Former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa on Wednesday told an Arizona radio station he had no involvement in the organization's hack of the Astros computer system and was shocked by the allegations.
La Russa — whose time managing the Cardinals (1996-2011) overlapped with current Astros GM Jeff Luhnow's time in St. Louis — is the Diamondbacks' chief baseball officer and appeared on Arizona Sports FM 98.7.
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Given his deep history with the Cardinals, he addressed a looming question.
"I have absolutely no involvement," La Russa said. "I have not talked to anybody in St. Louis. …(My) comment is (the Cardinals) have a long history of doing things right on and off the field with very few mistakes.”
"(The history) was there when I got there, it continues to be that way. I've been trying in my own private way without asking anybody how something like this would be possible."
Among La Russa's other comments on the "Doug & Wolf" show:
On his initial shock at the New York Times report: "I can't believe that there's something more that isn't explainable."
On the "marginal" advantage the Cardinals could've gained: "Every organization, even (the Diamondbacks), analyzes the other 29 teams ... there's so many ways that you can figure out almost exactly what a team is looking for. There aren't many secrets."
On Luhnow in St. Louis and in Oakland when La Russa was A's manager: "Jeff's entire time with the Cardinals, I was there. I remember when he was first introduced by (Cardinals president) Bill DeWitt to our organization, and Bill was excited to begin our analytics department and Jeff was going to head it. Years ago, Jeff was in the Bay Area, with PetStore.com, and he was going to help out (the A's). It's a small world."
On the growing problem of hacking: "I'm not clueless with this stuff. I know, whether it's our government or whether it's a company that you should do business with personally or it's the Diamondbacks, we have provide every safeguard possible … it's just not right."
On the unique analytics database Luhnow created in St. Louis: "When you sign a contract, what you create remains property of the Cardinals or the organization you work for. Jeff left, and a lot of his guys are still in (St. Louis), they're still doing the work. It's a bit nebulous to me where the blame is going to fall here."
On the Diamondbacks' efforts to create an analytics database: "When I got here (in 2014), one of the things that was obvious for years, I preferred the tried and true way that I call ‘observational analytics.' I watch and see two guys play, you can hit or you can't … there's a lot of information that is helpful now, and we're just creating. Prior to us taking the big plunge, we were very lightly using the metrics in order to compete. We are in the process of developing it."
Listen to the entire interview here.
