Mets Policy on Kids in Clubhouse
Following the Adam LaRoche “the White Sox hate kids” controversy, Terry Collins has outlined the Mets policy regarding players’ children in the clubhouse and on the field. As per ESPN New York:
“We allow them until a certain time, and then it’s time to get ready for the game. And then we allow them when the game is over after a period of time that players can cool down. We do it as a team — our veteran players have a say in things. One of the things they have asked is that if you to bring some people in before a game, that’s fine. But an hour before, they’ve got to be gone. I’ve been other places where we didn’t have any kids in the clubhouse. And I’ve been to places where there’s been a few. But I haven’t had the opportunity to really have older kids. But we have rules.”
That all seems to make sense.
At first, I had a hard time sympathizing with LaRoche; after all, who gets to bring their kids to work every day? And White Sox VP Kenny Williams was not banning the boy from the clubhouse; he just wanted to scale it back.
But then it was revealed LaRoche talked about this with management before he signed with Chicago. And he claims Williams told him not to bring Drake LaRoche to the ballpark at all anymore. And it appears Williams has been telling conflicting stories about who was complaining about the teenager.
So it appears this might all be coming from Kenny Williams. As they guy who runs the team, he certainly has the right to make new rules. But if they fly in the face of an agreement he made with LaRoche before he signed, that is just not fair to LaRoche. Unless teammates complained, which is apparently not the case.
In any case, this has nothing to do with the Mets defending their National League pennant. It is fortunately a distraction they do not have.