Adam LaRoche Retired After White Sox Requested He Bring Son into Clubhouse Less

baseballmom posted:

Gov posted:

baseballmom posted:

Have to disagree with you CaCo3...MLBer's DO behave on the job for the most part. Children do not belong in anyone's workplace everyday. 

example...my husband was an OTC Trader....Atmosphere & language "on the street" or trading floor, or phone was NOT the place for my kids!...EVER! Husband was a fine example & role model at home, but not in HIS workplace...

 

lol...concur with that. Spent 14 years on the floor; nasty place.  I only hope I left the collateral stuff on the floor...

Oh, man so do I! Husband was 1971-2008, when he died of catastrophic stroke 5 wks before his 65th birthday. I'll forever believe it was all the stress. "it" was the other woman, so to speak! I know, too, that he is now watching over our son as his career ebbs & flows, ever guiding, ever present. 

Sorry to hear that... I believe your husband is watching over your!

Look until there is more information that is confirmed I'm taking everything at face value.  I respect Laroche for giving up the money and running if family time is more important than being a pro baseball player.  I respect the White Sox for establishing a level of professionalism they felt was lacking.  Both are well within their rights to do what they did and that's what's great about this country.  If you don't agree then you can part ways.

Since this is the internet and it basically means I can express my opinion whenever I want (but I also respect the fact you have this freedom as well even if you're wrong ) here is my opinion - I think he's crazy for walking away.  While I respect his right to walk away and his strong personal convictions it still doesn't take away from the fact he's there to provide financial support for his family.  Maybe they are in great shape financially and if so then he did his job.

Regardless it's crazy to think this decision has created so much controversy

Coach, agree with everything you said 'til the last sentence.  When someone walks away from that much $ when it doesn't appear to be a life or death decision, it's going to be very controversial.   I AM curious to hear "the rest of the story".

cabbagedad posted:

Coach, agree with everything you said 'til the last sentence.  When someone walks away from that much $ when it doesn't appear to be a life or death decision, it's going to be very controversial.   I AM curious to hear "the rest of the story".

I think there is another side to the story we haven't heard.  Probably never will because LaRoche will never give his side.

We weren't in the room when the conversation went down, and I have reason to believe that an agreement may have been made prior to any contract.  LaRoche and his wife are devout Christians who believe in strong family unity and homeschool and do not believe in traditional education.Family seems to be #1. I am not sure that most here understand the sacrifices made by ML families. Dad goes off to work and mom is home to raise the family for 6-7 months. They have a business that his wife runs. Kudos to Adam for making a decision where family comes first. It wasnt about the money.

Don't you all wish you could educate your sons in a ML clubhouse!

Having sons grow up in clubhouse atmosphere is a long standing tradition in MLB. Bonds, Griffey, Alou, Fielder, Duncan boys, just a few players other than La Roche who are examples of following in their dads footsteps.  

Just an FYI, my son was in ML camp with Albert Pujols and AJ Pujols was there everyday, on the field and in the clubhouse.   He was 5, maybe 6.

RJM posted:

2020dad posted:

As a lifelong sox fan...   HOOOOORRAAAAY!   What a windfall. Saving 13m on a washed up bad player.  Hope he does not expect sympathy.  Don't get me wrong the players have the right to cut their best deal - it's a business.   And management has a right to police their clubhouse (and perhaps hope he quits and saves them money) after all - it's a business!  As a fan I hope they use that money wisely - NO MORE ADAMS!  

p.s. My understanding is this goes on all year not just spring training.  I am sure he is a great kid.  My 14yo is a great kid.  But I didn't bring him to work today. Justnaseball I am sure your son is right.  I am sure he is a good guy.  But I can't help be giddy as a sox fan!!!

Yahoo! The White Sox drove off a player you don't like. Will you have the same response when it's a valuable star who leaves via free agency to a team that's more family friendly? Or a free agent selects another team over the White Sox because another team is more family friendly? Jon Lester said the hardest thing about leaving the Red Sox was the team treats families so well.

Do you realize you just used an example of a guy who loved the way the team treated his family...  And left anyway!!   No player is going to even give this a second thought.  Yes they are showing support for him in the media but that's about where it will end. 

