Adam LaRoche retires

[LDF]

LaRoche, in addition to being a rather lousy ball player in the twilight of his career, was obviously a very selfish one as well. The idea that he somehow presumed all of his 24 co-workers wanted his brat around every day to the extent Drake was is ludicrous. I don't care what handshake agreement he may or may not have had with management. How about taking into consideration the impact his kid's non-stop presence had on his teammates - the same teammates he just quit on, I might add. LaRoche was only thinking about what was good for LaRoche, and now he is free to do so to his heart's content while not stinking up White Sox baseball in the process. Good riddance.

 

great post and i agree. this is a problem with AL and management and their legal teams if necessary.

 

the action and reaction of sale and eaton is what compounded the situation to where it is now. the laughing stock of the sports world. if no one thinks that, open your eye and mind. this situation is a ridiculous set of events that was put in motion.

 

sale and eation action did not or does not justify this media attentions.

Edited March 20, 2016 by LDF

[cabiness42]

There is a chance that the only person on the Sox planet that had a problem with the kid being around all the time was KW and that KW took this entirely on his own to address the issue. But that seems highly unlikely to me. Why go looking for problems? There is no benefit for KW. I am 100% convinced someone in the club house, probably players, complained to Robin. Robin says hey, what can I do, I didn't make the agreement. Robin or some players then take it up the chain. Was it 100% among the players, of course not. But how many players would it take before the situation needs to be addressed? One? Five? 24?

 

Then Kenny figures this is easy, Adam said if there ever was a problem he would address it. Again, from KW's perspective it should have been no big deal. To keep things easy in the clubhouse KW doesn't want to name players or coaches so he keeps it vague. You would think the problem would be solved at this point. Adam lives up to his word, the kid hangs back, it blows over a little bit, and life is good. Instead, the kid doesn't change his behavior. Either Adam didn't tell him to, or he ignored his dad, or as we all know can happen at 14, he "forgot" about the new rules. Then Kenny starts yelling about his kid and Adam reacts like a lot of parents and protects his kid from the criticism.

 

Nobody is suddenly a horrible human beings. No one is suddenly incapable of doing their jobs. But spring training is boring and anything unusual makes for great discussions. So we have one of the longest threads in Soxtalk history. All because of timing, the universal feelings of parents, and the worker versus management dichotomy.

 

This is 100% the best take on this situation I've seen.

[Lillian]

This is all just one more reason for the city of Chicago to root for the Cubs. We're all die hards, but really guys, ask yourself this:

If I weren't blindly loyal to the Sox, and if I hadn't been a fan, my whole life, for which team would I be rooting, this season?

 

The North Side has a terrific young team, with a great manager and we have.....well, this?!!!!

Way to go La Roche, Sale and Eaton. Great job. How idiotic!!!!

Edited March 20, 2016 by Lillian

[cabiness42]

This is all just one more reason for the city of Chicago to root for the Cubs. We're all die hards, but really guys, ask yourself this:

If I weren't blindly loyal to the Sox, and if I hadn't been a fan, my whole life, for which team would I be rooting, this season?

 

Nice going La Roche, Sale and Eaton. Great job.

 

If I weren't blindly loyal to the Sox and hadn't been a fan my whole life, I probably wouldn't pay any attention to baseball at all.

[caulfield12]

I must have missed this. I keep reading that the front office gave permission. Am I wrong?

 

 

It was a supposition by Posnanski...

 

 

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/03/20/it-fin...-drake-laroche/

 

More concerning, however, is that the Sale-Eaton contingent may now feel as though their teammates lied to them. Either by voicing disingenuous support for the LaRoches while they secretly complained or by keeping silent and allowing that impression to be created.

 

There will be some tempted to play the role of savvy cynic and say “eh, Sale and Eaton probably knew others complained and were just being dramatic.” I think that’s pretty unlikely. To say the things they said and to act in the manner they did — remember, they were talking about boycotting a game over this — while knowing that others in the clubhouse didn’t agree with them would itself be an act of clubhouse dissension. They’d be publicly rubbing their teammates’ noses in the matter and passive-aggressively calling them out. That’s not something players would do lightly or easily. No, I believe they took the stance that they did because they truly believed they were in an us (players) against him (Ken Williams) situation. I believe that they believed that no uniformed White Sox personnel had an issue with Drake LaRoche. Remember, when Ken Williams privately suggested that to Sale, Sale accused him of lying.

