5:25pm: LaRoche has officially filed his retirement papers with Major League Baseball and the Players Union, reports Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago (on Twitter).
2:33pm: Veteran White Sox slugger Adam LaRoche has issued a statement regarding his decision to leave the team, via TwitLonger. Notably, he does not state definitely that he has retired, calling it instead a “decision to walk away” from the White Sox.
That being said, LaRoche does seem to suggest that his playing career is over in discussing his “wonderful journey” and memories in the game. He also states that 2016 was “likely to be the last year of my career” even before the present circumstances arose.
Controversy has enveloped the club after LaRoche left camp days ago, with several players expressing serious concern and commentary coming in from all around the game. We rounded up all the latest earlier this morning, and owner Jerry Reinsdorf has since said that he will address the matter further only after meeting with players and club officials.
In addition to explaining his decision more generally, LaRoche makes several key points about the dispute with the club that led directly to his departure. First, he emphasized that bringing his son into the clubhouse was a critical topic of conversation that led to his free agent deal with Chicago:
“Prior to signing with the White Sox, my first question to the club concerned my son’s ability to be a part of the team. After some due diligence on the club’s part, we reached an agreement. The 2015 season presented no problems as far as Drake was concerned. (My bat and our record are another story!)”
LaRoche went on to explain that his decision came about as “the result of a fundamental disagreement between myself and [club executive VP] Ken Williams.” He explained that Williams “recently advised me to significantly scale back the time that my son spent in the clubhouse.” Thereafter, says LaRoche, he “was told not to bring [his son] to the ballpark at all.”
The 36-year-old first baseman/DH further discussed his viewpoint on his agreement with the organization and his ultimate departure, saying:
“Obviously, I expressed my displeasure toward this decision to alter the agreement we had reached before I signed with the White Sox. Upon doing so, I had to make a decision. Do I choose my teammates and my career? Or do I choose my family? The decision was easy, but in no way was it a reflection of how I feel about my teammates, manager, general manager or the club’s owner Jerry Reinsdorf.”
Williams has expressed a somewhat different version of events — you can read more here and here. The club certainly seems likely to have a differing view, also, as to whether any pre-signing discussion of family clubhouse access is a part of the bargained-for contract between the sides.
Notably, LaRoche’s statement does not provide any indication as to whether or when he’ll formally retire. And it doesn’t suggest whether or not he will pursue any kind of settlement or grievance action against the club. He entered the year with a $13MM guaranteed salary for the coming season, the second of two campaigns covered by his free agent deal.
This matter has also generated interest from other angles, of course, and those who are interested in learning more about LaRoche’s perspective should certainly give his statement a full read (along with all of the above-cited sources). Among other things, LaRoche expressed gratitude to the Nationals and White Sox for the “privilege” of having his son on hand at the ballpark. He also emphasized that he never had a situation arise where he was told that a “teammate, coach or manager was made to feel uncomfortable” by the presence of his son.
Sounds like he’s got a breach of contract claim if the White Sox failed to live up to their end of the bargain regarding the agreement that his son would be allowed in the clubhouse. Unless of course he relied on some sort of oral representation, without getting the agreement about his son in writing as part of the deal with the team. In that case, he might have a statute of frauds problems, and I would not be happy with my agent if I were him.
It’s clearly not in his actual contract, or he wouldn’t have retired. If it was, all he would have had to do is tell Kenny to F off and look at the contract.
If it’s in his written contract, there would still likely be stipulations the Sox placed on his sons clubhouse attendance for their own protection. I can’t imagine any business would give themselves over lock stock and barrel to a 14 year old. He’s essentially a member of the team any other way.
bottom line here is if LaRoche had produced the type of numbers the White Sox expected when Adam signed the $25 million dollar contract, this would not be an issue. Stars DO get preferential treatment and LaRoche is no longer a star. Williams didn’t make this decision out of nowhere. There were players who complained to Williams but didn’t want this to be a clubhouse battle—-so Williams said the heck with it, made the decision and is willing to take the heat. Ventura can afford to take a different view since he has to be in that clubhouse with the players daily. If they get off to a bad start—he’s probably history anyway. If LaRoche does in fact file the papers and retires—it’s a BIG break for Chicago, who saves $13 million. .207 hitting first basemen are NOT hard to find for minimum wage. If it’s family first for Adam and not just a temper tantrum—fine. I respect that. He’s made a helluva lot of money and should be able to retire in comfort the rest of his life.
