Thank u Lord for the game of baseball and for giving me way more than I ever deserved!#FamilyFirst

— Adam LaRoche (@e3laroche) March 15, 2016

I am puzzled about this story. This really shouldn’t be a big deal, but because of the White Sox and specifically their vice president of baseball operations Ken Williams’ handling of it, its blown up to monumental proportions. 

“You tell me where in this country can you bring your child to work every day?” – Ken Williams

You’re right. Hardly any place of business would allow that, however you said the team did not change its policy, yet you’re asking one player to “dial it back” with bringing his son to the field.

When Adam LaRoche was playing for the Washington Nationals for four seasons before his last one in Chicago, his son Drake was with him a lot. It was no secret when you signed him. Why is it a problem now? Is it because your $13 million dollar investment batted only .207 with 12 home runs in 127 games?

If this is truly a problem for the White Sox, why isn’t the manager Robin Ventura asking LaRoche to “dial it back”? Doesn’t Ventura have the say of what goes on in the clubhouse?

“We want to make sure we give ourselves every opportunity to focus on a daily basis on getting better.” – what Ken Williams said to Adam LaRoche according to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal

Many reports indicated that LaRoche’s teammates came to his defense in a tense clubhouse meeting challenging Ken Williams. That should give you a pretty good idea that having a 14-year old around the club wasn’t a problem.

I get Williams’ rationale about not having kids in the clubhouse and I’ve seen it first hand that baseball players can get very particular about it. Needless to say that the majority if not the entire team had no problem with this.

I never would have thought that a story like this would be the biggest topic during the middle of Spring Training. So many questions are being asked about how this could even be an issue or how it could have been handled better and who should have handled it. Regardless, this was a decision made by a father who would rather spend time with his son and yes, shockingly leave $13 million dollars to do that. Let me ask you a question. Isn’t that something to be admired?