Tony La Russa says he wants to manage next season. But he's not ready to make that commitment just yet -- or commit to which team he might lead.
In comments to reporters in St. Louis on Monday, La Russa, who endured a season marked by turmoil and tragedy, left open the possibility that he could leave the St. Louis Cardinals after 12 seasons and a World Series championship, saying he was too drained to make a decision about his future now.
"Yeah, I want to manage [next season]," La Russa said. "I want to manage. ... I just want to be able to say whatever it is and be convinced it's the right thing. I have guys I respect who say when you feel this gassed, wait a minute."
Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr. and general manager Walt Jocketty have both told La Russa they want him back, and Jockety said Sunday that he expects La Russa will return.
But La Russa, who just finished his 30th season as a big-league manager, says he's going to take some time to rest after a draining season that saw pitcher Josh Hancock killed in a drunken-driving accident and outfielder Juan Encarnacion suffer a career-threatening injury from a line-drive foul ball.
Injuries ravaged the team's lineup all year, with Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, David Eckstein and Scott Rolen all missing time, and ace Chris Carpenter barely making it out of spring training. Even the team's feel-good story of the season, Rick Ankiel's major-league comeback from struggling pitcher to slugging outfielder, was marred by allegations that he received shipments of human growth hormone in 2004 from a Florida pharmacy that is currently the subject of a criminal investigation.
On the field, the Cardinals fell to a third-place finish in the National League Central and their lowest win total since 1999.
"I keep going back to two guys like Dick Vermeil and Bill Walsh," La Russa said, according to MLB.com "They both made decisions [to leave coaching] they regretted because they made them in times when they were beat up. I feel like I'm beat up. It's been really, really draining, more so than last year's World Series year. ... I don't want to say I'm back and then regret it because I wasn't ready to come back and I don't want to say I'm done and then say I'm just tired."
"I don't want to fool myself. Suppose my choices are manage St. Louis or not manage. There's a choice. Maybe it's time to shut it down. I don't want to exaggerate that," La Russa said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I just know that [ownership] is not pressing me to say anything today, and I don't want to say anything today. So I'm going to take some time."
"Mostly I just haven't been thinking about it. Like today, I don't want to think about it. I want to take a nap."
Source: ESPN.com
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