Do people read? IT WAS NOT IN HIS CONTRACT. It was a verbal agreement. Williams should have lived up to it.
If it were that important it should have been in writing. To my knowledge, all we have is heresay. Adam didn’t give the White Sox the production they paid for, either but I doubt he would have given any of the money back. Why? Because it wasn’t in the contract. They HAD to pay him.
What a drama queen. If I’m the White Sox front office, I have no problem taking the short term p.r. hit to get this guy off the roster. Seeing how casually he is willing to walk away from the team, he obviously no longer maintains the required competitive fire to play the game at the highest level.. I have no doubt that there are some White Sox players who quietly felt that is was more than a little unusual for LaRoche’s kid to CONSTANTLY be hanging around the team’s clubhouse. I see poor judgement, over-privilege, and a lack of common sense on Laroche’s part..
Sounds to me you are one of those that are responsible for the bad behaving/awful acting kids we have today and not one of those family oriented types that it seems that LaRoache is.
Think I’m trusting his word over Williams in this, especially with as many poor judgement calls as old Willy has made in his term as GM.
Please enlighten me as to how having a kid hanging around a professional sports clubhouse seven months out of the year. prevents one from the prevalent ‘bad behaving/ awful acting’ kids that we see so much of? Doesn’t really strike me as great parenting. Hope the kid makes it as a player because he’s not going to able to do anything else. There’s a time and a place for everything, Williams wouldn’t have had any reason to address this if others hadn’t complained, or if it wasn’t a little abnormal.
You are an idiot, making a statement like that. “Hope the kid makes it as a player because he’s not going to be able to do anything else”. You sir are a grade A a**hole!
Oh sorry, maybe you never went to school either so you only know how to call names and be rude.. Let me just explain, this is a public forum, so you really want to try to formulate a coherent thought and then transfer it to the webpage comments in writing., preferably a short paragraph. Maybe something like, “I think its a good idea for all the ballplayers to have their kids skip school and hang around the clubhouse all the time because…..” :or “this won’t limit the kids options in life because……” ok? good luck..
Yeah Compton there was no reason to call him names. His own actions make it obvious.
Being able to string together a few sentences does not make you intelligent. You prove this masterfully.
Interesting that the only people that seem to think LaRoche is not at fault here are unable to muster any salient points related to the situation in their comments, Their only option is to make dim witted personal attacks,
I mean, we’re talking about a declining ballplayer making 13 MILLION DOLLARS a year who was asked by his club’s management “hey, umm, we love your kid and all, but could you please maybe just scale down having him here all the time, to about half the time? Pretty please?’ and instead of being reasonable and doing what they asked, he decided to turn it into a big controversy.. If you support that notion I wouldn’t call you an idiot or an a$$hole, but I would say that you also have poor judgement and a total lack of common sense.
Hmm poor judgment and lack of common sense in your book equals having more money than he will ever spend and wanting to spend time with his family. It wasn’t Adam at all that turned this into a media circus. It was once again the ineptitude of Williams. Laroche announced his retirement his team mates stood up for him. Williams could have left it at that. He didn’t have to go to the media and say he didn’t like being talked to like that from Chris Sale. He didn’t have to go cry about it. He should have put his big boy pants on and kept the issue internal. Adam didn’t make any kind of statements as to why he was leaving until after Williams and others brought it to the media. As far as the fan base could have been concerned it was a players declining ability that made him move on. This is why Williams will never have a consistent team in Chitown .His skin is to thin.