 

They have now found out they were wrong. Moreover, I presume that they will soon find out who, exactly, complained about Drake LaRoche. They will find out whose complaints set the ball in motion for the retirement of one of their favorite teammates and whose silence led them to, quite frankly, take some pretty ridiculous public positions on the matter. And then they’ll have to spend the next six and a half months working, traveling and living with them.

 

That ought to be fun.

 

 

 

[iamshack]

Ugh.

 

[Whisox05]

Dont know if this was posted but pretty much summing it up

http://www.southsidesox.com/2016/3/19/1126...ite-sox-players

[flavum]

https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/711602130637955072

 

Heard this from some players: They hope the White Sox flap doesn't lead to one-size-fits-all rules that could cost Dads time w/their kids.

 

Probably won't be much of a problem since this was such an outlandish request from a player to begin with--and for the Sox to go along with it was dumb too.

 

Common sense was lost with everybody involved.

[fathom]

Case closed, everyone to be quiet about it according to JR

[Black_Jack29]

It was a supposition by Posnanski...

 

 

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/03/20/it-fin...-drake-laroche/

 

More concerning, however, is that the Sale-Eaton contingent may now feel as though their teammates lied to them. Either by voicing disingenuous support for the LaRoches while they secretly complained or by keeping silent and allowing that impression to be created.

 

There will be some tempted to play the role of savvy cynic and say “eh, Sale and Eaton probably knew others complained and were just being dramatic.” I think that’s pretty unlikely. To say the things they said and to act in the manner they did — remember, they were talking about boycotting a game over this — while knowing that others in the clubhouse didn’t agree with them would itself be an act of clubhouse dissension. They’d be publicly rubbing their teammates’ noses in the matter and passive-aggressively calling them out. That’s not something players would do lightly or easily. No, I believe they took the stance that they did because they truly believed they were in an us (players) against him (Ken Williams) situation. I believe that they believed that no uniformed White Sox personnel had an issue with Drake LaRoche. Remember, when Ken Williams privately suggested that to Sale, Sale accused him of lying.

 

They have now found out they were wrong. Moreover, I presume that they will soon find out who, exactly, complained about Drake LaRoche. They will find out whose complaints set the ball in motion for the retirement of one of their favorite teammates and whose silence led them to, quite frankly, take some pretty ridiculous public positions on the matter. And then they’ll have to spend the next six and a half months working, traveling and living with them.

 

That ought to be fun.

 

Sale and Eaton did this to themselves, so I don't see how they can be angry at their teammates for their assumptions that Kenny lied to them.

 

As far as having to co-exist at work with people that they disagree with or don't like, welcome to the real world.

 

[Dick Allen]

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/jerry-r...n-adam-laroche/

 

According to JR no one lied, just miscommunication and misunderstanding, and it could have been handled better, and he has never had more respect for LaRoche.

 

With the gag order, Rick Han will have never spoken on this matter, after it came out why he retired.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Dick Allen

[hi8is]

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/jerry-r...n-adam-laroche/

 

According to JR no one lied, just miscommunication and misunderstanding, and it could have been handled better, and he has never had more respect for LaRoche.

 

With the gag order, Rick Han will have never spoken on this matter, after it came out why he retired.

I don't agree with JR about no one lying. Someone lied.

[Black_Jack29]

I don't agree with JR about no one lying. Someone lied.

 

Yep.

 

This is the second time that he's issued a gag order. Let's see if his knucklehead employees can keep their mouths shut around reporters this time.

 

[Saufley]

This is all just one more reason for the city of Chicago to root for the Cubs. We're all die hards, but really guys, ask yourself this:

If I weren't blindly loyal to the Sox, and if I hadn't been a fan, my whole life, for which team would I be rooting, this season?

 

The North Side has a terrific young team, with a great manager and we have.....well, this?!!!!

Way to go La Roche, Sale and Eaton. Great job. How idiotic!!!!

 

I can't ever imagine myself rooting for that north side team. The north side team has a great manager? I guess if you like the clubhouse being turned into a petting zoo. I guess if you enjoy seeing your coaches arrive at spring training jumping out of a car dressed as clowns. Nope, you can have that north side team all to yourself!

 

[flavum]

I think the next big Sox story is a rift between Hahn and Kenny. Rick can only say "Kenny is my boss" for so long.

[Dick Allen]

I think the next big Sox story is a rift between Hahn and Kenny. Rick can only say "Kenny is my boss" for so long.