IEBSBL posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

1. It's likely his kid is homeschooled

2. IT'S SPRING TRAINING...this isn't a tryout for Laroche it's a tryout for the MiLB'ers

3. If they are going to use the excuse in what job can you take your kid every day, I will use to excuse of MiLB'ers and MLB'ers need to behave in a G/PG way at their job because they are role models.

Number 1 and 2 make sense.  Number 3 makes ZERO sense.  They are grown men that can behave in any manner they choose as long as their bosses allow it.    

As far as #3 you have to mind your manners the same way you wwould in any workplace.

IMHO, neither side is wrong here and both sides are in the fortunate position of also being on the right side of this one.

LaRoche has put his family in a position where they are financially stable for life, so he can make his own personal choices here.  He has chosen to value the quality time with his family ahead of that with the team.  Clearly hard to fault him for that.

The Sox have priorities and felt that there may be the potential for or had already seen this situation being a distraction to their club achieving it's full potential.  Hard to fault people tasked to win at most costs from taking steps to do that.  Given that LaRoche is likely on the downslope of his career, the decision is pretty simple for them.

My employer makes the rules, and I follow the rules.  It is a rather simple arrangement.  If someone break the rules or our strong ethics code then the employee is released.  I've seen it happen all the way to senior executives of a Fortune 200 company.

This story is much ado about nothing from my perspective.  The White Sox made their policy known, and LaRoche thought making a statement or passing on his $13M contract was worth it to him.   What I find interesting is that people think this is a story.  

fenwaysouth posted:

My employer makes the rules, and I follow the rules.  It is a rather simple arrangement.  If someone break the rules or our strong ethics code then the employee is released.  I've seen it happen all the way to senior executives of a Fortune 200 company.

This story is much ado about nothing from my perspective.  The White Sox made their policy known, and LaRoche thought making a statement or passing on his $13M contract was worth it to him.   What I find interesting is that people think this is a story.  

I have to agree with you. Media garbage.

However, if per say the employer and employee have a prior discussion before employment and agree on certain terms, then employer changes mind is that ok?

Here is my opinion, FWIW.  Players police themselves in the clubhouse, that's their turf.  There was no  rule that stated you could not bring your son to work, however, and I agree, the non roster guys may have felt that this got in their way of competing for a job and I get that, but shouldn't it have been handled differently?  I hear the reason why they players were upset is because they felt it could have been handled as a team, which is what usually happens.

By the way there is an article back in 2012 when he was with the Nats, regarding his son being in camp with him.  So I am not sure that this came as a surprise to anyone when he was hired.

While I understand that an employer can do as he pleases, it doesnt always work that way in professional baseball.

Again, I believe the request was to "dial it back", not ship the kid out of town.  If they said they never wanted to see the kids face again, then, sure, go ahead and make a statement.  And, if you think the kid was benefiting from the clubhouse environment, well that just got blown out of the water.  This guy is either slightly crazy or he is working an angle - I'm betting he's working an angle.

I see no harm in speculating (wildly) on this board on topics like this one.  It's not like this is a good case study on how to handle one's work environment.  As someone said, most people here seem reasonably intelligent and sincere, but it's not like we're tweating out nasty comments that he might happen to read.  If I ran into this guy on the street, I'd simply wish him well.  

2017LHPscrewball posted:

Again, I believe the request was to "dial it back", not ship the kid out of town.  If they said they never wanted to see the kids face again, then, sure, go ahead and make a statement.  And, if you think the kid was benefiting from the clubhouse environment, well that just got blown out of the water.  This guy is either slightly crazy or he is working an angle - I'm betting he's working an angle.

I see no harm in speculating (wildly) on this board on topics like this one.  It's not like this is a good case study on how to handle one's work environment.  As someone said, most people here seem reasonably intelligent and sincere, but it's not like we're tweating out nasty comments that he might happen to read.  If I ran into this guy on the street, I'd simply wish him well.  

Can you explain that?  We know he asked him to dial it back, no one denies that.

I don't think there was a statement or the guy is crazy, it was HIS choice to walk away, end of story.

Dusty weighs in...sorta....

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/new...usses-rules-for-kids

TPM posted:

IEBSBL posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

1. It's likely his kid is homeschooled

2. IT'S SPRING TRAINING...this isn't a tryout for Laroche it's a tryout for the MiLB'ers

3. If they are going to use the excuse in what job can you take your kid every day, I will use to excuse of MiLB'ers and MLB'ers need to behave in a G/PG way at their job because they are role models.