does anyone believe for even a moment that Williams suddenly saw LaRoche’s son and decided “he’s gotta go?” I sure don’t. I believe some players DID relay to Williams their problems with his son always being there and Williams, rather than having a war in the clubhouse just took it on himself and made the decision. If the players hate him, so what? I remember the A’s players hated Charlie Finley. Yankee players hated George Steinbrenner. If the Sox do poorly, Ventura and/or Williams will be fired. LaRoche is a 36 year old player coming off a season where he was paid 12 million bucks for hitting .207. Chicago will have no trouble replacing him. Had Adam put up Mike Trout numbers, LaRoche’s kids, uncles, aunts and cousins could be there. Stars do get special treatment. LaRoche is doing the Sox a HUGE favor, saving them 13 million.
It’s the opposite. Allowing your kid to have a normal childhood and not spend six months of every year hanging out with grown men in a locker room is the “family oriented” option. What he’s doing is weird and unhealthy and probably more about him than his kid.
Knowing KW’s history, I’m going with the LaRoche version on this one. A deal is a deal, in the contract or not, what people think of the arrangement or not.
It would be one thing if they intended to renege on it after the first year from the start, but if after seeing the kid around the team for a year, they decided that it wasn’t appropriate, I don’t see why that’s so unconscionable just because they had a verbal agreement of some sort initially. Maybe you could say they shouldn’t have agreed to something without knowing what it would entail, but maybe LaRoche also overstepped the agreement and turned it into something it was never really intended to be (the kid being around every single day).
Are you talking about the kids that feel entitled to everything cause their daddy was a “use to be”
While I agree with LaRoche in his opinion that spending time with his family/son is more important than baseball—it should be, and saying he no longer has a “competitive fire” is a low blow; he may still have that fire but other things are more important. My only question throughout all of this has been…Why is a 14 year old able to spend all that time at the ballpark? Doesn’t he have school? Friends of his own? And a teenager, no matter how “well-adjusted” he is, is very impressionable. I doubt that the best examples he’s going to get of how to live life will be from a group of major league baseball players.
He’s getting 13 million a year to play for the Chisox, I think its fair to say that preparing for and playing game to the team’s requirements should be his #1 priority during the season, not palling around with his kid.. His performance speaks for itself.
If you think that any amount of money or whatever your career is, is more important than your kid, you’re obviously not someone who should be a parent. Priority #1 in life—all aspects—should be his kid.
Almost every player has kids. They are not in the locker room 100% of the time. I dont disagree with him retiring, he has every right. But to retire because the sox asked you to dial it back and cause this massive controvery is ridiculous. His meat companys twitter is filled with, thanks laroche for letting me bring my kid to work b.s. and retweets that bash the sox
He has the rest of his life to be a dad. It seems very strange to me that he constantly needed his son to be around. By having his son around, he’s being non-comittal to the White Sox and his family which is a tricky situation. And we don’t yet know what the exact agreement was about having his kid around, so saying that he was allowed to have his kid around everyday may not be accurate and is not a valid argument at this point.
There’s a huge difference between your kid being your #1 priority and having him with you every second of every day. That’s completely unreasonable when you have a job to do.
Kenny should have told him that his kid can come around when LaRoche’s batting average is higher than his weight. Once it drops below the magic number, bye-bye. Give him some motivation to not be completely worthless on the field.
I’m sure he doesn’t need the money like most of us does so I admire him for putting his son over the money. If he and the sox had some kind of agreement on this they should uphold their end of the deal.
Maybe the kid should also spend some time with his mother, his sister, kids his own age? This isn’t about the kid, it’s about LaRoche’s neuroses.
If he is so worried about being a good father then why isn’t his daughter also there all the time? This is definitely more about Adam than his son.
Guessing KW didn’t expect to get the retirement reaction. Most players would just take ill-timed consultation and move on. KW hit a soft spot, and LaRoche walked away. KW might be right in essence, but wrong in spirit…I don’t know.
