As a seasoned former manager working in a city with an unparalleled history of professional sports success, Tony La Russa has a treasure trove of resources at his disposal.
And it sounds like he took advantage of them this past offseason.
La Russa, who joined the Boston Red Sox in 2017 as vice president and special assistant to executive president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, picked the brains of several Boston sports legends last winter, including current and former New England Patriots coaches Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells and former Celtics point guard Bob Cousy, according to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal.
Per Diamond, La Russa spoke to Boston's brightest sports minds at the request of Dombrowski, who wanted insight into how the Red Sox could avoid the dreaded "World Series hangover" and become the first MLB team to repeat as champions since 2000.
Here's what Cousy and Belichick shared with La Russa, according to Diamond:
The 90-year-old Cousy explained that players in his era had more of an incentive to repeat, because of the financial rewards that came with championships, a point that resonated with La Russa. Belichick, another friend of La Russa’s, stressed the importance of flushing the season before to prevent a hangover.
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Those are pretty good insights from both men. But apparently they haven't resonated with the Red Sox, who enter Monday 10 games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East at 50-43.
In fact, Sox manager Alex Cora appeared to take a different tact than Belichick this winter, insisting his squad shouldn't turn the page from last season and instead build on that magical 108-win season.
Dombrowski said La Russa recently told him, "I feel like I failed you," as the 74-year-old Hall of Famer's offseason project hasn't yielded results to date.
The Red Sox aren't giving up hope yet, though -- they traded for Andrew Cashner this weekend and remain in the Wild Card hunt -- and La Russa is hoping they channel Belichick's 2001 Patriots in making a second-half surge.
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