Kenny Williams acted on behalf of White Sox players, staff

Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

White Sox Vice President Kenny Williams may have been acting on behalf of others when asking Adam LaRoche to scale back his son Drake’s presence around the team.

The saga between Adam LaRoche and the White Sox continues to captivate spring training.

On Saturday, USA Today reported that White Sox teammates and staff members complained to management about the presence of LaRoche’s 14-year-old son, Drake, according to officials familiar with the situation.

LaRoche retired Tuesday — and walked away from $ 13 million due to him in 2016 — after White Sox executive vice president Kenny Williams asked him to scale back the time Drake was spending in the clubhouse.

LaRoche’s former teammates have publicly defended Drake’s presence over the last week but now it appears some may have gone behind the first baseman’s back to complain, leaving Williams and the White Sox in a peculiar situation.

White Sox ace Chris Sale has been the most vocal in defending LaRoche, going so far as hanging up Drake’s jersey in the locker room and publicly blasting Williams.

“We got bold-faced lied to by someone we’re supposed to be able to trust,” Sale said on Friday. “You can’t come tell the players it was the coaches and tell the coaches it’s the players (who didn’t want Drake in the clubhouse) and then come in and say something completely different. If we’re all here to win a championship, this kind of stuff doesn’t happen.”

Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images

LaRoche says he had an agreement that his son Drake could be around the team.

LaRoche said that when he signed a two-year, $ 26 million deal to join the White Sox prior to the 2015 season, there was a verbal agreement that Drake LaRoche was allowed to be around the team on an unlimited basis.

According to Williams, he told Adam LaRoche he needed to scale back Drake’s presence by 50%. When Williams determined nothing had changed, that Drake was still present as much as before, Williams told Adam the agreement was off and Drake was no longer allowed to be there, the player said.

That’s when Adam decided to retire.

“Obviously, I expressed my displeasure toward this decision to alter the agreement we had reached before I signed with the White Sox,” Adam LaRoche said in a statement. “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.” 

Baseball – NY Daily News

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