On Adam LaRoche

I somehow feel compelled to comment on the latest brouhaha in Major League Baseball, which is the reason for the retirement announcement by former Pirate, and most recently a White Sox (White Sock?), Adam LaRoche.

In case you missed it, LaRoche liked to have his young teen-aged son be in the Sox locker room with him...ALL THE TIME, like for every game of the season.  The kid had a uniform, his own locker, and I believe he even sat in the dugout during games.  White Sox GM Ken Williams told LaRoche that he had to dial back the kid's 24/7 presence with the team, LaRoche said he didn't want to, Williams (who, by the way, is LaRoche's boss) said he had to, so LaRoche said he quit and announced that he was retiring.

Since LaRoche hit .204 last year with 12 HR, 44 RBI, and a .634 OPS, and was due to make $13 million in 2016, I suspect that Williams said something like "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out", but this whole issue is said to have split the Sox locker room in half, and the Players Association is said to be "looking into" this situation.  

This whole thing raises a lot of questions to me:

1. What kind of parent wants his kid to be around a major league locker room, unless he wants him to learn how to spit and scratch himself in public, learn how to chase women, and have access to a myriad of quasi-illegal pharmaceuticals?
2. What does the kid's mother think about all this?
3. I suspect that if you polled all the White Sox players by secret ballot, 100% of them would say "Get that kid outta here."
4. Following up on Question #1 above, what kind of parent in ANY profession would want his kid with him at work every day?
5. LaRoche also said that he wished that he could also have brought his young daughter with him to the club house every day.  Are you kidding me?  

The White Sox can be criticized on two fronts here.  One, for allowing this to even happen in the first place, and two, having let it happen, for not addressing this in the off-season and waiting until the middle of Spring Training to do so, but they are not wrong for wanting the kid out of there.

I always found LaRoche to be an emotionless, odd duck during his days with the Pirates.  I'm just glad that this kid-in-the-clubhouse thing wasn't an issue when he was here (or maybe it was).  Can you imagine what the calls on The Fan would have been like?