The White Sox are standing behind Tony La Russa. They’re already paying the price.

But the hiring also carried a whiff of risk and danger, owing to the passage of nine years’ time since La Russa, 76, last managed and the warp-speed changes to the game in that span in the spheres of analytics and culture.

At least as of now, the White Sox are downplaying the DUI news and standing firmly behind La Russa, whose hiring has the fingerprints of White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf all over it. It is Reinsdorf who has called the team’s firing of La Russa in 1986 his biggest regret as an owner, one that was driven home as he watched La Russa win World Series titles with Oakland (1989) and St. Louis (2006 and 2011).

Although La Russa’s arrest was in February — according to court records obtained by ESPN, he allegedly ran his car into a curb and initially refused to take a breath test or give a blood sample — the case was not filed until Oct. 28, because it was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. The White Sox introduced him as their new manager Oct. 29. A White Sox spokesman, via the team’s website, said team officials were aware of the arrest at the time but declined to comment further, citing the ongoing legal case.

But while the White Sox stand behind the La Russa hiring — widely panned at the time, both in Chicago and nationally — there is now a tangible cost to doing so. On Tuesday, pitcher Marcus Stroman, considered among the half-dozen or so most desirable free agents on this winter’s market, indicated in a Twitter post that he has ruled out the White Sox as a potential destination.

Stroman wrote that “no amount of money” could get him to play for La Russa, calling the hiring “baffling by all measures.” “Peace of mind is always a priority,” he added. While the White Sox may not have pursued Stroman anyway, it is rare for a free agent to publicly rule out any team, particularly one that is viewed as a potentially aggressive player in this winter’s talent market.

Stroman is also Black, which is worth noting here because of another piece of baggage La Russa brings with him to Chicago. In a 2016 interview with Sports Illustrated, La Russa made critical remarks about quarterback Colin Kaepernick for kneeling in protest during the national anthem and said he “absolutely would not allow” one of his players to protest in that way.

And while La Russa, at his introductory news conference, indicated his views had changed since 2016 — “Not only do I respect but I applaud the awareness that’s come into [baseball],” he said — he will still need to convey that sentiment to current White Sox players, including shortstop Tim Anderson, who knelt before the team’s 2020 season opener, along with a handful of his teammates and coaches.

The White Sox are a team on the rise, having this year made their first playoff appearance in 12 years, with a young, talented core to build around. They parted ways after this season with Rick Renteria — a finalist for the American League manager of the year award, which will be announced Tuesday night — and, as many similarly positioned teams before them have done, replaced him with a proven winner.

La Russa is baseball’s winningest manager of the past 70 years and a Hall of Famer since 2013. But it was never the winning pedigree that was the issue with La Russa. It was all the baggage that came with him.

The White Sox knew about all of it, including, apparently, the DUI, when they hired him, and they still stood behind him. If Stroman’s stance tells us anything, it’s that there will be a cost to the White Sox for that loyalty.