Apparently what Tony La Russa meant, when he said he was going to have a decision about the length of his little stint with the St. Louis Cardinals by early last week, was that he was going to have everybody talking about how he probably has a decision already by early this week. I don't know what he got out of that bit of semantic play, but it's working—Joe Strauss is the latest to claim it's come down to "when will the club announce it?"
↵↵↵A series of daily discussions between La Russa, chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and general manager John Mozeliak has addressed concerns held by all three men, leading to possible confirmation of La Russa's return before the team's professional scouts convene at Busch Stadium later this week.
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That's right: It might be over. I realize I said the same thing after a similar blockquote last week, but this time it'll be on both Strauss and Matthew Leach, who said something similar on Saturday. Unless La Russa is planning on discrediting every last member of the St. Louis Real-Media by planting a fake story—admittedly, if anybody'd do it, he would—it seems like there's fire and smoke this time.