Who Are The Adults In The LaRoche Situation?
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Roger Grossman, Lake City Radio-
He went so far as to sign the paperwork that needs to be formally filed with Major League Baseball to make his retirement official.
It seemed really strange when it happened. Here’s a guy who was in-line to be in the everyday lineup in some capacity for the South Siders. He was a leader in the clubhouse.
But apparently he was wasn’t even the best leader in the clubhouse named LaRoche.
As the details of why LaRoche walked away from baseball and $13 million unfolded, it became clear that he was in dispute with the team and this dispute was different than any other dispute you’ve ever seen at the professional level.
Let me stop here and lay the ground rules for today’s article:
• I am not against kids. I have two that I flew to the other side of the world to get.
• I am not against Christianity. I am a Christian.
• I am not against home schooling kids. America gives you the freedom to make that choice.
• I tend to put the burden of proof on the employee in disputes with their employers.
• I don’t like the White Sox.
All that said, LaRoche says he quit baseball because of a conflict that arose over the presence of his 14-year old son, Drake, in the White Sox clubhouse. Your immediate reaction is “What’s so wrong with that?” The answer is “he’s in the clubhouse with the players every day.”
According to LaRoche, and not really disputed by anyone in the White Sox front office, when he signed with the Sox one of the first questions he asked was about having his son in the clubhouse with him. He claims he was told it wouldn’t be a problem.
But I cannot imagine that Team President Kenny Williams expected that the lad would literally be hanging out there every single day – all last season, every day through the first two weeks of spring training.
Every. Day.
As the story goes, Williams approached LaRoche about two weeks ago and asked him to “dial back” the boy’s time with the team. A few days later when nothing had changed, Williams told the player Drake wasn’t welcome anymore.
So, to that point we get the feeling that the White Sox are acting somewhat heavy-handed and making a big deal about what doesn’t seem like a big deal.
Then, we got the rest of the story.
This young man, who by all accounts is a polite young man and a joy to be around, has his own uniform. He helps out by catching for the coaches hitting infield. He sits in on conversations with other players. He has his own locker.
Take a second and go back and read that last part … he has his own locker.
LaRoche claims that, as a Christian who believes that spending time with family trumps all else, his son (who has a flexible daily schedule because he is home-schooled) being on the job site with him is more important than the interests or opinions of anyone else.
And when Williams asked him to not have the boy there every day like he had been, LaRoche ignored that request. When Williams came back to the player with an instruction not to bring the boy with him, he thumbed his nose at Williams and took his kid and his ball and went home.
The White Sox’s primary interests here are winning and making money doing it (not necessarily in that order). If something or someone is obstructing those goals, it has to be addressed.
This is not just a situation where the 14-year old was spending all day there once a week or even the last hour of workouts every day. Blake LaRoche was in the clubhouse all day, every day.
And he has his own locker, with a uniform hanging in it when he gets there.
There is a line you can’t cross, and this is way beyond that line and it has unintended consequences for a young man whose dad (I think) is genuinely trying to raise him the right way.
LaRoche is being hailed as a hero for standing up for family. But the message he is sending by how he handled this is not the one he wants to send. Here is what LaRoche is teaching his son:
• My family matters more than anything else: That would be fine, but if you are claiming that this is a Christian stance, it fails. Saying your family matters more also means that the people in your family are worth more than people outside your family, and the Bible doesn’t say that.
• If we don’t like a decision our superior makes, we just quit: Being a good employee should be the goal of everyone. If you think about it, how can Adam expect Drake to respect any coach he will ever have after he just walked away from the White Sox. Or, even more alarming, Drake’s first supervisor is his own dad, so should he listen to his dad when he tells him what to do?
• The rules don’t apply to us: Again, if you think that having your son with you every day is that important, you should just stay home with him. But out here in the real world where the rest of us live, 99 percent of us don’t have that luxury. Basically demanding that the team and its players comply with your personal life plan is arrogant and demeaning to others, and is not being a good teammate. Imagine if everyone in your workplace brought their kid with them every day.
• Doing your job to less than your best is ok, as long as you are with family: Could you imagine your children with you in your workplace the whole time you are there? No matter what stage of life or how much care they require, just knowing they were there would be distracting, right?
Worst of all from a team standpoint, it has split the locker room.
You have to believe that more than one player went to Williams, slid their toes in the dirt and stared at the ground while he wondered out loud if having Drake there every day was a problem for anyone else.
You also have players who have rushed to the defense of their teammate and his son. Star pitcher Chris Sale went nose-to-nose with Williams in a profanity laced tirade. Adam Eaton called Drake LaRoche “a leader in our clubhouse.”
He’s a what???
Eaton said the 14-year old kid was a “leader” (his term) in the clubhouse for a big league baseball team.
That says a lot about the alleged adults in that lockeroom.
