MLB Bullets Has Both Sides Of The Issue

One week closer to Opening Day.

• White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf announced that the saga about the retirement of Adam LaRoche is now over. Whew! I thought I was going to have to link to another dozen articles about it.
• Bob Nightengale reports that team officials told him that several players complained about Drake LaRoche's presence in the clubhouse.
• Chris Sale, on the other hand, said that team president Ken Williams "bold-face lied" about the whole situation. So who knows whom to believe?
• Sale also hung the jerseys of Adam and Drake LaRoche in the clubhouse, which is usually what they do when a player dies or at least seriously injured.
• Adam LaRoche issued a statement about the whole mess.
• There's at least one report that LaRoche had a clause in his contract allowing Drake to be in the clubhouse, although there is a lot of conflicting information out there.
• Labor lawyer Eugene Freedman assesses the issues in any potential grievance by LaRoche.
• Joe Posnanski echoes something I've been arguing: the silence on the part of manager Robin Ventura makes him weak and is a sign he's lost control of the team. Either he disagrees with the decision and Williams went right past him and enforced the rule himself, or he agrees with the decision and he's cowardly hiding behind Williams. Either way, Posnanski says Ventura has lost control.
• Dirk Hayhurst is on the White Sox side: he says kids don't belong in a clubhouse.
• Jeff Samardzija was with the White Sox last season and he says he never had a problem with Drake hanging around. He said Drake was like an extra clubhouse attendant.
• Grant Brisbee offers his take on the "unwritten rules" about bringing your kid to the clubhouse.
• Ken Griffey Jr. says that LaRoche has a right to do what he wants, the White Sox have a right to set their own rules and that if it weren't for the $13 million on his contract, no one would care about it. He said he only visited his dad in the clubhouse a few times a season because Pete Rose was always saying creepy things to him either it wasn't allowed or he just had other things to do.
• Jim Caple talks to other kids of major leaguers about their experience in the clubhouse. Actually, Rose told Eduardo Perez that if he wanted to sit on the bench with his dad Tony, Eduardo would have to chart pitches. And he did.
• This is one of those times when politics intersects with baseball and there really isn't any way to avoid it. President Obama is in Cuba today, along with the Tampa Bay Rays and a contingent from major league baseball. Jorge L. Ortiz reports that the Rays are hopeful that they can have some real "authentic" interactions with the Cuban people. The Rays also brought along outfielder Dayron Varona, who is the only Cuban in their organization. Varona is not on the 40-man roster and has never played above Double-A, but the players felt it was important that he accompany them.
• Travis Waldron looks at the history of the Havana Sugar Kings, the old International League team, and the role it played in uniting the two countries.
• Christina Kahrl talks about how Minnie Minoso was a hero in both countries. Congressman Steve Cohen was a fan and later a friend of Minoso for many decades and plans to represent him in spirit by bringing various Minoso memorabilia back to the island to give out to the Cuban people.
• Luis Tiant is returning to Cuba to throw out the first pitch at the Rays game, but he explains why he was initially hesitant to go.
• Back in the USA. In a lot of other days, this would be the lead story. Brewers outfielder Rymer Liriano took a fastball to the face yesterday. He has multiple facial fractures and remains in the hospital for further observation and testing.
• Do you remember the report from Friday that said that Bronson Arroyo has a torn rotator cuff and will probably have to retire? Never mind. He does a some partial tear and will miss the next four to six weeks.
• Rays closer Brad Boxberger is out eight weeks with abdominal surgery.
• Jose Fernandez is not going to get the Opening Day start for the Marlins. He's disappointed, but he understands that it's all a part of a plan to keep him under 180 innings this season.
• The plan was worked out with team doctors, management and Fernandez's agent Scott Boras. Sam Miller has a big piece on Boras' crusade to save young pitcher arms. Sure, it's self-interested, but it's also in the interest of the pitcher.
• Every player ever taken in the Rule 5 draft has to know that there is a chance they get returned to their original club. So it probably wouldn't be a good idea to say how much better your new team is than your old one. Apparently Evan Rutckyj didn't get the memo. Just over a week after he told a reporter how much better the Braves organization was to the Yankees, the Braves returned him to New York. Awkward!
• Doug Padilla writes that because of injuries, the Dodgers are scrambling to find a fifth starter for their rotation.
• Dave Cameron proposes a blockbuster trade between the Padres and Rangers.
• David Ortiz said that the Twins treated him badly when he was in the organization.
• As rumored, the Cardinals did sign Ruben Tejada to a one-year deal.
• Chone Figgins will sign a one-day deal with Los Angeles today so he can retire with the Angels.
• David Schoenfield doesn't think Robinson Cano merits the term "superstar" anymore.
• Tom Verducci gives more evidence of the greatness of Bryce Harper's 2015 season.
• The Athletics have been impressed so far with Sean Manaea, whom they got from the Royals in the Ben Zobrist deal.
• Allison Duffy-Davis looks at what spring training is like for the players in minor league camp.
• Mike Piellucci examines the unorthodox batting stance and swing of Rockies prospect Raimel Tapia and talks to people about whether he can be successful with it on the major league level.
• The Blue Jays/Pirates game yesterday ended on a call of the new rules governing sliding into second base. So if you want to know what is not going to be permitted anymore, take a look at the video.
• And finally, also in that Blue Jays/Pirates game, we had another hilarious confrontation between a switch-pitcher (Pat Venditte) and a confused switch hitter.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.