Or a dad that just walks away from his job. He must have wanted to quit.
Will his father be making friends for him he rest of the boys life? Will the boy ever become a man? It appears to me that Dave LaRoche’s son hasn’t.
Very good comment.
My understanding is that he goes to school when the season is out and is privately tutored during the rest of the year.
Regardless, we know nothing about this kid and we need to be very careful about any accusations that LaRoche is somehow a bad parent for bringing his child along. We’re only about a dozen posts into this thread and already we have five people who have toed or leaped right past the line.
“We’re not big on school,” LaRoche said. “I told my wife, ‘He’s going to learn a lot more useful information in the clubhouse than he will in the classroom, as far as life lessons.’” He’s certainly entitled to his view, I am entitled to mine. I’m guessing that with the money LaRoche has made in his playing career, his family isn’t going to have to worry much one way or the other. The whole thing strikes me as strange as there doesn’t seem to be any other players that insist their teenage child be with the team every day.
I disagree with your statement for a very simple reason – for 2 days I’ve been reading and hearing comments from all around the electronic media about what a good father LaRoche is. How do these people know? Is a parents child to be treated like a trained pet? One of my closest friends is a retired psychiatrist. He believes a parent has the right to raise a child as he/she sees fit. But at the same time he has said to me that a child has to grow and develop with people his/her own age.
I believe that he is grooming his kid to be a baseball player. His comment that he will learn more from a clubhouse than school makes me say that.
Did I make a comment that said LaRoche was a bad parent? No, I don’t believe I did. All I was attempting to do was question what is going on with his kid, why he isn’t in school and apparently attached at his father’s hip.
that statement proves Adam needs counselling. Kids need to be with kids their own age. I am not a fan of home schooling and ball park schooling does not sound a whole lot better. These home schooled kids have a network and get together with each other to ease the loneliness.
Adam you robbed the Sox of 13 million last year. Maybe he has made enough that the 13 million he is leaving on the table does not mean that much.
I don’t leave it up to major league athletes to be eloquent speakers. There’s not much elaboration to “we’re not big on school”.
Totally 100% agree
That’s more than a little harsh. How many of us would walk away from $13M on what appears to be a point of principle. And, let’s look at it in the best possible light for the White Sox–they never even heard of his son, this is just another drama queen (to use your words)…How many of us would have walked away from $13M? He certainly didn’t trash the team on the way out.
I agree with you 100%, Jonah.
It sounds like he should have sued them for breach of contract and getnhis 13 million instead of walking away. Or he could have toned it back and still got his 13 million. But either way he shouldn’t have quit and retired.
Just my two cents, and I know it doesn’t matter much but… How bout the Owner of the White Sox settles this and gets the team back to focusing on baseball and not this dispute. maybe it is just me but if I owned any sort of sports franchise, this is the last thing we would be dealing with before or during a season. Step up and resolve this. And as for all the players going to the media with multiple statements, remember this later in the season when you all fall apart and try to tell the media “this is a clubhouse issue” it may be a game, but you are compensated to “play the game” do your job!
He has no claim as he is walking away. He could still play, bring his son to the clubhouse, and make the White Sox make the next move. If they turn his son away as he says is part of his contract he obtains a restraining order. If it’s not part of his written contract he has no case at all. I support that his family comes first. But then again this is a locker room where many times players talk among themselves using foul language. It is not a day care center! I easily see both points of view but would never consider taking my son or daughter into any locker room mentality.
What a circus.
Lol
Hmm. No one– not even Adam Eaton, LaRoche’s staunchest defender, at least publicly– has said that LaRoche was told that he couldn’t bring Drake at all.
But why would Eaton or anyone else be privy to what White Sox management told LaRoche.. It’s bad enough they allegedly told him not to bring his son around; it would be even worse for them to put that sentiment in some kind of team-wide bulletin.
