WHO DOESN'T NEED 13 MILLION?

"Who doesn't need 13 million dollars?" These are the words uttered by former MLB player Adam LaRoche as he admitted on Good Morning America on Tuesday morning that "baseball was never my world, that there is more to life." And there is more to the story of why LaRoche decided to move on from the sport that he played for most of his life.

According to a report on QPolitical and confirmed by GMA, LaRoche left his cleats behind for more than just the Chicago White Sox changing their mind about his son's presence in the clubhouse. He left for reasons of faith and other interests off the ball field.  (For more background read: THE 3 SIDES OF THE LaROCHE SAGA)

Last November, LaRoche and Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Blaine Boyer began working for a nonprofit organization called The Exodus Road whose mission is to rescue young girls from sex slave brothels in Southeast Asia.  "How many of you would step away from $13 million dollars? Most people would have a difficult time doing that, but Adam Laroche isn’t like most people. While it was assumed that he retired because of reasons stemming from his son not being allowed in the clubhouse, this new information throws a wrinkle into that theory," reported QPolitical.com

It is clear that LaRoche is not only a family man, but a hero of a different kind when it comes to his work to stop sex trafficking and to living this life for a higher purpose.  "I think having my own kid, having two kids of my own, especially a 12-year-old daughter, it's impossible not to picture, you know, 'What if this was my daughter?' " LaRoche explained to ABC News.  His son Drake was just the final deciding factor to help LaRoche make the decision to leave the game for good.

"Honestly, it's not the end of the world to me. And I thank my parents for that. The way I was raised. Because baseball – and I've said it before, I don't want to be defined by this game. I know there's a lot more to life," stated LaRoche

We all could use 13 million dollars.  But once we got 13 million, would we be truly satisfied?  Let's see if this puts things into perspective...

Early Tuesday morning, a fellow runner and education colleague was running on a road near a high school where he worked as superintendent.  A 17-year-old girl was texting and I am thinking you know what happened.  My colleague and a member of the running community was killed in tragic accident.

We have to use the time we have to positively impact others because at the end of the day, tomorrow could be our last day.  LaRoche did what he needed to do because he just felt there was for him to give, somewhere else.  And I respect that.  And I think deep down, you do too.

  

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
BYB Hot Stove Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof




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THE 3 SIDES OF THE LaROCHE SAGA

There are three sides to every story: your side, their side and the truth.  If you are like me, you have been listening to both sides of the Adam LaRoche retirement story and are having difficulty deciphering the truth from all of the mouths talking. Let's see if I can give you the sides and let you determine what you feel is the truth.  I will give you my two cents too, for what it is worth.

What We Know as Truth: We know that Adam LaRoche has decided to retire from the game of baseball prior to the official start of the 2016 season.  His decision seems to have a connection to the statement made by the White Sox organization that LaRoche scale back the time his 14-year-old son, Drake, spends with his dad and the team this year.  Traditionally, LaRoche brought Drake to most of the Sox practices, games and Drake even kept a locker in the clubhouse and practice field.  White Sox officials and others in and around baseball say that his time with the team during his work hours was just too much.  Even Today Show hosts stated as they reported the LaRoche story that when they bring their kids to work, they worry if their presence is too much of an interference for the staff.  And we are only talking about a day or two, not every day.

The Players' Side of the Story:  "In his statement, LaRoche said that before he signed his two-year, $25 million contract with the Chicago White Sox last year, "my first question to the club concerned my [son Drake's] ability to be a part of the team. After some due diligence on the club's part, we reached an agreement" and there were no problems with his son's presence in the clubhouse in 2015," reported ESPN on Friday.  Then according to LaRoche and his teammates, White Sox executive vice president Kenny Williams changed his tune.  First LaRoche was told to scale back the time Drake spends with the team and later he was directed to not bring his son to the ballpark at all. According to White Sox pitcher and former teammate to LaRoche Chris Sale, Williams changed his story multiple times, making it difficult to understand the reasoning behind the decision and ticking the team and other MLB players off along the way.

According to ESPN, "Sale said Williams has contradicted himself, first saying that players complained about LaRoche's son being in the clubhouse, then saying it was coaches who spoke against it, and then saying the decision came down from ownership."We got bald-faced lied to by someone that we trust," Sale said."

Club owner Jerry Reinsdorf may have a grievance on his hands come early next week.  Word on the street is that White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton told reporters that he spoke to the Major League Baseball Player's Union about filing a grievance on behalf of his former teammate LaRoche.

