This whole Adam Laroche situation & the White Sox is getting weird

[Axeman33]

In case you haven't heard, Adam Laroche has announced he's retiring from baseball after he was told by GM Kenny Williams that he was no longer allowed to bring his son to work everyday. Apparently, Laroche was bringing his son to the ball field every day, all day. Williams had had enough and told Laroche to cut back on the time he son came with him. Laroche basically chose his son over baseball.

Well today things apparently got heated in the White Sox locker room.

https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/st...24557543624704

As @jeffpassan said, Sale was vocal in meeting between #WhiteSox players and Williams on LaRoche. 1/2

https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/st...24562127982592

Sale told Williams, unequivocally, to get out of the clubhouse and stay out, per a source. Williams acknowledges meeting was passionate. 2/2

This sounds like it's starting to get nasty.

[Daydream Nation]

This is pathetic. Send your kid to school. There are a lot of dumb athletes out there.

[LawMan]

Yeah I can't believe how much this story has taken off. In case anyone is wondering Laroche is 36 and his kid is 14. Laroche was set to make $13 million this season.

All of the quotes and information coming out suggest that the kid, Drake, was in the clubhouse almost every day, before and after the game. That is crazy to me.
I also read one story that said the kid had his own locker (I can't remember if this was in Chicago or somewhere else). I know Baseball is different than other sports due to the long season but it just seems completely over the top to have him there every day and the White Sox request to dial it back seems reasonable.

However the Sox players are clearly in Laroche's corner. There were even reports that the team considered boycotting one of their Spring Training games to support Laroche.

I have to think the players have an ongoing dislike for management and this is the straw that broke the camel's back.

EDIT: This article is a very good breakdown on the points and is fair and balanced:
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...from-white-sox

From the article:

According to sources, LaRoche had asked after signing with the White Sox last winter if Drake could have clubhouse access, and that request was granted by White Sox manager Robin Ventura. Drake not only had his own uniform and spring training locker last year, but also had a locker in the White Sox clubhouse during the regular season.

[Daydream Nation]

LaRoche has made 71 M dollars in his career and is giving up 13 M this season. Plus, Williams told LaRoche to scale back how often his son was there. Williams said he should be there less than 50% of the time. LaRoche's kid has been home schooled with him doing school work over the winter and using Slyvan Learning Center tutors. LaRoche is on record as saying that his son will learn more in the locker room.

How can you not just shake your head in disbelief over so many of the aspects of this story? The guaranteed 13 M dollars is nearly 20 percent of what he has earned in his total career. He is never getting another big payday.

And the Sox were going to boycott? When I first read it I figured the players were going to boycott because the son was always in the clubhouse not the other way around.

[Reuben]

It's crazy. There's no way every guy in the room was thrilled to have the kid around all day, every day. I'd guess the guys favouring LaRoche felt free to be very loud about it, while those not in favour were fairly quiet about it.

Pro sports are completely a different world - as evidenced by a $13m yearly salary and being willing to just walk away from that - but LaRoche is completely out of touch. Man, it's still a professional workplace. Tell your kid to stay home for half the games - like Williams suggested - take the $13m and retire afterwards.

[rataylor22]

Not being rude, but does his kid have some kind of mental disability? If not, there's not one single reason he should be in the locker room, and even less reason for him to have a locker and a uniform.

This is ridiculous, I'm fully on management's side of the story. Get your kid out of the locker room.

[Bass56]

To me this is just a dad having a good time with his kid and someone telling him he can't do it at work (as much) anymore. Who's wrong here? The dad going against conventional rules and bringing his kid along to the field, the GM who decides to put his foot down for any reason he sees fit or the team for going against management and making this a bigger issue than it really is...

In the end, Laroche just got a privilege removed and opted to leave the game in favour of spending time with his kid. For whatever reason he brought his kid to the field and for whatever reason he chooses to quit baseball, it's on him. I only see a true problem here if this was actually a clause in his contract.

Seems like they have a really good relationship:

[The Bottlenecker]

I don't comment much on baseball threads, but this is bigger than just baseball.

I can understand Laroche wanting to spend time with his son, even having him at the games and clubhouse if management permits it. However, quitting/retiring over management's decision to curb how much your son can come to work with you seems excessive. I don't imagine Chicago's management team made this decision easily, especially if it went on all last year, but I think it was one that has to be done. Look, if you let the kid come to every game, have his own locker, etc, than you have to allow that to happen for ALL the players kids, don't you?? It just doesn't make sense to me to allow it to continue to happen. Again, I'm a dad, and would love to spend my time at work with my kids, but the REALITY is, that isn't, not shouldn't be the case. I can't imagine that all of Laroche's teammates were cool with this either, but it was management that had to drop onto the PR grenade.
Too bad the situation looks like it is going to get nasty. Wonder what the kid thinks of all this???

[Zorro]

Laroche grew up in club houses with his dad, so I'm sure he wants the same for his boy..

But times change and isn't the GM the boss?? I don't think I would be giving up $13 million without trying to work something out first.. Ask for a trade, that's always an option isn't it??

[Axeman33]

I just read this and it certainly puts some perspective to it as far as Laroche walking away (aside from the obvious reason).

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/ba...medium=twitter

[2014olympicgold]

I think it’s excessive. But his life. Apparently Drake was actually useful in the clubhouse/practices, so it wasn’t like he was annoying the players. He’d clean cleats, throw balls back in from the outfield, run water out for guys. But honestly, how can a baseball clubhouse perform the way it should with a 14yr old present?

Do they still swear? Does the coach get mad and toss tables around? Do they still talk locker room talk? We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, but it’s safe to say there’s def some inappropriate things going on. Either it be drugs, language, adultery, language or anything, but there’s got to be 1 person there doing something a 14yr old shouldn’t see right?

Also, I would like to know what kid asks their dad to retire when he’s 30yrs old. If the kid likes being in the clubhouse, and spends every day with his dad, why is he asking for him to retire?

If the kid is a dweeb, I would hate having him in a clubhouse with me. Especially if I’m a younger player. But if I was a younger player trying to get in the league, I’m not jumping up and saying, “I don’t want that veterans (who you’re paying a lot for) kid around”.

GM is right for asking Laroche to dial it back, Laroche can do what he wants with his life. But if he doesn’t adhere to his bosses request, he’s in the wrong. I’m pretty sure the GM also said he’d post Drake up in a box every home game too, he just wanted Drake out of the clubhouse so often.