CHICAGO -- Here are four questions to be answered stemming from the hiring of Tony La Russa as the 41st White Sox manager and his ensuing 55-minute Zoom call with the media alongside general manager Rick Hahn.

1. Has the 2021 coaching staff been set?
Dave Duncan, La Russa’s longtime pitching coach with the White Sox, A's and Cardinals, will not be joining La Russa in a return to Chicago. Duncan told that to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this week, and La Russa reaffirmed that point Thursday.

La Russa talked about continuity with his first coaching staff in relation to what has already been built with the White Sox. Hitting coach Frank Menechino and assistant hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh completed a successful first season with Chicago in 2020 and figure to return, as does assistant pitching coach Curt Hasler.

Hasler would be one of the internal candidates to serve as pitching coach, along with Matt Zaleski and Everett Teaford. Don’t overlook Richard Dotson, who was a rotation fixture on Chicago's 1983 American League West champion team led by La Russa. Joe McEwing, who played two years for La Russa in St. Louis, could also be part of this group.

2. Will La Russa influence free-agent pursuits?
Hahn described the manager in place as a real factor in this process.

“Usually, a positive in recent memory around here,” Hahn said. “Ultimately, I think it’s about a variety of factors, including the manager and spanning from opportunity to win, location preference to, frankly, crassly, economics in the end.”

• 15 wild facts about the Sox rehiring La Russa

The White Sox should be looking to add a veteran pitcher or two, potentially a left-handed-hitting right fielder and a reliever, although trades are a possibility as well. But with the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, Hahn couldn’t shed any more light on his team’s future spending or maneuvers.

“This is going to be a unique winter for all of us, not just in baseball, but obviously, society at large,” Hahn said. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any more definitive answers than I did a couple of weeks ago in terms of about the speed with which any of these offseason moves are going to take place. We are still all trying to do the best we can and project what this game is going to look like a year from now and how best to get us to that position to contend.”

3. How will La Russa adjust from his last time managing in 2011?
The game has clearly changed. But La Russa stressed that the more you think it changes, the more it stays the same.

“The question asked most often is the wealth of information that helps you prepare, and I embrace it. I know our coaching staff will,” La Russa said. “People that watched our clubs the years I managed, we were always information seekers.

“How that factors into game decisions, if you take the value of that information, maybe you have a better chance to have players in a position to succeed. Going to be more open to that.”

• How White Sox looked in La Russa's last stint

La Russa referred to his style with that information as more observational analytics.

“I have good experience at this in the sense that once the game starts, it’s a very volatile experience,” La Russa said. “Players, not machines, how they vary how the game may be changing within innings, much less games to series.

“That’s why it’s very important that you use the term 'observational analytics,' once you get all the preparation you have to watch the game and be ready. The difference is the preparation will be better. Looking forward to it. But the actual game decision-making will be much like what I learned. You watch the game and figure out how to put guys in position to win.”

4. Is this move about the Jerry Reinsdorf/La Russa bond?
These two are close, with the White Sox chairman previously describing them like brothers. But in a statement from Thursday’s press release announcing La Russa, Reinsdorf said this hiring was an opportunity “to have one of the greatest managers in the game’s history in our dugout at a time when we believe our team is poised for great accomplishments.”

“There were other opportunities to hire me, and I wasn’t hired, by the way,” La Russa added. “The only way it worked was is we have talked baseball for 20-something years, and he understands how much I love the game and I understand how much he loves it. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s a factor.”