Adam LaRoche retires

[Balta1701]

One would think Hahn would have been the next step...since those players like Rollins all should have had a relationship developed with him to an extent in the month prior, while they were negotiating their contracts.

 

Either Hahn acted in concert with Ventura (unlikely), the players assumed that talking to Hahn after Ventura wasn't going to get them anywhere since those two were of like minds (possible, but unlikely), or they simply felt they had to speak with someone who wasn't directly involved in the running of the clubhouse on a day-to-day basis and express their legitimate concerns about LaRoche and his son to someone in a position of authority to either do something about it directly or run it up the pole to Reinsdorf.

Rick Hahn had certainly agreed to this arrangement in the past season. That could be one reason why the players felt the need to go above his head. Alternatively, the players may just not believe Rick Hahn had the authority to speak in this case.

 

I don't think that's a positive statement about him either.

[LDF]

No one is going to admit that they did to the media. Btw, David Schuster on the Score said today he talked to people he know who work for the Sox and said there were complaints.

 

to me, it doesn't matter if there was other complaints or not, this was totally a few players who were not involve in the beginning making themselves become involve.

 

but ref the bold, they work and get their paycheck from the sox org. i will take that with a grain of salt.

[Condor13]

No one is going to admit that they did to the media. Btw, David Schuster on the Score said today he talked to people he know who work for the Sox and said there were complaints.

 

Unless names are named or sources are revealed then for all we know KW is leaking it to make the team and himself look better. The source in Nightengale's story is more likely then not KW so his story IMO is trash.

[caulfield12]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15017462...icago-white-sox

 

Player's union/Clark monitoring the situation but no grievance filed as of yet.

[fathom]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15017462...icago-white-sox

 

Player's union/Clark monitoring the situation but no grievance filed as of yet.

 

It would be only fitting with this stupid story that the Sox violated the CBA and lose a draft pick

[Dick Allen]

There is another anonymous guy who is saying he is supporting LaRoche simply because he was told lies.

 

So an anonymous player calling KW a liar.

[fathom]

There is another anonymous guy who is saying he is supporting LaRoche simply because he was told lies.

 

So an anonymous player calling KW a liar.

 

Where is this from

[Dick Allen]

Where is this from

Bleacher Report

[fathom]

There is another anonymous guy who is saying he is supporting LaRoche simply because he was told lies.

 

So an anonymous player calling KW a liar.

 

The player was lied to or LaRoche lied to?

[Hatchetman]

So somebody complained to Ventura. Ventura decided not to change the situation. Then that somebody escalated it up to KW, who, going against Ventura's decision, decided to intervene in clubhouse management. This likely after Laroche was signed by the front office and Ventura was told the kid was part of the package.

 

Totally normal.

[Dick Allen]

The player was lied to or LaRoche lied to?

LaRoche was lied to according to this nameless player.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Dick Allen

[Hatchetman]

This is why it wasn't put in writing, from players union chief Tony Clark.

Clark did say the union is interested in separate rules and policies set by clubs, especially if they violate baseball's labor contract.

 

"We are interested in those, particularly when we find out about them," Clark said. "And we're always concerned about any individual agreement violates the collective bargaining agreement as a whole.

[fathom]

Still weird that there has been nothing from Hahn the last few days. I'm sure the players would just love it if he resigns and KW becomes GM again.

[fathom]

This is why it wasn't put in writing, from players union chief Tony Clark.

Clark did say the union is interested in separate rules and policies set by clubs, especially if they violate baseball's labor contract.

 

"We are interested in those, particularly when we find out about them," Clark said. "And we're always concerned about any individual agreement violates the collective bargaining agreement as a whole.

 

Didn't he say he had same agreement with Nats? Also assume Hahn looked up what's allowed as it was said he looked into it.

[OmarComing25]

If I took a job at a company, and we had a deal that I could work from home a couple of times a week, and then I proceeded to not live up to expectations in my work, then I don't think many people would be on my side if I complained after my employer took away or restricted that privilege. LaRoche didn't come close to living up to expectations, so he has a lot of gall to ignore or disobey a reasonable request from a superior.

Edited March 19, 2016 by OmarComing25

[Dick Allen]

If I took a job at a company, and we had a deal that I could work from home a couple of times a week, and then I proceeded to not live up to expectations in my work, then I don't think many people would be on my side if I complained after my employer took away or restricted that privilege. LaRoche didn't come close to living up to expectations, so he has a lot of gall to ignore or disobey a reasonable request from a superior.

