The Fallout In The White Sox Locker Room From The Adam LaRoche Saga Is Getting Absurd

The Adam LaRoche saga has gone from weird story to full-blown bizarre sideshow this week.

In case you’re not caught up, LaRoche abruptly retired from baseball after White Sox team president Ken Williams requested that he not bring his 14-year-old son, Drake, into the clubhouse every day. Drake became somewhat of a rallying force for the team last season; he was dubbed the “26th man” and accompanied his dad to the ballpark every day, even on the road.

This week, the 36-year-old veteran first baseman decided he’d rather leave $13 million in salary on the table than occasionally leave his son at home. Say what you want about that decision, but his convictions are clear.

It became apparent that LaRoche’s White Sox teammates weren’t happy with the way that the whole thing was handled when they nearly boycotted a Spring Training game earlier this week. If that didn’t send a strong enough message to Williams, veteran pitcher Chris Sale made sure to drive it home on Friday.

A whole locker room tribute/shrine seems a bit excessive, considering nobody is dead or remotely close to it. Nonetheless, Sale is clearly upset.

Williams said earlier this week that he’s fine if people want to point fingers and blame him for suggesting that his team may be better off without Drake around 100 percent of the time, but one has to wonder if he anticipated the blowback he’s gotten thus far. Heck, the players union is even getting involved.

Who knows if the rest of the White Sox are as pissed off as Sale and Eaton are, but it’s kind of hard to believe that at least some grown men may not want a 14-year-old around the clubhouse every day. Either way, at the very least a minority of the veterans are being very vocal about the ordeal, and basically everyone looks silly in this absurd circus.