2016 MLB Spring Training Thread

[stevew]

I suppose Andy LaRoche is the prototypical AAAA guy.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Almost on cue. The question to me is whether Williams will -- or should -- survive this clusterfuck of his own making.

Chris Sale -- Chicago White Sox were lied to by exec Williams

[Young Drachma]

Meh. I think Deadspin is right there's no way Williams is doing this unprompted. Someone in the clubhouse didn't like the kid being there, someone complained and he dealt with it and takes the heat so as not to implicate someone in the clubhouse.

This just didn't appear out of thin air. And I don't think its unreasonable not to want a kid hanging around the clubhouse for six months out of the year, even if it's the most well behaved teen on the planet.

[Subby]

Yet another reminder that most baseball players are weird rednecks who'd probably be alcoholic tire store managers if they couldn't hit.

— Clue Heywood (@ClueHeywood) March 18, 2016

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Meh. I think Deadspin is right there's no way Williams is doing this unprompted.

I don't know, seems well within his wheelhouse to me. A guy who never seems to have gotten over being kicked upstairs (see last year's "calls me first" comments), some ego. It doesn't feel like a big stretch to have this be just a chance to throw a little weight around.

Maybe it wasn't ... but it isn't unbelievable for it to have been.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Meh. I think Deadspin is right there's no way Williams is doing this unprompted. Someone in the clubhouse didn't like the kid being there, someone complained and he dealt with it and takes the heat so as not to implicate someone in the clubhouse.

This just didn't appear out of thin air. And I don't think its unreasonable not to want a kid hanging around the clubhouse for six months out of the year, even if it's the most well behaved teen on the planet.

This is the first thing that came to mind. Coach, player, someone complained and IMO it's a very reasonable complaint. A MLB clubhouse isn't he place a 14 year old should be hanging out all the time.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Any other job, it's a ridiculous request to have a space for a kid. I can't even imagine in my old IT job if I walked in and said, "I'm happy to work for you all provided you can give my nine year old daughter her own cubicle and PC right next to mine."

This is such a non-story. The only story here is how this ever was allowed.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

IMO it's a very reasonable complaint.

Except you've (reportedly) got a team that was ready to boycott a game yesterday over, at the very least, the way it was handled.

Since there have been no suggestions that the team was ready to sit out a day over the presence of the kid, I'd say the "solution" has turned out to be more disruptive to the work environment than the "problem"

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Except you've (reportedly) got a team that was ready to boycott a game yesterday over, at the very least, the way it was handled.

Since there have been no suggestions that the team was ready to sit out a day over the presence of the kid, I'd say the "solution" has turned out to be more disruptive to the work environment than the "problem"

Without knowing what's going on and simply going off things we've heard/read and making some reasonable assumptions, I think both parties are in the wrong here with how it's being handled.

Anyone that's spent some time around baseball players will know that having a young teen around 25 of them that much isn't a good thing. The fact that he's out there doing drills and going through everything the players were doing is a distraction. The players may not mind, but if I'm management I sure as hell do mind.

If, and this is making a huge assumption, Kenny Williams is telling the truth that he asked Laroche to dial things back and reiterated that the kid was welcome around the team, but not to this extent, and Laroche got this upset over it then Laroche in the wrong here. With that said, I don't believe anything Kenny Williams says and that's where I believe he's in the wrong. I don't believe he handled the way he's claiming he did.

Laroche could have handled this in a way that didn't create the distraction to the team as well. Simply taking his ball and going home and letting it get to the point where his teammates are talking about boycotting a game over his 14 year old is childish IMO.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Laroche could have handled this in a way that didn't create the distraction to the team as well. Simply taking his ball and going home and letting it get to the point where his teammates are talking about boycotting a game over his 14 year old is childish IMO.

But as far as I can tell LaRoche didn't put the story out there initially (only issued a statement ... today I think it was).

And he pretty much had to say something I think, within hours of his departure there was speculation online about the reason for his leaving that ranged from serious health problems to drugs.

And, ya know, given the circumstances I don't know that I'd have been inclined to let Williams off the hook by giving a phony generic "just hanging 'em up" story either.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Adam Eaton says they're talking to the MLBPA about filing a grievance on LaRoche's behalf.

Again, this simply doesn't sound like something that's coming from the players in the locker room.

[molson]

Did the players collectively bargain for the right to have their kids with them at work at all times?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by molson

Did the players collectively bargain for the right to have their kids with them at work at all times?

If, as LaRoche suggested, there was an agreement in place then that could be grounds I suppose (not sure what the deal between MLB & MLBPA is on that sort of thign). More likely though it I would guess something along the lines of inventing a rule out of thin air & applying it to one player specifically.

Perhaps someone closer to the Nats could clarify this if they've seen something about it but in his comments today LaRoche appeared to say that this was basically the same scenario he'd had no problems with across two clubs over the past five years. Might have been taken out of context in the quote I saw but the way it read to me was that this was nothing new & that it also wasn't unique with just Chicago.

[Toddzilla]

I think regardless of what may or may not have been previously agreed upon, the fact that the White Sox as an organization allowed LaRoche to have his kid with him 100% of the time last year pretty much sets up the expectation that having your kid with you 100% of the time is acceptable.

[molson]

Ya, it was silly to agree to that in the first place (if that's what happened). Have a policy and stick with it, or you're going to run into some kind of problem - other players wanting to bring their kids, players and staff being annoyed but feeling like they can't speak up, other players boycotting, geez. It's too bad a kid has to be in the middle of some big controversy not of his making. I hate it when adults do that.