So if LaRoche was awesome last year, KW would have been way out of line to make the request?

[fathom]

Cubs busy developing leaders

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/GDubCub/status/7...2511232/photo/1

[Sockin]

This sums up my feelings quite well.

 

Open letter to White Sox players

[Dick Allen]

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/avila-i...-faked-it-well/

 

Avila,had no problem and thinks KW overstepped his bounds.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Dick Allen

[southsider2k5]

Most obviously this should have been handled by the MANAGER, not the MANAGER's bosses' boss.

 

People went to the Managers bosses, boss, which is why it was handled by him.

[southsider2k5]

Rick Hahn had certainly agreed to this arrangement in the past season. That could be one reason why the players felt the need to go above his head. Alternatively, the players may just not believe Rick Hahn had the authority to speak in this case.

 

I don't think that's a positive statement about him either.

 

If the story of how upset Kenny was is true, I would guess LaRoche either told him to go f*** himself, or lied to him about cutting back, which explains why Kenny hit the roof when it didn't change.

[BlackSox13]

This sums up my feelings quite well.

 

Open letter to White Sox players

Well done Larry!!!!

 

[Saufley]

I have a difficult believing KW just decided out of the clear blue to scale back Drake's presence in the club house and on the field without something being said to him first.

 

Eaton is one to talk about KW " throwing it out there". He's been throwing plenty of stuff "out there" on Twitter. He's parading Twitter like a politician trolling for votes.

 

Good to see Eaton and his big mouth are so focused on the upcoming season.

 

I used to like Eaton. If I were Eaton I would not want to get on the bad side of JR.

 

[southsider2k5]

Well we answered one question during all of this. Judging by his stunning ability to not know when to STFU, you can see how Adam Eaton would be able to piss off his teammates like was talked about with Arizona.

[Saufley]

Here's my take.

 

First, the Nightengale story -- which indicates the paper talked with players and perhaps coaches who said they had an issue with Drake's non-stop presence -- indicates that KW wasn't making it up about there being an issue within the clubhouse about this. That suggests that Eaton's and Sale's complaints notwithstanding, that the Sox brass was responding to its players.

 

Second, the "promise" to LaRoche to allow his kid with the team was certainly kept for 2015. But since it wasn't in his contract, and since both his performance was horrible and players and perhaps coaches complained to management about the situation, then management was perfectly within its rights to ask LaRoche to "dial it back." Indeed, what would it have said about Sox management if they ignored the complaints and put the wishes of arguably the WORST player on the team last year ahead of their concerns? Seems to me like the Sox made a reasonable request for LaRoche to amend his position. The fact he didn't take it was HIS CHOICE. Sox didn't ask him to, or force him to resign.

 

So, on both of these scores, it seems to me the Sox were well within their rights, and really had no choice but to ask LaRoche to accommodate his arrangement to mesh with his current teammates and coaches. LaRoche was also free to quit, which he did. There really aren't any villains if you look at it that way.

 

Where things went bad was during the clubhouse meeting. At this point, certain hotheads on the team decided to get their noses out of joint over KW asking LaRoche to "dial it back." To me, these hotheads are the ONLY people who caused this issue to blow up the way it did. (KW did also blow up at one point after LaRoche completely ignored his request, but this was not unlike any company manager getting pissed when his employees openly flout one of his requests.)

 

Did they think KW was lying to them about some players and/or coaches coming to KW to say they had a problem? If so, then how did Nightengale's newspaper receive the exact same info from these players, who have to speak annonymously?

 

And, are they so out of touch with their teammates that they claim the team was 100% united behind LaRoche when it is obvious from the above that they weren't? (Not to make this a racial issue, but it's quite interesting that we've heard from a lot of the white players, but almost nothing from any of the Latin players.)

 

Moreover, do you really want to go to the mat against the wishes of your colleagues over the presence of a 14-year-old kid in the clubhouse, who has nothing to do with your job, or the success of the team? Isn't this completely disrespectful of your teammates?

 

Sale, Eaton, et al are defending an absurd requirement that Adam LaRoche chose to lay down for his continued presence on a baseball team, when if he looked in the mirror and at his own performance, he should have realized that he couldn't meet even replacement level standards of play any more and should retire out of dignity and respect for his team.

 

The idea that KW should "resign" from the Sox over this is utterly absurd. Seems to me that Sox management have been the ONLY ones in this saga who put the interests of the team first.

I like your take. Very well put.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Saufley