The St. Louis Cardinals announced this afternoon that Tony La Russa will manage the team for two more years.

He said two years was the right length for a contract, because a one-year deal would prompt the same questions he faced throughout 2007, when he was on the last season of a three-year contract.
“One (year) is the wrong message, because from spring training on it’s the same deal,” La Russa said. “Two (years) lets the players know I’m back for” a longer stay.
The winningest manager in franchise history, La Russa, 63, will manage his 13th season wearing the birds on the bat in 2008.

It certainly wasn’t one of Tony’s more memorable seasons. He was arrested for drunk driving, one of his pitchers killed himself driving under the influence, and what should have been the feel good comeback story of the year was tainted by HGH allegations. And just when you thought the Cardinals were going to make a run at a weak central division, they folded their tent and let the Brewers and Cubs fight it out. Maybe all that is why the contract was just two years long.