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I watched Tony LaRussa (and Joe Torre, for that matter) this past season, and I don't know...they have never been the most fiery or upbeat managers, but this particular season whenever the camera panned over to LaRussa, or Torre, they would look like they were asleep, not interested in what was going on, just letting the team "play it out", so to speak, without them putting major effort into managing the game. Now, that's 99.9% percent wrong, most likely they were into the game, but, nowadays, with so many young guys coming up, and with so many young stars in the game, teams need managers that don't depress you when you look at them, managers that are a little bit more alive. I firmly believe that what happened in St Louis, in LaRussa's case, was that he lost that team, he no longer could get through to the young guys, or to the young stars. In Los Angeles, yes, Torre had his hands tied, basically, because of the McCourts' divorce, but even then, it's a big probability that Torre couldn't have the same impact on the players, as he had 10 years ago with the Yankees.
Very clearly, in terms of managing, there is a changing of the guard, old skippers are retiring, and new, young managers are getting their chances. And that's how it should be. You can't tell me a change of vision, and direction, can't help the Cardinals, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, etc.
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