The Chicago White Sox appear to be a divided clubhouse over the issue of Adam LaRoche’s son.
While some players reportedly complained to team vice president Ken Williams about LaRoche’s arrangement, others much more publicly confronted Williams about his decision and even threatened to boycott the team’s spring training game.
CBS Chicago’s Dan Bernstein reported that some White Sox players had gone to Williams and complained about Drake LaRoche’s presence.
Can confirm @MattAbbatacola's report that Sox players complained to KW about LaRoche's kid. Response of Sale & others means divided team.
— Dan Bernstein (@dan_bernstein) March 17, 2016
Yahoo! Sports’s Jeff Passan, however, reported that a number of players – including All Star lefty Chris Sale – were furious at the decision and at Williams for intervening in clubhouse culture.
Heard same as @thekapman: In a contentious meeting, Chris Sale absolutely lit up White Sox prez Kenny Williams over Adam LaRoche situation.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 17, 2016
F-bombs aplenty flew during the White Sox's meeting with Kenny Williams. Players so pissed they considered boycott, as @karlravechespn said.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 17, 2016
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.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 17, 2016
After GM Rick Hahn and manager Robin Ventura OK'd Drake LaRoche's presence, for Williams to unilaterally say otherwise set the players off.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 17, 2016
And all of this dovetails with the question of whether players complained and Williams was just the messenger who took the bullet for them.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 17, 2016
Basically, the White Sox clubhouse seems to be in turmoil before the season even gets started. It seems fairly plausible that Williams decided to take the heat for this after some players complained, but many others didn’t mind and wanted Williams butting out of clubhouse matters that should be handled by the manager and the players. My guess is had manager Robin Ventura handed down this edict instead of a front office guy in Williams, the reaction wouldn’t have been so negative within the clubhouse.
LaRoche ceded $13 million to retire instead of toning down his son’s presence in the clubhouse, and the entire issue seems to have blown up far more than it had to.
