On Tuesday, Jay Mariotti wrote in his Barrett Sports Media column that the Chicago sports media doesn’t “want to incur” Jerry Reinsdorf’s wrath and will not hang any blame for the White Sox hiring Tony La Russa as their new manager, even knowing that La Russa was facing another DUI charge.
Apparently Dan Bernstein didn’t get the memo that he needs to fear Reinsdorf. The 670 the Score host went off on the team owner and his meddling in the team’s search for a new manager.
“Let’s name names. It’s Jerry Reinsdorf,” Bernstein said. “It isn’t the White Sox. This has nothing to do with Rick Hahn. This has nothing to do with Kenny Williams.”
Bernstein said Rick Hahn looked like he had been taken hostage at the press conference last week to introduce La Russa as the White Sox new manager. He said that the reason is clear. He knew this was a bad hire, it was a PR nightmare, and he knew he was powerless to stop it.
“They knew! And they knew it was inevitable [La Russa’s DUI charge] would become public. And they knew it didn’t matter!”
Bernstein also criticized Reinsdorf’s and La Russa’s attempts to remain silent. The White Sox have issued a statement saying no one with the team can comment on an ongoing investigation. Bernstein isn’t having it.
“That’s BS to say ‘I can’t comment on an active investigation’. That’s like hiding behind ‘I can’t release my taxes because I am under audit’”, Bernstein said. “They’re just hiding behind that. That’s absolutely not true. And if Tony La Russa is going to hide behind ‘I’ve got nothing to say,’ well, you better figure out what to say, because we’re not gonna stop asking.”
How this will be resolved remains to be seen, but it is clear that Dan Bernstein isn’t willing to give Jerry Reinsdorf or the team much of the benefit of the doubt here. And it is hard to imagine he is alone in the Chicago sports media. As Bernstein put it, Reinsdorf seems to think he gets to decide what is and isn’t a problem for fans.
“The point is it doesn’t matter to him. He doesn’t care that this happened. He doesn’t care. He knew it happened. He knew it could become public. He doesn’t care that it happened.”