It says even more about their chances of being competitive this summer.[[In-content Ad]]
He went so far as to sign the paperwork that needs to be formally filed with Major League Baseball to make his retirement official.
It seemed really strange when it happened. Here’s a guy who was in-line to be in the everyday lineup in some capacity for the South Siders. He was a leader in the clubhouse.
But apparently he was wasn’t even the best leader in the clubhouse named LaRoche.
As the details of why LaRoche walked away from baseball and $13 million unfolded, it became clear that he was in dispute with the team and this dispute was different than any other dispute you’ve ever seen at the professional level.
Let me stop here and lay the ground rules for today’s article:
• I am not against kids. I have two that I flew to the other side of the world to get.
• I am not against Christianity. I am a Christian.
• I am not against home schooling kids. America gives you the freedom to make that choice.
• I tend to put the burden of proof on the employee in disputes with their employers.
• I don’t like the White Sox.
All that said, LaRoche says he quit baseball because of a conflict that arose over the presence of his 14-year old son, Drake, in the White Sox clubhouse. Your immediate reaction is “What’s so wrong with that?” The answer is “he’s in the clubhouse with the players every day.”
According to LaRoche, and not really disputed by anyone in the White Sox front office, when he signed with the Sox one of the first questions he asked was about having his son in the clubhouse with him. He claims he was told it wouldn’t be a problem.
But I cannot imagine that Team President Kenny Williams expected that the lad would literally be hanging out there every single day – all last season, every day through the first two weeks of spring training.
Every. Day.
As the story goes, Williams approached LaRoche about two weeks ago and asked him to “dial back” the boy’s time with the team. A few days later when nothing had changed, Williams told the player Drake wasn’t welcome anymore.
So, to that point we get the feeling that the White Sox are acting somewhat heavy-handed and making a big deal about what doesn’t seem like a big deal.
Then, we got the rest of the story.
This young man, who by all accounts is a polite young man and a joy to be around, has his own uniform. He helps out by catching for the coaches hitting infield. He sits in on conversations with other players. He has his own locker.
Take a second and go back and read that last part … he has his own locker.
LaRoche claims that, as a Christian who believes that spending time with family trumps all else, his son (who has a flexible daily schedule because he is home-schooled) being on the job site with him is more important than the interests or opinions of anyone else.
And when Williams asked him to not have the boy there every day like he had been, LaRoche ignored that request. When Williams came back to the player with an instruction not to bring the boy with him, he thumbed his nose at Williams and took his kid and his ball and went home.
The White Sox’s primary interests here are winning and making money doing it (not necessarily in that order). If something or someone is obstructing those goals, it has to be addressed.
This is not just a situation where the 14-year old was spending all day there once a week or even the last hour of workouts every day. Blake LaRoche was in the clubhouse all day, every day.
And he has his own locker, with a uniform hanging in it when he gets there.
There is a line you can’t cross, and this is way beyond that line and it has unintended consequences for a young man whose dad (I think) is genuinely trying to raise him the right way.
LaRoche is being hailed as a hero for standing up for family. But the message he is sending by how he handled this is not the one he wants to send. Here is what LaRoche is teaching his son:
• My family matters more than anything else: That would be fine, but if you are claiming that this is a Christian stance, it fails. Saying your family matters more also means that the people in your family are worth more than people outside your family, and the Bible doesn’t say that.
• If we don’t like a decision our superior makes, we just quit: Being a good employee should be the goal of everyone. If you think about it, how can Adam expect Drake to respect any coach he will ever have after he just walked away from the White Sox. Or, even more alarming, Drake’s first supervisor is his own dad, so should he listen to his dad when he tells him what to do?
• The rules don’t apply to us: Again, if you think that having your son with you every day is that important, you should just stay home with him. But out here in the real world where the rest of us live, 99 percent of us don’t have that luxury. Basically demanding that the team and its players comply with your personal life plan is arrogant and demeaning to others, and is not being a good teammate. Imagine if everyone in your workplace brought their kid with them every day.
• Doing your job to less than your best is ok, as long as you are with family: Could you imagine your children with you in your workplace the whole time you are there? No matter what stage of life or how much care they require, just knowing they were there would be distracting, right?
Worst of all from a team standpoint, it has split the locker room.
You have to believe that more than one player went to Williams, slid their toes in the dirt and stared at the ground while he wondered out loud if having Drake there every day was a problem for anyone else.
You also have players who have rushed to the defense of their teammate and his son. Star pitcher Chris Sale went nose-to-nose with Williams in a profanity laced tirade. Adam Eaton called Drake LaRoche “a leader in our clubhouse.”
He’s a what???
Eaton said the 14-year old kid was a “leader” (his term) in the clubhouse for a big league baseball team.
That says a lot about the alleged adults in that lockeroom.
It says even more about their chances of being competitive this summer.[[In-content Ad]]
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