Oh, I wasn’t trying to say that there was a “team-wide bulletin;” I was just going on the assumption that LaRoche would have mentioned a total ban to his teammates.
Also, the more I think about it, the more it bothers me that “family first” seems– and maybe I’m being unfair here– to mean “family first– and by family, I only mean my son.”
Thats exactly how it sounds. I mean just look up laroche’s meat companys twitter.
mobile.twitter.com/E3Meat?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7…
That was a bit much (and as a vegetarian, I can’t believe that I looked at a meat company’s page 😉 ).
Should have had Eaton in the room as his union rep. I’d never have a conversation alone….this is the reason.
It’s a good thing no other major league player has kids.
They make the decisions that they feel are best for them, LaRoche made the decision he feels is best for him. That time was worth $13 million to him. Who are we to judge?
Mejia made a decision he felt would be best for him. Who are we to judge?
We didn’t judge, the MLB rulebook did. Care to show me where it shows that kids can’t be in the clubhouse?
Lol
As I wrote on another article – when the perks and clubhouse become more important then players executing at their job, then the fans see an under-performing team as the Sox were in 2015.
As for Adam LaRoche – I feel so grateful that my parents allowed me to grow up to develop my own personality, likes and dislikes, friends, and prepared me to think for myself and learn to survive in the adult world.
I kinda have to “amen” you on this one. I get it, everybody loves their kids and and wants what’s best for them. But there comes a point where you’re trying to run a ballclub (or any other business) and it’s just plain unprofessional to make every day “bring your kid to work” day. Especially when you have as much loser-ism as there was on the ChiSox last year, it takes a me-me-me attitude to prattle back and forth about stuff like this when you should be trying to prepare to win baseball games.
This isn’t specifically targeted at LaRoche as I’ve never met the guy, but I’ve spent way too much time working with kids to have much regard for helicopter parents. And, there’s a difference between raising kids with self-esteem and confidence, and raising kids to think they’re way better than everyone else.
I bet this kid is gonna be one heckuva teammate one day (not).
The only caveat I’d add though is that very few parents essentially spend 6 months away from home every year. I’m not sure how mlb players have families at all. I read one time the post career divorce rate is something like 80%.
Hard to relate to….13m is like turning down the lottery…its just a different universe than most people.
Scouting was tough….same demands for a fraction of the money.
There’s a lot of people that have trouble spending enough quality time with their families that don’t even have the option of bringing their kids to work all day and certainly aren’t going to make $13m. They don’t get to buy second homes to use for about half of that six months that they’re playing home games. They don’t get to do nothing but stay in shape for the other six months.
Since it was part of the discussion for LaRoche when he was a free agent and was deciding where to sign, it was the team that allowed it to become “more important than players executing at their jobs”. By doing what he did, Williams has now made it a case of the team (him) not standing behind their word, and creating an “us vs them” mentality in the clubhouse. No one wants to work for someone they cannot trust. The only thing that would make this more entertaining would be if Ozzie was still managing this circus.
The fact that other players have his back is nice, but walking away from the sport is probably the best move for LaRoche at this juncture. Bringing your teenage son to work with you everyday is not normal. Yeah, you’re a ballplayer, so it’s cool to bring your kids, but everyday? No, sir, that is just weird. Send your kid to school like the rest of the kids his age, and make coming to the ballpark a regular perk for good grades/good behavior.
The fact that he couldn’t understand scaling it back tells me this guy has his priorities/focus on something other than baseball. No one walks away from $13M, so something here is amiss (and I’m guessing it is his swing, and coaches not being able to adequately address their issues with his performance or lack thereof).
I’ve know the wives of major league baseball managers that helped coordinate the wives, girlfriends and children. There is no doubt in my mind that other players kids have been complaining to the player and spouse asking why they can’t have their own uniform and locker and hang around the clubhouse all day and night. Think that hasn’t happened? Ask elementary any middle school teacher and/or administrator what they deal with every day.
Go in peace, Adam. Buh-bye!
