The St. Louis chapter of the Baseball Writers Association Of America has their annual dinner scheduled for January 16, and barring the last-minute confirmation of a Drunks With Guns reunion, the evening’s entertainment sounds less than scintillating. The Post- Dispatch’s Derrick Gold provides the details :

To mark manager Tony La Russa’s return for a 16th season in the Cardinals dugout, the writers have invited some of his close friends and formers players to join the dinner in a … ahem … toast to the club’s winningest skipper. If some of those friends and players also choose to needle, jab, joke or otherwise tease TLR, well we can’t be held responsible. They’re men, not machines.

Scheduled to fete La Russa are actor/musician Billy Bob Thornton, basketball coach Bobby Knight, and former reliever Steve Kline. La Russa’s managerial buddy Jim Leyland is expected to attend as well as some others from La Russa’s baseball career.

With all due respect to the organizers, how can they expect to charge $150 a head for a La Genius roast that doesn’t feature Jose Canseco, Scott Rolen or Cody Rasmus?