Reisndorf stated that players have asked to speak with him but it is too early to comment officially on the situation.  Bryce Harper, Robin Ventura and even the Chicago Bears all support LaRoche's "Family First" stance. Sox closer and former Yankee, David Robertson "thought of Drake as "part of the team" and said "the entire clubhouse is with Adam on this one."   

"I had to make a decision," LaRoche said. "Do I choose my teammates and my career? Or do I choose my family? The decision was easy, but in no way was it a reflection of how I feel about my teammates, manager (Robin Ventura), general manager (Rick Hahn) or the club's owner Jerry Reinsdorf."

White Sox Management Side of the Story:  As reported by ESPN on Thursday, "When news of the reason became public Wednesday, Williams addressed the issue with reporters and said that kids are still permitted in the White Sox clubhouse, but they shouldn't be there every day, saying no job would allow that."Sometimes you have to make decisions in this world that are unpopular," he said.  Now even LaRoche admitted that it has been a privilege to have his son with him as he played for both the White Sox and Washington Nationals over the last five years.  "We all think his kid is a great young man. I just felt it should not be every day, that's all. You tell me, where in this country can you bring your child to work every day?" stated Williams.

My Take: My opinion represents dozens of others shared with me over the last several days.  I guess it stems from this statement made by LaRoche himself.  "It's like having your son and your best friend alongside you all day long, at work, which never gets to happen," LaRoche said. "I don't know many jobs where you can bring your kid and not have to put him in daycare somewhere. It's been awesome."  My daughter is 14 and my son is 18.  They both came with me to work from time to time as I worked on multiple university campuses over the years.  They came sometimes.  As Kenny Williams said to LaRoche, "I don't think he should be here 100 percent of the time. And he has been here 100 percent, every day, in the clubhouse. I said that I don't even think he should be here 50 percent of the time. Figure it out, somewhere in between."  I agree.  Doesn't he need to be in school? Shouldn't he be socializing with kids his own age? My thought process is yes and yes.  I have had to pay babysitters and juggle schedules to figure out who was taking what kid to what practice or event and when.  Why should LaRoche get special treatment?  The Washington Post reported that Nationals phenom Bryce Harper "admired the father-son relationship between LaRoche and Drake. Sure, most jobs don’t allow employees to bring their children to the workplace daily. But most jobs don’t have their employees traveling and away from home as frequently as professional baseball players."  I beg to differ.

As parents, we have to make shifts and changes to our own schedules and the reality is we don't get to spend every waking moment with our kids.  It's not really healthy to do so either.  That's not to say we don't make sacrifices or make waves when we need to when it comes to our kids.  We most certainly do. We travel for work, some multiple days a month like ball players.  It is just a balance.  It's called work-life balance and at the end of the day, that's the real truth.

The reality is this story isn't going anywhere.  It is staying in the headlines because it is an issue that simply has not come up in the headlines before.  Guys like Ken Griffey Jr., Prince Fielder and Cal Ripken Jr. all spent many a day at the ballpark with their ball player fathers.  "Different teams have had different rules. Some clubs allowed kids in the clubhouse after Sunday games, provided they won."

And that's the bottom line.  There are rules.  And that is the truth too.  With the controversy just heating up, we will keep close ties on the LaRoche matter, a grievance if filed and any other official word from the team.  You can decide from here what you think is the right side to the LaRoche Saga.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
BYB Hot Stove Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof

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BYB HOT STOVE: VOLUME VI

Win some, lose some at the Winter Meetings for all MLB teams.  Some teams did better others, but at least we re-signed Chase Headley.  And he said he wants to be here- that's some fire and fervor in our every day third baseman.  Sit down ARod.  Just saying... anyway onto this week's Hot Stove Volume VI.

Cole Hamels is still hanging out there and another two teams have expressed interest.  According to Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo, the Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants have expressed interest in the Phillies franchise pitcher.  They join the likes of the Red Sox, Dodgers, Padres and Rangers.  Much like the decision to roll out Jimmy Rollins who traded in his Phillie Red for Dodger Blue, the Phillies are also shopping Ryan Howard and there is some interest.  The Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles have DH needs and the Phils are willing to eat most of the rest of his contract, so we may see Howard in the AL East.  Hopefully, the Yankees will sit this one out.

By now you all heard that Melky Cabrera is headed to the White Sox who are stacking their team with pickups Jeff Samardzija, David Robertson, Adam LaRoche and Zach Duke.  But their National League counter part, the Cubs, have been up to their heels in trades and rumors.  After picking up stud pitcher Jon Lester, now the Cubs have their eyes set on corner outfielder Colby Rasmus.  CBS Sports Reporter Jon Heyman says that Rasmus has a two-year deal in him.  This is a deal that could happen very soon.

