The White Sox have been "thrust into chaos," as the controversy around the team's request to limit the presence of 1B Adam LaRoche's son at the ballpark "threatens to tear that clubhouse apart a few weeks before opening day," according to Paul Sullivan of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Multiple reports surfaced Thursday that players threatened to boycott a Spring Training game, while one report had P Chris Sale getting into a "heated debate" with White Sox Exec VP Ken Williams during a clubhouse meeting. LaRoche's "vociferous support among fellow players surfaced Thursday, and an organization that prides itself on being a family suddenly was being painted as 'anti-kid.'" That "can't be good for luring future free agents, especially the ones who don't agree to one-year deals." Some questions "remain that may or may not be answered." Why did the team "wait until now to tell LaRoche that his 14-year-old son Drake was not welcome on a full-time basis?" Also where does White Sox Senior VP & GM Rick Hahn stand? Hahn "has yet to comment on the matter, leaving it up to Williams to explain." Hahn last year became upset over Williams' comments that team Chair Jerry Reinsdorf "calls him first when he's upset about something." The notion that Williams was "still in control clearly irked Hahn, who replaced Williams as GM four years ago." Williams now is "at the forefront again." Sullivan: "Shouldn't this be Hahn's decision to make, or was Williams just being the heavy to shield Hahn or any complaining players who don't want to be identified?" There is also the question of what manager Robin Ventura will "do to calm the Sox clubhouse" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/18). In Chicago, Scot Gregor asks, "Why didn't this happen before spring training started? Or, was it addressed, and LaRoche chose to ignore the request to scale back the father-son time?" (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 3/18).
TEAMMATE TURMOIL: Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan reported Sale "absolutely lit up" Williams over the LaRoche situation in Tuesday's meeting. There were "F-bombs aplenty" during the meeting, and the "main thrust of Chris Sale's anger with Kenny Williams was that he's not around enough to understand the dynamics of White Sox clubhouse." After Hahn and Ventura approved Drake LaRoche's presence, for Williams "to unilaterally say otherwise set the players off." Passan: "Whatever the case, for an organization like the White Sox trying to overhaul its clubhouse dynamics, this is a weird way to start the year" (TWITTER.com, 3/17). White Sox CF Adam Eaton said Sale "went after Kenny and let him know what's going on, and some new guys in the clubhouse stepped up and took charge as well." Eaton added, "Kenny came in and said his piece and some guys said their piece." He said of threatening to sit out Spring Training games, "We needed to stand up for how we feel and support our teammate. Whether it’s right or wrong, we felt we needed to make a stand" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/18).
TIME TO TALK: MLB Network's Kevin Millar said Reinsdorf needs to "sit down and have a talk" with Williams, as the situation "has got to be addressed somehow, someway.” Millar said, “There is a way to deal with this stuff. There is a way to handle the situations, and this probably wasn’t handled correctly by Kenny Williams" ("Intentional Talk," MLB Network, 3/17). ESPN's Buster Olney said, "The way this was handled by the White Sox front office was clunky. … Why didn’t they address this during the offseason? Why wasn’t this cleared up and made known to Adam LaRoche?" He added if Hahn and Ventura "didn’t have the backing of Kenny Williams, why was there an agreement in the first place?” ("Baseball Tonight," ESPN, 3/17). ESPN’s Pedro Gomez said the White Sox are “one of the more kid-friendly teams that I’ve ever been around, so to say they are suddenly doing a 180 is not accurate” (“OTL,” ESPN, 3/17).
ULTERIOR MOTIVES? ESPN's Curt Schilling said he would not be surprised if the team's request "was to free themselves up" of the $13M they would have owed LaRoche this season. He said the fact that Williams "knew that this would go public tells me that he knew what was going to happen when he delivered the news” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 3/17). Schilling added, "If Adam LaRoche hit .325 with 35 homers and 150 RBIs, we would not be having this conversation. ... When teams have lost their use for you, they will no longer do things for you. It happens in every business everywhere” (“Baseball Tonight,” ESPN, 3/17). MLB Network's Eric Byrnes said, “The most disgusting thing about all of this is that if he had hit 35 home runs last year, Ken Williams would never have come down to say, ‘Get your kid out of the clubhouse.’ It would have never been an issue" ("MLB Tonight," MLB Network, 3/17). CSNBayArea.com's Ray Ratto said either Williams "wants to get out from under a contract" or an exec from the team's HR department “came down and said, ‘We’re not covered for him’” ("Sports Talk Live," CSN Bay Area, 3/17).
MIXED EMOTIONS: In Ft. Worth, Mac Engel wrote while both the White Sox and LaRoche "are right," Williams is "going to regret this one." Every team "should be doing everything it can to encourage -- rather than deter -- that kids are around their dads" (STAR-TELEGRAM.com, 3/17). In DC, Adam Kilgore writes when Williams asked LaRoche to "dial back Drake’s presence, LaRoche viewed it not as an order, but a choice." His choice to retire "is not all that surprising" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/18). In N.Y., Anthony McCarron asks, "Why can’t there be a middle ground here? What would be so wrong about reducing Drake’s time with the club, if that’s the way the team -- the employer -- wants it?" Williams "didn’t tell LaRoche his son was banned" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/18).
VARIOUS POLICIES AROUND THE LEAGUE: In N.Y., Nathaniel Vinton notes MLB and the MLBPA declined to comment on whether a "league-wide policy" on the presence of players' children was "needed in the wake of the LaRoche case" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/18). In Boston, Peter Abraham notes MLB "prohibits children under the age of 14 from being on the field during batting practice." The Red Sox "have a policy that children can be on the field or in the clubhouse up until the team goes out to stretch." Red Sox manager John Farrell said, "I don’t think our guys have abused it. We want to have a welcoming environment for players’ sons to be around their dads" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/18). Royals Manager Ned Yost said that his team "has a policy in place for children" during the regular season. He explained that they are "allowed to be around in the early afternoon, but once batting practice begins, the room is cleared." Yost: "We want to try to give them as much opportunity as we can to spend time with their kids. But at the same time, we got business we got to tend to, too" (K.C. STAR, 3/18). In Chicago, Gordon Wittenmyer reports the only official rule the Cubs have is that fathers and sons "can be in the clubhouse until team stretch time on the field, though team officials don’t seem especially concerned with imposing any particular policy as long as the players are in agreement on the issue" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/18).
KIDS AND PLAY: Nationals manager Dusty Baker said that he "loves having kids around the clubhouse." Baker, whose son Darren infamously ran onto the field during the '02 World Series, said, "Every organization can do whatever they want to do. You can’t judge (another organization) from afar. All I can do is answer what we’re going to do here. Personally here, I’m going to do what I’ve always done: invite kids in" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/18). In Detroit, Lynn Herring notes the Tigers have "no such irritation" with DH Victor Martinez and his 11-year-old son, Victor Jose, being around the park as the White Sox did with LaRoche. The younger Martinez "for years has been a semi-regular partner in the clubhouse at home and away games." Victor Martinez said of the Tigers, “They’ve been great. I haven’t had any problems" (DETROIT NEWS, 3/18). Also in Detroit, Chris McCosky asks, "Who does it hurt? He’s not in anybody’s way. He’s not disrupting anybody’s routine. He’s old enough and skilled enough that he’s not in danger out there" (DETROIT NEWS, 3/18).