From the way the other players are acting, I think his son was one of the guys in a lot of ways and when you mess with one of them it willl effect the whole team. Whether or not it was in his contract, the GM not only lost a player but lost respect from his clubhouse. You don’t want your starting all star CF and the second best LHP in baseball questioning/speaking out. They cannot win the Division without Sale and if he isn’t happy, he will not perform in the way you hoped.
This controversy should have never happened. The white sox are in the business of winning baseball games. They have been failing for a few years now. That williams asked laroche to focus more by not bringing his kid everyday should not have prompted all this family first hastag frenzy. He chose retirement, well good for him. But for it to turn so ugly was unnecessary. The team was set to pay him 13 million i think they have the right to address any issue they feel is affecting his performance.
His son was in the locker room since he was little. These guys do not care if there is a kid in a locker room. If anything it actually keeps them more relaxed. The other players did not mind the kid at all since they wanted to boycott not playing with him not there. The GM in theory is right, but he made the wrong move in the real world. Whether people know it or not, many times ball boys are related to someone who works for the organization, whether as a player, or employee. Unless you have been at spring training and been in the dugout, I don’t think we can fully understand his actions. Now if it is written in his contract then the GM breached it and a complaint will get filed and the GM will lose it as well and the team may be responsible to pay him part of his 13 mil even if he stays retired.
The players are acting like spoiled, entitled children. Which is what they are.
LaRoche is coming off looking and sounding like he’s straight out of Deliverance.
Yes. And it makes sense a guy who thinks a locker room with him is better education than a classroom with pro teachers, was unable to figure out how to hit in 2015. Maybe if he had a better attitude about professionally executed learning and development, he would be a better hitter.
LaRoche is ridiculous. His son has been to the park basically everyday for the past 5 years. He’s a good kid, Adam is a good dad, but this is insane. Does the kid have friends? Does he have a life besides being his dad’s shadow every day of the year? I’m sure going to the park, having a locker and uniform is really cool, but it’s got to be every single day? Good lord. Focus on what you’re getting paid millions of dollars for. See your family after work like every single human on earth. Make coming to the park special, not an everyday occurrence. Ken Williams did nothing wrong, and for Adam to cite his terrible production? Well what do you get paid to do?
Seems more telling of the Nationals for letting that happen and how much of a circus show the entire team seemed to be, Sale, LaRoche, Eaton are going to learn the hard way no player is bigger than the team, in Washington it is obviously different as their RF is bigger than the team.
The front office is going to learn that the team might be bigger, but it probably won’t be better when Sale and Eaton refuse to resign with the White Sox and/or demand trades. No one really looks good in this situation, but the White Sox are clearly losing the bad PR battle that is going on and they have much more to lose than LaRoche.
I believe that worst case scenario is trade sale for a kings ransom worth of prospects. Heck trade every player with value. Rebuild with young cheap players.
I doubt that. I’ll bet anything the 2/3 of the roster that isn’t saying something is VERY glad Williams did this. I think the Sox have a weird clubhouse culture that is dominated by certain personalities and the rest of the team has had it. Jimmy Rollins and Todd Frazier are very strong personalities themselves, and they’re now realizing they’ve walked into an unhealthy environment.
I’m sure this is the reason Sale will hit free agency (sarcasm) the guy was not going to sign any extension short of Kershaw money any way, Eaton has no say in the matter as he is under club control the next 5 years, of course he could retire too I doubt the White Sox would care it isn’t like Sale and Eaton have been rolling in the world series rings.
Lol youre right, trading sale down the road looks inevitable to the white sox anyway. Im a fan of the white sox but this has just pushed me over the top. I had for better or worse expectations of a competitive team. I honestly would care less if they stink the joint up n trade everybody. Altough i still have hope, it wont surprise me or bother me if they stink.
On another note also. Would he retire if he had a great year last year and the same request was made? I don’t think people are looking at the whole picture, hes 36 batted .207, battling back spasms and was set to lose significant amount of at bats. The kid takes center stage in all of this and i believe thats wrong.