After being posted on Monday, Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang will be accepting offers ending this Friday at 5:00 p.m. according to Mike Puma of the New York Post.  The 27-year-old short stop hit 39 home runs and batted .354 in the Korea Baseball Organization.  Some critics are saying that these stats don't translate cleanly to Major League Baseball because of the hitter-friendly atmosphere of KBL, but never-the-less the Mets, Giants and Athletics all have an interest in Kang says Ken Rosenthal.  With the signing of Didi Gregorius, the Yankees will probably steer clear of Kang.

Lastly, Justin Upton remains in the news with the Seattle Mariners showing interest for either him or another right field bat.  There is also talk that Upton would make a great San Francisco Giant.  But another force in the NL West vying for Upton too.  Despite signing Matt Kemp, the San Diego Padres "are all over" Upton according to Mark Bowman from MLB.com.  I bet the Pads sign him. Just a hunch.

That's all for Hot Stove this week.  Hoping for more than a Chris Capuano and Chase Headley signing for the Yankees next week.  Stay tuned!

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @suzieprof






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THE YANKS HAVE NO GOLD GLOVERS... KICK US WHILE WE'RE DOWN

I found this alittle unusual, only because we have a guy like Mark Teixeira manning first with one of the best gloves in the game as well as Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner. The word is, that there are no Yankees in the finalists of Rawlings Gold Gloves this year.  Son of a ....

Anyway.

Here are the list of finalists brought to us by CBSSports.com. Check it out:

AL Pitcher
Mark Buehrle, Blue Jays (4)
Felix Hernandez, Mariners (0)
Dallas Keuchel, Astros (0)
 

NL Pitcher
Zack Greinke, Dodgers (0)
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers (1)
Adam Wainwright, Cardinals (2)

AL Catcher
Alex Avila, Tigers (0)
Yan Gomes, Indians (0)
Salvador Perez, Royals (1)

NL Catcher
Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers (0)
Russell Martin, Pirates (1)
Yadier Molina, Cardinals (6)

AL First Base
Miguel Cabrera, Tigers (0)
Eric Hosmer, Royals (1)
Albert Pujols, Angels (2)

NL First Base
Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers (3)
Adam LaRoche, Nationals (1)
Justin Morneau, Rockies (0)

AL Second Base
Robinson Cano, Mariners (2)
Ian Kinsler, Tigers (0)
Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox (3)

NL Second Base
DJ LeMahieu, Rockies (0)
Brandon Phillips, Reds (4)
Chase Utley, Phillies (0)

AL Shortstop
Alcides Escobar, Royals (0)
J.J. Hardy, Orioles (2)
Alexei Ramirez, White Sox (0)

NL Shortstop
Zack Cozart, Reds (0)
Adeiny Hechavarria, Marlins (0)
Andrelton Simmons, Braves (1)
 

AL Third Base
Adrian Beltre, Rangers (4)
Josh Donaldson, Athletics (0)
Kyle Seager, Mariners (0)

NL Third Base
Nolan Arenado, Rockies (1)
Pablo Sandoval, Giants (0)
Juan Uribe, Dodgers (0)

AL Left Field
Michael Brantley, Indians (0)
Yoenis Cespedes, Athletics/Red Sox (0)
Alex Gordon, Royals (3)

NL Left Field
Starling Marte, Pirates (0)
Justin Upton, Braves (0)
Christian Yelich, Marlins (0)

AL Center Field
Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox (0)
Adam Eaton, White Sox (0)
Adam Jones, Orioles (3)

NL Center Field
Billy Hamilton, Reds (0)
Juan Lagares, Mets (0)
Denard Span, Nationals (0)

AL Right Field
Kole Calhoun, Angels (0)
Kevin Kiermaier, Rays (0)
Nick Markakis, Orioles (1)

NL Right Field
Jason Heyward, Braves (1)
Gerardo Parra, Diamondbacks/Brewers (2)
Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins (0)

Winners will be announced on November 11th.

Just a quick opinion.  I am shocked a guy like Yasiel Puig didn't make the finals, as well as Ellsbury and Gardner.  I am also shocked that Pujols made the finals.  Really?

Anyway, congrats to the finalists.



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THE RED SOX ARE PLAYING HARDBALL WITH NAPOLI

Sounds like there is more trouble in paradise between the Red Sox and Mike Napoli. Baseball can be a funny business, and the recent rift could play nicely into the Yankees hands. I can't help but wonder if the Yankees are just laying in the weeds waiting to pounce on this one...

Back on December 3rd, the Red Sox agreed to sign Mike Napoli for a three year, $39 million dollar contract. Here we are alomst a month and a half later and there has been no contract finalized after a requisite physical gave the Red Sox cause for concern. Napoli is no stranger to injury, and it looks like his recurring hip injuries have scared the Red Sox.

