The Chicago White Sox have dealt with distractions from inside their own clubhouse over the past two days, and the players are desperately trying to put it all behind them.
White Sox players have been essentially asked to pick sides after manager Tony La Russa criticized rookie Yermin Mercedes for swinging at a 3-0 pitch and homering off Minnesota Twins position player Willians Astudillo in Monday’s blowout win. Things got even more complicated when the Twins threw behind Mercedes on Tuesday, a move La Russa said he wasn’t bothered by.
La Russa has tried to present the White Sox as a united clubhouse despite some clear disagreements on how Mercedes handled the situation. So did the players, as Chicago ace Lucas Giolito tried to put the issue behind the team with a funny quote.
Lucas Giolito on any issues in the #WhiteSox clubhouse in the aftermath of the Yermin Mercedes home-run controversy: "No negativity. We all support Yermin. We love homeruns here. That’s it. We're going to move on.''
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 19, 2021
Giolito’s quote could easily be read as taking a side himself. There’s definitely an argument to be made that La Russa failed to protect his own player, and that might not have gone down well inside the clubhouse.
Controversies about baseball’s unwritten rules are nothing new. In the past, they’ve even changed some perspectives about what was previously acceptable or not. Not here, at least in La Russa’s case.
