Spring coaching started Wednesday for the Chicago White Sox with beginning pitcher Mike Clevinger in camp as Major League Baseball continues to research allegations of home violence and baby abuse.
Clevinger spoke with reporters for the primary time because the allegations and investigation turned public in a late January article by The Athletic.
“I’m pretty disappointed we have to start off this way,” Clevinger mentioned at Camelback Ranch. “This is fairly devastating to me and my household, and I do know I really feel horrible for my teammates having to reply questions from you (reporters) and so that you can need to ask them a bunch of questions on this.
“I trust the process from MLB. I think there’s a reason I’m sitting in front of you today. I’m just asking everyone to wait before they rush to judgment. Wait until the actual facts are out there, wait until there’s actual evidence and then make your decision on who you think I am. … This is about my children that I care more about than even this game.”
Olivia Finestead, the mom of Clevinger’s toddler daughter, instructed The Athletic she knowledgeable MLB’s Department of Investigations of “incidents of physical, verbal and emotional abuse.”
She wrote Wednesday an Instagram story: “The investigation is still very much going on. The White Sox can allow him at spring training, that doesn’t mean Mike is off the hook with the MLB or that he didn’t do what I’ve said he has.”
Clevinger was with the San Diego Padres on the time of the alleged incidents. He signed a one-year, $12 million cope with the Sox in December.
Asked if he’s assured he’ll be exonerated, Clevinger mentioned: “I’m confident. I am.” He mentioned he met with reporters as a result of “it’s the elephant in the room.”
“I wanted to address it,” he mentioned. “I’m not going to hide away from it. I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not running away from this.”
The Sox have mentioned they didn’t know of the allegations or investigation on the time of the signing. General supervisor Rick Hahn on Wednesday reiterated elements of the joint home violence, sexual assault and baby abuse coverage MLB and the gamers union adopted.
“Under the terms of the collectively bargained policy, it is solely the discretion of the commissioner to discipline a player under investigation after the conclusion of an investigation,” he mentioned. “At this level, the White Sox choices are the identical as they’ve been all through this course of when Mike joined us, and that’s to respect the method within the investigation and let it play out.
“That is the club’s only option. Obviously the confidentiality element of the investigation is essential to the success and strength of the policy and one that we’re going to continue to respect.”
Hahn mentioned it was truthful to ask concerning the stage of due diligence the crew did.
“I will say that the confidentiality element to this policy is essential in order to protect not just players, but also those who feel aggrieved to give them the ability to come forward and express that there is an issue and to allow for an investigation to take place,” Hahn mentioned. “Part of that confidentiality is that different golf equipment don’t find out about it.
“There was no way for us to be aware of this incident without someone being in violation of that policy and no one was, which again is part of the strength of the policy and how it operates effectively.”
Hahn mentioned his response when he heard the information was “disappointment.”
“I regret the fact that we are sitting here today talking about this,” he mentioned. “I understand why we are doing it. Obviously we have to, but this is a year in which we have high expectations. We have a new (coaching) staff that is trying to hit the ground running to help us fulfill those expectations. And we have a heck of a lot of players in that clubhouse right now who feel like they have something to prove.”
Asked if he thought-about disclosing it to the Sox earlier than signing, Clevinger mentioned: “This was going on for seven months. I didn’t even know it was still going on, to be honest.”
Clevinger addressed his teammates Wednesday morning. He declined to reveal the message to reporters, “but I just wanted to share my sentiment to them of how bad I felt that this was how I was starting out. This is how they were meeting me for a lot of guys that don’t know me. I didn’t want their first day of camp to be answering questions about this nonsense.”
Sox supervisor Pedro Grifol mentioned it was essential that Clevinger spoke to the crew. Grifol mentioned Clevinger “signed with the team to be part of the rotation, and he’s here in camp and he’s working to be a part of it, a big part of it.”
Grifol didn’t get into contingency plans for the rotation.
“He’s available right now,” Grifol mentioned. “And if by any chance he’s not available, we’ll discuss that as an organization. But right now he’s part of this rotation going forward.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com