Number 1 and 2 make sense.  Number 3 makes ZERO sense.  They are grown men that can behave in any manner they choose as long as their bosses allow it.    

As far as #3 you have to mind your manners the same way you wwould in any workplace.

As far as #3 goes that is not necessarily correct.  In ANY work place you can not fight each other in the office, you can not guzzle Alcohol after a big success, you can't scream at the compliance officer, and you can't pimp a huge merger around the office........So no you don't have to mind your manners like any work place.

IEBSBL posted:

TPM posted:

IEBSBL posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

1. It's likely his kid is homeschooled

2. IT'S SPRING TRAINING...this isn't a tryout for Laroche it's a tryout for the MiLB'ers

3. If they are going to use the excuse in what job can you take your kid every day, I will use to excuse of MiLB'ers and MLB'ers need to behave in a G/PG way at their job because they are role models.

Number 1 and 2 make sense.  Number 3 makes ZERO sense.  They are grown men that can behave in any manner they choose as long as their bosses allow it.    

As far as #3 you have to mind your manners the same way you wwould in any workplace.

As far as #3 goes that is not necessarily correct.  In ANY work place you can not fight each other in the office, you can not guzzle Alcohol after a big success, you can't scream at the compliance officer, and you can't pimp a huge merger around the office........So no you don't have to mind your manners like any work place.

I was commenting on what was #3. Yes, in a ML clubhouse there is a certain decorum that has to be kept, but maybe I have misunderstood what she actually  meant.   If dads thought that bringing their kids would in some way be a negative experience, well then they more than likely WOULD keep them home.

2017LHPscrewball posted:

Again, I believe the request was to "dial it back", not ship the kid out of town.  If they said they never wanted to see the kids face again, then, sure, go ahead and make a statement.  And, if you think the kid was benefiting from the clubhouse environment, well that just got blown out of the water.  This guy is either slightly crazy or he is working an angle - I'm betting he's working an angle.

I see no harm in speculating (wildly) on this board on topics like this one.  It's not like this is a good case study on how to handle one's work environment.  As someone said, most people here seem reasonably intelligent and sincere, but it's not like we're tweating out nasty comments that he might happen to read.  If I ran into this guy on the street, I'd simply wish him well.  

What's the angle? "How to lose 13 million dollars with nothing to show for it?" If it was an angle on retiring...who needs an angle. All he has to say is, "After X amount of years I have decided that I would rather spend more time with my family than playing baseball allows. Therefore I am hanging them up. Seacrest out."

As for his son being in the clubhouse...I read today that it was part of an agreement reached when he signed with the Sox. The Sox decided to change/modify that agreement, so LaRoche walked away. He doesn't owe them anything, just like they don't owe him anything.

It is no different than if I work at a business and they institute policies (or change previous agreements) that I don't like. I can choose to stay, or I can choose to leave. LaRoche chose to leave.

Buzzard05 posted:

2017LHPscrewball posted:

Again, I believe the request was to "dial it back", not ship the kid out of town.  If they said they never wanted to see the kids face again, then, sure, go ahead and make a statement.  And, if you think the kid was benefiting from the clubhouse environment, well that just got blown out of the water.  This guy is either slightly crazy or he is working an angle - I'm betting he's working an angle.

I see no harm in speculating (wildly) on this board on topics like this one.  It's not like this is a good case study on how to handle one's work environment.  As someone said, most people here seem reasonably intelligent and sincere, but it's not like we're tweating out nasty comments that he might happen to read.  If I ran into this guy on the street, I'd simply wish him well.  

What's the angle? "How to lose 13 million dollars with nothing to show for it?" If it was an angle on retiring...who needs an angle. All he has to say is, "After X amount of years I have decided that I would rather spend more time with my family than playing baseball allows. Therefore I am hanging them up. Seacrest out."

As for his son being in the clubhouse...I read today that it was part of an agreement reached when he signed with the Sox. The Sox decided to change/modify that agreement, so LaRoche walked away. He doesn't owe them anything, just like they don't owe him anything.

It is no different than if I work at a business and they institute policies (or change previous agreements) that I don't like. I can choose to stay, or I can choose to leave. LaRoche chose to leave.

I do believe that is correct. 

Probably more than anything, it wasnt handled well.  Not good clubhouse vibes or publicity for the WS.