It has been reported HERE by Pete Abraham that the Red Sox have now changed their plans and want to give Napoli a gauranteed one year deal. Doing this puts the pressure on Napoli to give them the plate appearances they expect, otherwise he could find himself a free agent again.

This could give other teams, like the Yankees, the opportunity to pounce. Clearly, things are not going smoothly here. I'm no expert, but I understand why both sides feel the way they do. If I am Mike Napoli, I want the three year deal that was given to me and I want to just sign on the dotted line and get myself ready to report for Spring Training next month.

On the other hand, if I am Ben Cherington do not want to give a player a handsome three year deal that involves a lot of risk to it. Clearly, they saw something in his test results that are not pretty. It's rebuilding time, and you can't expect optimum results on a high priced player with warning signs on a long term deal. Maybe he isn't sweating yet because the Red Sox also went through this already back in 2007.

 

(In Photo: JD Drew)

It took the Red Sox 52 days to finalize a five year, $70 million dollar deal with JD Drew. They waited it out and eventually got the contract they wanted forcing him to agree to a deal that enabled them to void the contract after three years if Drew were to re-injure his shoulder. Maybe this is the route they will go again.

This scenario has "sneak attack" written all over it. The first basemen market is extremely thin now that Adam LaRoche has signed with the Nationals. Other players available are Carlos Lee, Aubrey Huff, Lyle Overbay and Casey Kotchman, and these guys don't have the same bat power. If Napoli is upset enough to test the waters elsewhere some other team could swoon him away, but it is very unlikely he will get the three year deal and money that was originally offered to him.

I am sure the Yankees are keeping close tabs on this one. Napoli's value has clearly been diminished, and if the Yankees want to continue giving out one year deals, it's not unreasonable to think that they could come in and pull off another big steal. If Napoli is willing then it really poses no risk.

Stay tuned....this could get very interesting. Of course, if anything else develops we will definitely let you know here at Bleeding Yankee Blue.

--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Writer and Editor

Twitter: @NyPrincessJ



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WHY PLATOONING ICHIRO WOULD BE A BIG MISTAKE

Following the news that the Nationals signed Adam LaRoche to a contract and might be willing to trade outfielder Michael Morse, Yankees fans began speculating as to how Morse might fit with the team. Shortly after the excited conjecture by the fans, Bryan Hoch reported on “Bombers Beat” that the Yankees have an interest in Morse.  We had our own take here at BYB too.  Read the latest opus titled MICHAEL MORSE & THE YANKEES DILEMMA.

Look, with a need for a righthanded bat, it would only make sense that the team pursue the very talented Morse, and I have no problem with that. What I do take issue with is the implication by many that Morse could be used to platoon Ichiro Suzuki in right field.

I understand that Morse is an average fielder at best, so right field (or backup first base) would be the place to put him from time to time to rest the 38 year-old Suzuki. To use him as a platoon partner, however would be a mistake.

Ichiro Suzuki has been one of the games great hitters since he entered the league.  In addition to his prowess at the plate, he has been a genuine weapon in the field with a cannon for an arm and an uncanny ability to reach balls that normally would fall in for hits.

We all know that Joe Girardi loves to manage situations by the book, and the book will tell him that if you have a right handed hitter available, use him against a left handed pitcher.  In most cases that is all fine and well, but if the manager was to dig deeper into the binder he’d find some amazing things jumping off the pages at him about Ichiro Suzuki.

Over the past 10 seasons, Ichiro has hit .315 against right handed hurlers.  In those same 10 seasons, the left handed hitting Ichiro has batted .329 against southpaws.  That’s right, he’s a full 14 points BETTER against left handers.

To be more relevant, I took a look at his most recent five seasons.  In that time, Suzuki has hit .309 against righties, and .300 against lefties.  AHA! One screams, there you have it!  He does fall into the binder’s rules of engagement!  Well, yes, but he IS STILL HITTING .300 against left handers. Using him strictly as a comparison, I looked at Michael Morse’s statistics for the past three years (he’s only had a significant number of at-bats for the last three seasons).  Since 2010 Morse has hit .294 against lefties and .294 against righties.  Those are pretty decent numbers, yet they aren’t as impressive as Suzuki’s from either side of the mound.

So then, why would you platoon a man who gives you a better shot both at the plate, and in the field at winning every game regardless of who is on the mound? Morse’s power is impressive and every Yankees fan knows we could use another intimidating presence in our lineup.  Given Girardi’s philosophy last season of waiting for the long ball to get our runs rather than manufacturing them, it makes sense that the team would want another long ball threat in the order.  At what cost though?