JR gagging RH means he will never have to answer the question as to what his agreement was with LaRoche. hahn saying absolutely nothing speaks volumes. JR is the first to say or release anything having KW's back, and even that was miscommunication, misunderstanding, could have been handled better.

 

 

I think your right. There has been a rift speculated for a while which I really thought the evidence was weak. But I can't get over HAhns total silence regarding this train wreck. JR did him a favor.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Dick Allen

[southsider2k5]

The full statement

 

I have taken the past few days to personally meet with everyone involved, including Adam LaRoche, members of our front office, uniformed staff and some of our active players. I continue to have nothing but the greatest regard for Adam – in fact, my respect for him has grown during this process — and I applaud his desire to spend more time with his family.

 

I continue to have complete faith in the skills and abilities of the leadership group of our baseball operations department in Ken Williams, Rick Hahn and Robin Ventura. I also appreciate the passion and commitment to one another shown by our players, Robin, our coaching staff and our front office. As with many things in life, much of this was a result of miscommunication and misunderstanding rather than this being a case of anyone not telling the truth. I do not believe there is anyone to directly blame in this situation. While there is no doubt this might have been handled differently, the fact remains that this is an internal matter that we have discussed and now resolved.

 

Per my request, White Sox employees will no longer discuss this matter publicly. I felt it was appropriate to release this statement to close the issue for everyone in the organization – from the front office to the players in the clubhouse – so we can focus on Opening Day and winning baseball games for our fans. I am fully confident this matter will soon be behind us and that we will grow even stronger and more united as a team and as an organization.

[Lip Man 1]

The full statement

 

 

Of course he has "complete faith" in the front office that has provided fans with six losing seasons in the last nine years.

Loyalty without accountability is the White Sox mantra don't you know!

 

Mark

[LDF]

Of course he has "complete faith" in the front office that has provided fans with six losing seasons in the last nine years.

Loyalty without accountability is the White Sox mantra don't you know!

 

Mark

 

well, i am really surprise mr. social media is not tweeting anything of this, this was bs from his camp from the beginning.

 

it is finally over for what it is worth, damage has been done. lets get this team back on course.

 

 

[Saufley]

Of course he has "complete faith" in the front office that has provided fans with six losing seasons in the last nine years.

Loyalty without accountability is the White Sox mantra don't you know!

 

Mark

 

So much for the John McDonough type figure I would like to have in our front office. Looks like just more of the same in the future.

 

[BlackSox13]

I can buy the idea of nobody lying. To me, it sounds as though KW kept the names of the complainers un-named in an effort to keep players from going after each other.

 

In the end, LaRoche didn't get his way and pulled an Eric Cartman, " screw you guys, I'm going home". Good riddance Adam LaCartman. Don't let the door hit you where your good Lord split you.

 

Hopefully Sale and Eaton do not go on a witch hunt to find out who the complainers were. Let it die children.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

JR gagging RH means he will never have to answer the question as to what his agreement was with LaRoche. hahn saying absolutely nothing speaks volumes. JR is the first to say or release anything having KW's back, and even that was miscommunication, misunderstanding, could have been handled better.

 

 

I think your right. There has been a rift speculated for a while which I really thought the evidence was weak. But I can't get over HAhns total silence regarding this train wreck. JR did him a favor.

 

Could have been handled "differently" JR said. He didn't say 'better". I'll assume you were paraphrasing what he said instead of changing the wording to fit any agenda.

[hi8is]

The real reason LaRoche retired came out today. According to a trusted source, after hitting a home run off a left handed pitcher in a spring training game, he knew it would never happen again... Deciding shortly thereafter to quit while he was ahead.

[Dick Allen]

Could have been handled "differently" JR said. He didn't say 'better". I'll assume you were paraphrasing what he said instead of changing the wording to fit any agenda.

miscommunication, misunderstanding. You know what they say about assuming.

 

He praised LaRoche after LaRoche hung KW out to dry. It is about as big of public slap down JR would ever give KW.

 

if it couldn't have been handled better, why would he have wanted it handled differently? But yes I was paraphrasing.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Dick Allen

[SCCWS]

 

 

 

Tampa Bay Times ran a story on the LaRoche mess with the White Sox. The Rays have a policy on kids and relatives in the clubhouse----i.e.when they can and can't visit.

Article also noted that White Sox may explore James Loney as a possible replacement since he is a DH/IB