[stevew]

The appropriate result of this would be for Drake LaRoche to grow up and play for the Tigers, Twins, or Indians and to crush the White Sox for 15 years.

[Atocep]

Story keeps getting weirder. USA today reports both players and coaches complained about the kid being around the team so much.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Story keeps getting weirder. USA today reports both players and coaches complained about the kid being around the team so much.

Yeah, that qualifies as weirder. Just let LaRoche walk away & let it drop. Or, you know, man up & say something.

Instead, they leave it to a guy that it seems pretty clear the players -- on the whole -- neither like nor respect and would be happier to see gone than the player or his kid.

Incidentally, the USA Today article you mention makes the same reference I asked about earlier, that this was very part & parcel of LaRoche "for several years" which would predate him even going to Chicago.

[miami_fan]

I wonder what is the policy about having kids in the locker room. It is clear now that it is not every day but Williams also went to great lengths to say that kids are not banned from the locker room.

I think if this were any other sport, I would be completely behind the team. But baseball has spent too much time pushing the stories of the Boones and the Griffeys for me for me to get agitated about a kid hanging out in the locker room regularly.

[sovereignstar v2]

LOL

@MikeBerardino
Ervin on Sano drop: "It’s tough to make an adjustment that quick when you don't know how to even catch a fly ball in the outfield."

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

LOL

@MikeBerardino
Ervin on Sano drop: "It’s tough to make an adjustment that quick when you don't know how to even catch a fly ball in the outfield."

Seeing Sano play RF would be worth the cost of admission. No idea what the Twins are thinking here, but it should be fun to watch.

[JPhillips]

[Logan]

The Mets are being extremely cryptic about a Matt Harvey injury that had him visiting a "non-orthopedic" doctor.

Personally I'm hoping it's just an STD flare-up.

[Logan]

Thankfully it was "only" blood clots in his bladder that they ruled out anything more serious with. He's still scheduled to make his OD start. But he admits he holds his piss too long and needs to remember to go more often.

This team...I'll leave my full reaction to my man Clem:

Shout out to the Mets PR staff for making this private matter a Twitter explosion that other teams would have handled 1000000% better. #GOAT

— Clemzingis (@TheClemReport) March 29, 2016

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Yeah, that qualifies as weirder. Just let LaRoche walk away & let it drop. Or, you know, man up & say something.

Instead, they leave it to a guy that it seems pretty clear the players -- on the whole -- neither like nor respect and would be happier to see gone than the player or his kid.

Incidentally, the USA Today article you mention makes the same reference I asked about earlier, that this was very part & parcel of LaRoche "for several years" which would predate him even going to Chicago.

I missed this thread until now, but it seems very obvious to me what happened. (and always did)

Some players went to Williams to complain. They Williams acted. A bunch of the "leaders" of the team threw a fit. Now the players and coaches who complained simply turtle and hide. They don't want to be considered horrible teammates, their best bet is to ride it out.

Williams covers for them to keep their confidence.

Then, as far as I can see, some of the players lost their collective F'ing minds. We lost a great leader. A 14 year old? Really? Threatening boycotts? Seriously?


Unless he has it in his contract, LaRoche is dead to rights and will not be able to file anything. I'm glad this story is dying, but damn was it dumb in the first place.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Game on..............

Royals seek payback for Noah Syndergaard pitch in World Series, sources say | Newsday

[Logan]

Payback for a brushback pitch is a thing now?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Logan

Payback for a brushback pitch is a thing now?

It's so last year actually.

[CraigSca]

lovable little scamps!

[spleen1015]

Wouldn't you consider winning the World Series good enough payback?

Royals are dumb.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

LOL.

@rustindodd: Ned Yost on Royals-reliation-gate: "Some buffoon writes something and you guys are gonna jump like little monkeys in a cage for peanut." Hahaha

Shocking that a NY media writer would be called a buffoon.

[Logan]

That buffoon got you to believe it was "Game on..............".

[ISiddiqui]

Yeah, MBBF's swing from one side to another will give you whiplash.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

LOL.



Shocking that a NY media writer would be called a buffoon.

You realize you're the one that posted here about the brushback thing, right? You're one of the monkeys here, in case you didn't realize.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

You realize you're the one that posted here about the brushback thing, right? You're one of the monkeys here, in case you didn't realize.

Actually, if you consider that Mets fans didn't buy it, the Mets players weren't even aware of the story, Ned Yost didn't buy it and presumably the players weren't making it an issue, you can make the case that the Newsday guy reeled in exactly one monkey.

So MBBF, congrats on getting name-dropped by a World Series winning manager.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Logan

Actually, if you consider that Mets fans didn't buy it, the Mets players weren't even aware of the story, Ned Yost didn't buy it and presumably the players weren't making it an issue, you can make the case that the Newsday guy reeled in exactly one monkey.

So MBBF, congrats on getting name-dropped by a World Series winning manager.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Andrew Miller just left the game after taking a line drive off his throwing wrist. Looks like the Yankees need to look for a new interim closer.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Logan

Actually, if you consider that Mets fans didn't buy it, the Mets players weren't even aware of the story, Ned Yost didn't buy it and presumably the players weren't making it an issue, you can make the case that the Newsday guy reeled in exactly one monkey.

So MBBF, congrats on getting name-dropped by a World Series winning manager.

Cute line, but all the media was all over it over the past day. It was non-stop. People even took time to write more anti-Royals articles in the national media.

[Logan]

You know what, you're right. All the media was all over it, non-stop.

Hey guys anything interesting happen with Matt Harvey yesterday? Haven't seen anything about it in the NY and/or national media. Every website and Twitter feed I can find, all I see is payback payback payback payback.