Melvin takes on La Russa in key series this week
Bob Melvin’s 10-year tenure as the A’s manager began when Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa left the St. Louis Cardinals manager job in 2011. The two managers go head-to-head this week in Chicago as the A’s take on the White Sox in a four-game set.
La Russa is in his first season back at the helm in Chicago after a 10-year hiatus. The 76-year-old began his managing career in Chicago in 1979 before moving to Oakland, where he led some
of the franchise’s most successful teams to a World Series in 1989, two American League pennants in 1988 and 1990 and a then-Oakland record 1,471 wins.
With 1,573 wins, Melvin passed La Russa’s record this year, and La Russa has been watching.
“I would say there is no better manager in Major League Baseball now than Bob,” La Russa told reporters before Monday’s game between the A’s and White Sox. “He’s got a real good feel for the game, he relates excellently with the players. They play for him. Not only do they like him, but they respect him.”
Melvin and La Russa meet for a crucial four-game series starting Monday. La Russa’s White Sox are sitting 10 games up in first place of the American League Central hoping to coast to their first division title since 2008. The A’s are hoping to gain some traction against a tough foe to regain some lead in the wild card race or erase a 2.5game deficit behind the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West.
Both teams last met in the 2020 wild card series that the A’s won in three dramatic games in Oakland.
Since both spend a good amount of time in the Bay Area, Melvin and La Russa meet up on occasion to pick each others brains and talk shop, manager to manager. Even if he was working for a different team or for MLB, Melvin said La Russa always takes the time to catch up.
“How can you not? He’s a Hall of Famer whose baseball acumen is off the charts,” Melvin said. “This guy was an institution wherever he’s been. Wherever he’s been, a Hall of Fame manager and one of the greats of all time.
“So every chance I get to, I try to take a little bit from him. I’ve watched him manage a lot to know that, for me, it’s about focusing on what we do and what I’m trying to do with my team. Because if I get caught up in trying to manage against him it’s probably not going to go very well.”
Melvin has pulled threads from La Russa’s managing career into his approach with the A’s over the years. Working with a team with plenty of turnover and rosters put together on undervalued skills, he learned from La Russa to go with the flow instead of direct the currents. La Russa said he noticed how Melvin relates to his players, and Melvin said he learned that from La Russa.
“I think how he motivates his guys and relates to all his guys,” Melvin said of what he’s learned from La Russa. “Certainly what he’s done to bullpens from his time with the A’s, starting with (Dennis) Eckersley and how he manages it. How he manages teams based on what he has as opposed to what he’s trying to do. So if he has guys that are able to run, he’ll run. If he has guys not able to do that, they’ll play to the strengths of the teams. I got that from him more than anybody else.”
This week the A’s will also see old friend Liam Hendriks, who signed a free-agent deal for three years, $54 million with the White Sox this offseason. After being designated for assignment in 2018, Hendriks revived his pitches to become one of baseball’s elite closers well out of Oakland’s price range.
The A’s are used to facing old teammates, and though Hendriks is a friendly face he could be an unfriendly sight late in games with a 3.42 ERA and 26 saves.
“We typically have a little turnover here, so this isn’t the first time we’ve faced guys we had in the past that meant so much to our team,” Melvin said. “Everybody will say hi to him before and once the game goes hopefully we don’t see him because it means they’re ahead late in games. But Liam has made quite a name for himself since he’s moved into that closer’s role and we knew how tough he is. You have to move past that and compete hard against him.”