Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez speak about Tony La Russa being named White Sox manager

Tony La Russa

One of the big question marks about the White Sox's decision to hire 76-year-old Tony La Russa as manager is whether he'll be able to relate to players who are 45 or 50 years younger than he is.

Here's the first article I've seen with player quotes, written by MLB.com's Scott Merkin.

Tim Anderson and Eloy Jimenez are both quoted. I think it's fair to say Anderson is the face of the team at this point. With all due respect to Jose Abreu and everything he's accomplished in his career, the Sox will go as Anderson goes.

It sounds as though Anderson is waiting on a call from La Russa.

“I’m still waiting on him to, you know, reach out to me,” Anderson said in Merkin's article. “I’m excited to talk to him. I’m going to ask him if he’s been reading. … A lot of people have been saying we’re not going to get along, so I’m going to ask him why you think that.

“We’ll see. I’m excited about it. Hopefully, we can turn this negative around into a positive and keep moving, keep enjoying the game and keep having fun with it. You can’t get sidetracked from what the ultimate goal is.”

Both Anderson and Jimenez seemed well aware of what La Russa has accomplished in the game as a manager -- three World Series championships and 2,728 career victories, third-best in the history of baseball.

“He's still been watching the game, so he pretty much does know what's going on. It's not like he's got to get out there and play,” Anderson said. “All he has to do is just manage us, and I'm pretty sure he's going to know how to do that. He's in the Hall of Fame for a reason. I'm just excited to see the Tony that everybody's talking about. Learn from him and see which way this thing's going to go.”

“What can I say? Tony is one of the greatest managers in the history of the game,” Jiménez said through an interpreter. “When I saw the news, I was excited to be managed by a guy like him. At the same time, it was kind of bittersweet news because I love Ricky [Renteria], too.” 

Whatever personality differences exist -- or generation gaps, as the case may be -- I'm going to try to stay optimistic that these guys will work this stuff out. There's a lot at stake here. 

La Russa is going to be motivated to win one more championship for his buddy, Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. And Sox players have never been shy about saying their goal is to bring a World Series title to the South Side of Chicago. 

I think the potential exists for these guys to get on the same page. Let's hope they do.