I seriously doubt the request would have ever been made if he hit well last year. I firmly believe that Ken Williams made the call because he knew LaRoche would not stay without his son and it would get the White Sox out of paying him this year.
Well thats where we walk a slippery slope. According to Williams comments this was about what if another player wants his kid 100% in the clubhouse, and another, and another. Believe him or not, he has a point. And then again if laroche has that great season and better yet 33 years old and request is still made. Do you believe him to retire over his kids presence in clubhouse?
That’s really unfair and almost certainly wrong. He clearly made the call because players on the team asked that it be done.
That isn’t the entire reason but it has to be part of it. Would Williams have made that decision if LaRoche hit well last season? He would have tried to compromise a little more with both parties…
I saw Williams interview and that was one of the points he brought up. I worded it wrong didnt mean to imply that it was just about what if other players want to do the same as laroche with their kid. Ive said it before, we can ask the same question, would laroche retire if he had a great season? Maybe younger? I only say that because of this family first frenzy thats going on. I dont agree that everybody is focusing on the kid and not on his age, performance, playing time he was gonna get as added factors for him to retire.
Well there is the fact that current players and former White Sox players have said they had no problem with the kid. There is nothing clear about this.
A lot of people on here that have no kids! They sure know how to raise everyone else’s kids! Lol I am not saying that I agree with Laroche but everyone on here knows how to raise his kid apparently better then he does!
I have two kids and I’m disgusted, frankly, by how LaRoche is raising his. But it is his right, no doubt about it.
Well I applaud that he wants to spend time with them. Frankly, many problems in America could be helped by dads that aren’t just sperm donors. I’m not sure however if a club house is the exact place that should happen. As for the school – that’s subjective. I’ve seen well socialized home schooled kids and really sheltered homeschooled kids. I’ve also seen both kind of kids come from both private and public schools. Socialization is more a product of the home then of the school. I guess beyond a few obvious facts – he took his kid to the clubhouse and the dude didn’t like it… I guess I don’t really know how Laroche is raising his kids. Did he give them spankings or put them in time out? Did he give them everything they ever wanted or did he teach them restraint? Who knows? So to be disgusted by how he’s raising his kids when we truly don’t know how he is raising them includes a lot of assumptions.
Don’t say “them.” He’s only spending this quality time with his son.
I know this fact how?
You know this fact how? I’m not disagreeing but just stating that you seem to know a lot more about his personal life then I do!
He retired to spend time with his family, so he can say them, he’s not wrong at all
Exactly, Priggs.
Let’s not get up in the false dichotomy here… It’s not like our options are “sperm donor” on one end and “I’m retiring at age 36 because I can’t bring my son to work literally every day of the 9-month job I get paid $13m for”.
Well said.
Exactly. Well said.
Say what you want about him being a “family man” and retiring to “spend time with his family, but the fact is that he retired because his son wasn’t going to be allowed in the locker room 100% of the time anymore. If he was retiring because his primary concern was to spend more time with “them” (INCLUDING HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER), he would’ve made this decision before the whole locker room issue popped up. If his kid was still allowed unlimited access like last year, which is ridiculous, LaRoche wouldn’t be retired right now.
Being that this contract would put him at 85M career earnings, He’s kind of got whttp://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=UVVhat you call “[bleep] you money” and he told as much to Ken Williams. Basically, they had a handshake deal, and apparently he had the some thing going on with the Nats. Ken was like “25 Homers 100 RBIs? Yea bring your kid wherever whenever”. Then 2015 Happened and a guy that hit 12 HRs for 12M and only 3 after the break. And like a sloppy bum friend sleeping on your couch, by the 3rd or 4th week you want to dump him in a desert miles from town. And so Ken Williams began to hate LaRoche and his kid. Get rid of the kid, maybe you get rid of LaRoche. Worked like a charm, until the MLBPA decides to get involved.
