La Russa puts trust in vets to run clubhouse

CHICAGO -- White Sox manager Tony La Russa called together a group of six or seven veteran players near the end of Spring Training to talk about the team.

Let’s call them the squad’s unofficial leadership council, with right-handed reliever Evan Marshall part of this group. Marshall didn’t divulge the rest of the participants, but added it was the players you would expect to be there.

“Tony said, 'I want you guys to manage the clubhouse, manage the team. I want to call the plays,'” Marshall told MLB.com. “'I want to worry about baseball. If I see something I don’t like, I’ll let you guys know, and you guys take care of it from there.'

“That forced us to take on ownership in our own team. So, we have guys on this team who like Lance Lynn just got 10 years of service, who have been there, done that and can lead by example as well as vocalize what they think how things should be. Tony can stay out of it. We don’t see Tony that much. We handle what we’ve got to handle, and he worries about the stuff in between the lines.”

Marshall likes how La Russa has handled things on the field and the idea of giving some control to his players.

“It’s an interesting way to do things, but it’s worked very well so far,” Marshall said. “I have no problem with the way he has handled things. We are off to a pretty good start toward the end of May. So something is coming together right.”

In his eighth season in the Majors and playing for his fourth organization, Marshall also understands issues such as La Russa’s reaction to Yermín Mercedes swinging on a 3-0 take sign in the ninth inning of a 15-4 game last Monday in Minnesota will arise. It’s not the sort of issue with the potential to divide a close-knit clubhouse or cause a disconnect with La Russa.

“No, no. We don’t always agree. But there’s not a disconnect. We can have an argument, but it doesn’t mean we hate the guy or something,” Marshall said. “We don’t have to agree, but we are united. A 3-0 swing in a blowout game is not going to cause a divide in our clubhouse.

“So, let’s say it got blown out of proportion a little bit. Yermín is a hell of a player and we are so happy to have him on our team. We want him to act like him and that’s fine with all of us. I think it brought us together tighter as a group. The White Sox rally behind Yermín.”

Engel’s rehab
Outfielder Adam Engel homered in his final at-bat Tuesday night to begin his injury rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte. Engel is testing the recovery process for his right hamstring strain, which occurred during Spring Training, but according to La Russa, this test might not be a short one.

“I've gone through this my whole career,” La Russa said. “They want to come back as soon as they start feeling good. He's feeling good but he needs his timing. So we'll watch very closely.

“I don't think it's going to be as much health-wise. It's just going to be timing, so I don't know the answer.”

La Russa basically wants Engel healthy and productive when he joins the team.

“We still have four-plus months to go. We'll see,” La Russa said. “We can't be impatient and get him here. In my opinion, it's not health-wise, it's just timing wise so he can have good at-bats.”

Third to first
• Shortstop Tim Anderson did not start Wednesday’s series finale, getting a rare day off.

“Man is not a machine,” La Russa said of Anderson. “I really don't like doing it at home because our fans like to see him, but I know our fans care about him, too. It's a good day to rest him.”

• The White Sox have been in first place for 21 of the last 22 days. They also are 9-6 to start their stretch of 27 games in 27 days.

They said it
“The ideal thing you want and what we have going is the preparation with both the catchers with any pitcher. They've caught all of them. You have to be careful that you don't marry one catcher to a pitcher because somewhere down the road in a big game the guy's not available.” -- La Russa on having a certain catcher for a certain pitcher