Morse might be better suited platooning with Brett Gardner as the speedy left-fielder is more prone to streaks at the plate, and in his last two full-seasons (he didn’t play enough in 2012 to warrant consideration there) hit .242 against left handed pitchers.

Look, I’m all for the Yankees getting Michael Morse.  I think he’d be a great fit for our team.  I just don’t think it should be at the expense of playing time for one of baseball’s great hitters.

What do you think?


 
--Steve Skinner, BYB Guest Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1






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MICHAEL MORSE & THE YANKEES DILEMMA

Look, right now there is just a bunch of chatter about the Yankees and Michael Morse.  We don't know if the Yankees truly want the DC Beast, but we as Yankee fans know we do need to fill some pretty big holes and we haven't done much but go cheap.  That being said, I found it interesting that as soon as Adam LaRoche signed his 2 year deal with the Nationals (Read HERE), all eyes were on the Yankees to sign Michael Morse, who, if you follow the insiders, was and is expected to be traded "soon."  This in turn had Michael Morse send out a farewell "I need to take a break" note on Twitter probably because he didn't want to read thousands about Tweets about himself. Here is that Tweet:

The big thing we need to understand here is we all kind of jumped on this story today. Partially because it's a Yankee related story and possibly because Morse may actually be a great asset to the Yankees lineup.  One thing that has popped up though is Morse and his hesitation to be a full time Designated Hitter, read HERE.  I mean, you have to respect that. He's 30 years old. Do you really think he wants to go the way of the Designated Hitter so soon? Many players wouldn't at that age and I get it.

My take on this is simple; this is an outfielder and first baseman with power. You play him in both positions and you mix up the DH role as well. This give guys like Mark Teixeira a day off once in a while and you can rotate 4 outfielders. That's a lot of activity happening. He could end up being damn comfortable with that, I know I could.

And think about this for a second; Brian Cashman said this just the other day in reference to losing alittle power when Nick Swisher darted for Cleveland.  He said:  "We lost Swisher and Ichiro doesn’t hit homers like Nick… And we haven’t replaced Martin’s power. Hopefully, we won’t lose that much with [Kevin] Youkilis replacing Alex at third, but we’ll lose some.” (Read the article HERE.) In the end, he cautions, less home runs.  Well, with Morse, you don't lose that power.

While I like Cash a lot… that statement isn’t acceptable to me. We're the Bronx Bombers.  There are guys that teams are dangling with right handed power and we have seen nothing from Yankee brass this off season.  Big power guys that can come in trades... but nothing.

Now you can be honest with me and tell me that my "rooting" for the Yankees to snag a guy like Giancarlo Stanton is unrealistic and guess what... I tend to agree with you.  I would absolutely love Stanton to roam right field at Yankee Stadium, but the percentage of that happening is very low.  Michael Morse is much more realistic, though, he is not a great outfielder.  He is more like a Nick Swisher out there, he will do fine if we platoon him with Ichiro from time to time though.   And sure, a few weeks ago we asked What about Jason Kubel when Raul Ibanez went to Seattle, remember? And hey, what about Justin Upton?

The Diamondbacks have too many outfielders, we could use one. But let's be honest, we haven't heard any rumblings about the Yankees making any calls on either player. Again, the price may be too steep for the Yankees... who knows.  My point is this, when it comes to guys like Upton or Stanton, stop holding onto the minor leaguers we have if you're just going to let them die in Scranton Wilkes-Barre!  I say at least trade them and give them an opportunity for more playing time somewhere else.

(In Photo: Then Yankee Austin Jackson)
But no, Yankee brass has this unusual fetish with keeping out youngsters down until they are just about ready, and, much like Austin Jackson, after all the hype surrounding him is so high... what do they do?  They flip him and we miss out on another kid.  Well, my point is, if that's the way it's going to be, then keep the trend going and go get Stanton.  If not, make the call to the Nationals now!  Make an offer that is cheaper than it would be for snagging those other guys and get Michael Morse in pinstripes!

This isn't a desperation move.  This isn't a move to make a move.  This is a move that could actually be pretty beneficial for the Yankees and Morse.  I believe Morse will become an instant classic in the Bronx.

I believe the Beast will win over us fans. We wouldn't be calling him the DC Beast anymore, it would be the "Bronx Beast" and he'd do what he does best... crank out home runs and get the Yankees on the board.  But my feeling on this is clear, we once again have a decent bat starring us in the face... sooner or later the Yankees need to pull the trigger.  Will it be with Michael Morse? Well, if it is, I'm OK with that. I really am. 



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