attitude that he will never be welcome in St. Louis if he doesn’t like it enough to move here.

He has a chance to manage close to home so he can spend more time with his family and he will be better appreciated.

Ownership is tired of listening to the squabbles in the media. They have been trying to be fiscally responsible (or they are too cheap) and have put the best line up they can afford on the field and they feel that Tony has slighted them on several occasions this past year. LaRussa feels like he’s been trying to polish a potato and the ownership feels that Tony is the chef, he should know what to do with a good potato.

Most of our pitching staff and many of our bench position players are either in a walk year or are getting long in the tooth. NOW IS THE TIME FOR CHANGE!

Tony has had a long uphill climb with the Cardinals and he peaked somewhere between 2004 and 2005. He has done a good job, maybe a great job, but he can’t grasp that ring. When you bring in a new manager, the first thing he does is to rebuild the team with his type of players. There is sure to be many new faces on the Cardinals next year so if you’re ever going to hire a new manager, this is the time to do it.

Oquendo has been being groomed for this job. He will be embraced by the fans as “one of us” like Herzog was and the ownership will get him for a fraction of the cost of Tony LaRussa. He is bound to be loved by the players, especially the Spanish players and his presence may help to attract some of them for a reasonable price which will also be attractive to this ownership.

Don’t get me wrong, Tony will not be fired. Whether the Cards win it all this year or not, Tony can say he has done everything he can in this town and it’s time to move on, time to go home. If they can’t put a good spin on it, nobody will pull the trigger, but the finger is there, it’s squeezing and I don’t see anything that can stop it.