Lol I guess I dragged a stock quote into that by mistake haha
Awesome analogy, Z-A. Haven’t heard anybody else bring up the fact that the verbal deal OK’ing his kid to have full access to facilities at all times was predicated on his expected production. I am delighted this happened—I would have been happy if they cut LaRoche this season, it is such a gift that he walked away on his own!
You have to think, if he had a typical season 25-30 HRs 100 RBI’s this never happens. I think that this contract gets voided somehow. Like Alex Mack from the Browns, dude wanted out so bad he voided 3 years 8M per season. MLBPA taking this on could end up having him on a different roster before May.
The only one I feel for here is the LaRoche daughter…
I feel bad for both kids.
I wish Dave Dombrowski would have this same conversation with Pablo Sandoval’s father.
Young Drake is welcome to come to work with… and so is Steve Bartman.
So LaRoche prefers his kid to be with him in the locker room instead of the classroom? That’s an…interesting way of raising him, but I guess that’s his prerogative.
Saying that, I can see where Williams is coming from. This whole situation is just very strange.
Young Drake is welcome to come to work with me… and so is Steve Bartman.
Very interesting perspective straight from Adam LaRoche. It will be more interesting to see how the White Sox handle the aftermath, especially regarding Kenny Williams. Most White Sox fans may get their ultimate wish after all…a retiring LaRoche and a departing Williams.
Imo, Williams wore out his welcome some time ago and letting him go would be in the organizations best interest. Williams was looking for another gig just last year anyway when the Blue Jay and Mariners top front office jobs opened up. Jerry Reinsdorf should show him the door and let Rick Hahn be the top boss. Nobody seemed to have had a problem with the LaRoche situation except for Williams and this ought to be the final straw that broke the camels back, so to speak.
This works out well for the Sox. They get rid of the bad contract on an overpaid negative WAR player and get 13 million back in their payroll.
WELCOME TO THE CHICAGO BROWNS!!!
This whole matter is embarrassing and getting worse. The kid has no place being around the team everyday, it’s an unrealistic request in the first place to be daily a part of a professional sports team. Nonsense. Embarrassing.
The White Sox as an org seemed to have gone out of their way to accommodate Drake previously – even having his own full size locker next to Adam’s.
Something changed – the reports of some players vocalizing their displeasure for having a kid around all the time in their place of work, would make sense.
You weren’t getting paid to be a Dad, Adam. You were getting paid to be a ballplayer. Unfortunately, that terrible season wiped out any social credit you may have had – fair or not.
Would having Drake around create some unwritten rules regarding dress standards, language and such? If so, as a teammate, I’d feel pretty jipped not being able to fire up vocally.
Don’t let the doorknob hit you where the good Lord split ya’.
I wonder if all this all a smoke screen for some else. Really a 14 year old in a mlb clubhouse voids a 13 million contract.. LaRoche does not seem to know how end his declining career. Was his heart really in it. Was he trying to be a Father’s Rights martyr? I agree with pocc that they get out of a terrible contract. They use could that 13 million to pay their future first baseman/dh. I wished Panda retired like that!!!! Cory Hart on a flyer to a possible trade deadline deal? Cory Hart is slightly weaker version than LaRoche.
LaRoche needs to self-assess… was he playing because his passion for the game burns inside him like the fire of a thousand suns? Was he playing for a ring? Was he playing because he’s good enough to be one of the 25 guys grinding for a W every day all year?
It doesn’t sound like it. A lot of players that retire talk about shagging balls in the OF in spring training and seeing the 19, 20 year old kids having a blast, bouncing off the OF walls, hungry for a chance… and they realize that even though they still love the game, that electricity isn’t there anymore… it’s a job.
Sounds to me like he was playing because it’s all he’s ever done, and he wanted to give his son the experience. I can’t fault him in that. He walked away when he came face to face with uncomfortable reality. Don’t fault him, but the team exploded behind him.