TPM posted:

IEBSBL posted:

TPM posted:

IEBSBL posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

1. It's likely his kid is homeschooled

2. IT'S SPRING TRAINING...this isn't a tryout for Laroche it's a tryout for the MiLB'ers

3. If they are going to use the excuse in what job can you take your kid every day, I will use to excuse of MiLB'ers and MLB'ers need to behave in a G/PG way at their job because they are role models.

Number 1 and 2 make sense.  Number 3 makes ZERO sense.  They are grown men that can behave in any manner they choose as long as their bosses allow it.    

As far as #3 you have to mind your manners the same way you wwould in any workplace.

As far as #3 goes that is not necessarily correct.  In ANY work place you can not fight each other in the office, you can not guzzle Alcohol after a big success, you can't scream at the compliance officer, and you can't pimp a huge merger around the office........So no you don't have to mind your manners like any work place.

I was commenting on what was #3. Yes, in a ML clubhouse there is a certain decorum that has to be kept, but maybe I have misunderstood what she actually  meant.   If dads thought that bringing their kids would in some way be a negative experience, well then they more than likely WOULD keep them home.

 

You didn't misunderstand me TPM.  The argument was being made that a clubhouse was no place for a child due to PG-13 or R rated things occurring there that the child should not be around. My stance was that if we are talking about workplaces and what is appropriate then the good manners and G/PG rated atmosphere that most workplaces provide would be fine for a child to see. 

I personally do not believe that he passed on 13 million and another MLB season based solely on the request to "dial it back".  I like nothing more than to spend time with my kids, but having to set aside some time where one kid cannot participate 100% of the time, despite prior agreement, simply does not rise to the level of "undue burden" in my opinion.  I imagine some type of schedule could have been worked out where any "lost ime" between the two would have been minimized.  It's not like Adam would literally miss his kid (would get to see him every morning, every evening and most days - just not 100% of the time) as if they were in separate cities.  

All that said, I could be completely wrong.  Perhaps he uses this time to bank hours with his kid cause maybe he doesn't get enough time with him once season starts.  One would have to assume that Adam gives little value to having his son "around" MLB spring training and all that implies (he just let that go) and he gives little value to the additional $13 million (in addition to all the millions that I suppose he has already).  Perhaps all I'm saying is that it was not a well thought out decision or it was a decision made knowing he can undo it (boy wouldn't I love that option at my workplace - "I quit - but don't give my office away as I may change my mind next week - and keep the paycheck coming."

CaCO3Girl posted:

TPM posted:

IEBSBL posted:

TPM posted:

IEBSBL posted:

CaCO3Girl posted:

1. It's likely his kid is homeschooled

2. IT'S SPRING TRAINING...this isn't a tryout for Laroche it's a tryout for the MiLB'ers

3. If they are going to use the excuse in what job can you take your kid every day, I will use to excuse of MiLB'ers and MLB'ers need to behave in a G/PG way at their job because they are role models.

Number 1 and 2 make sense.  Number 3 makes ZERO sense.  They are grown men that can behave in any manner they choose as long as their bosses allow it.    

As far as #3 you have to mind your manners the same way you wwould in any workplace.

As far as #3 goes that is not necessarily correct.  In ANY work place you can not fight each other in the office, you can not guzzle Alcohol after a big success, you can't scream at the compliance officer, and you can't pimp a huge merger around the office........So no you don't have to mind your manners like any work place.

I was commenting on what was #3. Yes, in a ML clubhouse there is a certain decorum that has to be kept, but maybe I have misunderstood what she actually  meant.   If dads thought that bringing their kids would in some way be a negative experience, well then they more than likely WOULD keep them home.

 

You didn't misunderstand me TPM.  The argument was being made that a clubhouse was no place for a child due to PG-13 or R rated things occurring there that the child should not be around. My stance was that if we are talking about workplaces and what is appropriate then the good manners and G/PG rated atmosphere that most workplaces provide would be fine for a child to see. 

For some reason I guess that ML clubhouses arent places for the players kids because of what you or others perceive goes on in a clubhouse isnt appropriate behavior. How so far from the truth...lol.

IMO, while the Sox agreed to allow the kid in, as many baseball teams do, sounds like AL took advantage of the courtesy, and KW made a decision.

Kuddos to both sides, good luck to all!