Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf stood by the house dugout with a lit cigar in hand earlier than Monday night time’s 5-1 victory in opposition to the New York Yankees, overtly violating the stadium’s no-smoking ordinance as he spoke with pals.
A small group of reporters adopted Reinsdorf to see if he would focus on the dumpster hearth his crew has change into, realizing full properly his coverage of not chatting with the media.
“Got a second?” I requested.
“No,” Reinsdorf harrumphed as he walked previous with out glancing up.
No one harrumphs fairly like “The Chairman,” who has had loads of observe the final two years because of underachieving performances by the Sox and Bulls.
These are attempting occasions for Reinsdorf, govt vice chairman Ken Williams and common supervisor Rick Hahn, the triumvirate in command of a crew that has begun to resemble Wile E. Coyote within the Roadrunner cartoons. The Sox are falling off a cliff, with just a few sticks of dynamite strapped onto their backs, and right into a vat of quicksand.
They way back fell out of competition, however taking place with no peep wouldn’t be the White Sox method.
On Monday they handled a number of controversies, together with Tim Anderson’s six-game suspension for preventing with the Cleveland Guardians’ José Ramírez; former reliever Keynan Middleton’s claims that the Sox clubhouse had “no rules” and {that a} rookie pitcher had slept within the bullpen; and a WSCR-AM 670 report that Yasmani Grandal and Anderson had a bodily altercation final month over Grandal’s alleged need to depart the crew early for the All-Star break.
Anderson wasn’t speaking. Hahn stated Middleton’s claims had been misguided and violated clubhouse etiquette. And Grandal denied The Score’s report in regards to the alleged incident with Anderson.
Among the Big Three executives, solely Hahn confirmed any accountability, admitting to cultural points within the clubhouse that he stated had been addressed partially by strikes on the commerce deadline.
But the larger difficulty within the minds of many Sox followers is why Hahn continues to be round attempting to repair issues he helped create along with his personnel strikes. I requested Hahn on Monday if he understood why so many Sox followers need him eliminated.
“Absolutely,” he replied.
So what would he say to them?
“I would say I absolutely get that,” he stated. “That’s the character of professional sports activities. The reality of the matter is I most likely wasn’t as sensible as everybody thought I used to be once I was profitable Executive of the Year a pair years in the past … and the chances are I’m most likely not as silly as individuals suppose I’m now.
“But this is the nature of the beast and the nature of pro sports. Look, at the end of the day whether I’m here or not is going to come down to any of (either) Jerry Reinsdorf or Kenny WIlliams or myself feeling I’m not the right guy going forward.”
Would Hahn think about stepping down?
He started by saying, “We’ll …,” however shortly zigzagged.
“Again, we’re trying to beat the Yankees tonight,” he stated. “Let’s see what happens over the next few weeks.”
If Hahn’s future is unsure, meaning Pedro Grifol’s expiration date as Sox supervisor additionally may very well be up after his first season. Williams most likely has a job for all times so long as he continues to cuddle as much as Reinsdorf, who apparently doesn’t maintain him accountable for the downfall of a franchise that appeared poised for years of success solely two summers in the past.
The piling on by Middleton, a journeyman reliever who revived his profession on the South Side earlier than being dealt to the Yankees final week, shocked Grifol and Hahn, who stated the pitcher not too long ago apologized to them for his personal “unprofessional behavior.”
Hahn stated Middleton “was held accountable for certain rule violations, let’s say, and for him to be pointing a finger that that wasn’t happening, I was frankly confused by it.”
Middleton instructed ESPN and the New York Daily News there have been “no rules” on the Sox, throwing his former supervisor and training workers underneath the bus.
“You have rookies sleeping in the bullpen during the game,” he stated. “You have guys missing meetings. You have guys missing (pitchers fielding practice) and there’s no consequences for any of this stuff.”
Hahn’s preliminary response was to tug out the outdated chestnut in regards to the sanctity of the clubhouse.
“Frankly, the first rule of a clubhouse is ‘What goes on in a clubhouse is supposed to stay there,’” Hahn stated. “I’m a big believer in that tenet. However, when an individual player casts aspersions and puts his name on it, I feel a responsibility to respond.”
In a long-winded reply, Hahn stated he gave a place participant with sleeping issues permission to sleep within the clubhouse. Some veterans complained, however Hahn stated they had been appeased by his clarification and the ideas of well being consultants.
“Perhaps that’s something that got lost in translation in Keynan’s (claims),” Hahn stated. “But at no point have we had a player sleeping in the bullpen.”
Hahn admitted there was an issue with Sox gamers pulling collectively however urged these gamers at the moment are gone.
“We’re a work in progress,” he stated. “We had a problem, we’ve addressed a good portion of it and we’ve got to continue to do it.”
Among the veteran leaders dealt had been Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman, Lucas Giolito and Middleton. Lynn, a famous “clubhouse lawyer,” corroborated Middleton’s claims on A.J. Pierzynski’s podcast.
Grandal, who barely has spoken with the media since 2021, known as a information convention Monday during which he denied The Score’s report that he slapped Anderson. He additionally defended Grifol and the Sox workers in opposition to Middleton’s claims.
“I can only speak for myself, but I’m sure (Middleton) had the chance to speak up and (he) didn’t or had the chance to make things right here,” Grandal stated. “So the fact that they didn’t do it, to me it shows a lot.”
Middleton stated Monday he stood by his feedback.
“I said what I said and I really, truly feel that with my heart,” he stated, including he didn’t “feel comfortable” addressing it when he was a Sox participant.
Did Middleton breach participant etiquette by speaking about clubhouse points to the media, as Hahn and Grifol urged?
“If that’s how they feel, then that’s how they feel,” he stated. “I was speaking my truth. I said what I saw. I wasn’t trying to tear anyone down. I was just addressing the issue.”
Grifol instructed reporters he held a crew assembly Saturday in Cleveland to deal with a number of points that he declined to element.
“We’re moving forward with a new foundation laid on rock — not on muck, on rock — that is going to sustain any little problem that we may have moving forward,” he stated. “So culture is a big deal to me. I think it’s the most important part of a winning franchise, and we’re determined to build it and build it the right way.”
Whether all of the muck was eliminated on the commerce deadline stays to be seen. Forty-eight video games remained after Monday, and for Reinsdorf, Williams, Hahn and Grifol, extra pockets of turbulence might be anticipated in a mucked-up season that simply received’t give up.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com