I told them everything I know. Instead, LaRoche cited an oral agreement “reached before I signed with the White Sox”, that he considered unconditional.
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“I had to make a decision”, LaRoche wrote in the statement, released through his Twitter account.
I’m not against quitting a job to spend more time with family as a whole, for the record, but I struggle to see how Adam’s move is particularly applause-worthy. The decision was easy, but in no way was it a reflection of how I feel about my teammates, manager (Robin Ventura), general manager (Rick Hahn) or the club’s owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
Hours later, the elder LaRoche addressed the controversy left in his wake, writing at length about the experience and how it impacted his life, his teammates’ lives, and the Chicago White Sox organization.
“My decision to walk away was simply the result of a fundamental disagreement between myself and Ken Williams”, said LaRoche. And they would deserve to lose a grievance should LaRoche choose to pursue one.
White Sox ace Chris Sale and other teammates have come to LaRoche’s defense. “Kenny’s said quite a few things, contradicting statements a few times. You can’t come tell the players it was the coaches and tell the coaches it’s the players and then come in and say something completely different…”
Sale calling out Williams for contradicting himself about whether players or coaches or Reinsdorf complained about Drake – or whether nobody complained at all – misses the point.
“So we’re not exactly [sure] who it’s coming from, where it originated from”, Sale said. “This is us rebelling against B.S”. “If we are all here to win a championship, this kind of stuff doesn’t happen”.
“We got bold-faced lied to”, Sale told the paper.
“Somebody walked out of these doors the other day, and it was the wrong guy, plain and simple”, Sale said.
There’s no doubt this story has ruffled feathers and stirred a lot of emotion in the White Sox clubhouse. So, hopefully he has no hard feelings in this.
“I have instructed members of the organisation not to talk about this issue and get our focus back on the field and winning baseball games”. Coincidentally, the White Sox are hosting the Cubs Friday afternoon at Camelback Ranch. You read that right, full-time.
Perhaps it will be the calming influence needed for the White Sox players to put this behind them. Please, show me how this is being a great role model, or hero. I have never taken it for granted, and I feel an enormous amount of gratitude toward both of those organizations.
Granted, Williams could have handled the situation better in terms of communication and timing, or even permitting the arrangement originally, but the clumsy execution of a policy doesn’t necessarily make it a bad policy. Fortunately, that problem never developed. But he says his teammates weren’t the ones who balked.
Prior to his retirement, LaRoche signed a two-year contract with the White Sox worth $25 million including $25 million guaranteed and an annual average salary of $12.5 million.
For a story that only broke Tuesday, Adam LaRoche’s dispute with the Chicago White Sox over his son Drake’s presence in the clubhouse has already added several mind-boggling layers.
“The current situation which arose after White Sox VP Ken Williams recently advised me to significantly scale back the time that my son spent in the clubhouse”.
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I understand that many people will not understand my decision. I have tried to set a good example on and off the field and live a life that represents these values. He said Darren and Drake helped him keep perspective that he was playing a game and called Drake “a pleasure to have in the clubhouse” and “a delight to be around”.
