After a tumultuous 48 hours, members of the White Sox faced the media on Monday afternoon.
It all started with catcher Yasmani Grandal, who made headlines just before his media session for reportedly getting into a physical altercation with Tim Anderson prior to the All-Star break. Though the veteran apparently told reporters that he wanted to speak with the media so the younger players wouldn’t have to.
In a clip tweeted by the Daily Herald’s Scot Gregor, Grandal can be heard responding to questions about the current state of the team.
“I think what happened, happened. I mean, I don’t live in the past. Things happen in this game, and I’m sure if you could take it back, you’d take it back. But it’s done now.
“I think Pedro’s done a great job understanding what he needs to do in order to go in the right direction. I think we have a group of guys that he feels could be the centerpiece of that.”
– White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal (via Scott Gregor)
CHGO’s Vinnie Duber later tweeted an update where Grandal responded to the reports of his altercation with Anderson by saying, “This is unreal.” He also denied reports of slapping Anderson.
Shortly following, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn addressed the media after a weekend that not only featured a benches-clearing brawl but also groundbreaking reports of ongoing culture issues within the organization.
In a separate clip tweeted by Gregor, Hahn can be heard saying the following:
“After we spoke at the deadline, I actually didn’t anticipate speaking again so soon but obviously over the last 48 hours there’s been a few things that require direct responses. First, let’s talk about the incident over the weekend in Cleveland. Obviously, unfortunate. You never want to see anything like that unfold on a baseball field. We were fortunate that nobody was injured on either side. And, obviously, understand the commisioner’s office role in billing out discipline. At this time, we’ll support the process and let it unfold before seeing what is meted out.
“I will say, which coincidentally going into the second topic of leadership and clubhouse culture. You did see a team on Saturday and Sunday rally around each other. You saw individual examples of leadership, such as that from Andrew Vaughn, in particular, on the field. Michael Kopech playing peacemaker in that melee. And a team that faced adversity as a unit and came away with two victories that was hopefully something to build upon.
Obviously, late last night, early this morning, there were reports from a former player criticizing some elements of our culture. I will get at that in a moment, those specific comments. But first, I think it’s important to note that for the past month, you’ve heard fairly directly from both Pedro, and me, and others that we realized we had a bit of a cultural problem in this clubhouse. That we didn’t have a group that was all pulling in the same direction that was necessarily supporting each other or going about their business in a way that we had wanted this team to go about it. It was something that we were up front about for the last several weeks. Something that we feel we’ve been in the process of addressing, both at the trade deadline, as well as since. And it’s something that we expect to continue to improve over the coming weeks.
– White Sox GM Rick Hahn (via Scott Gregor)
After the above clip, Hahn said this to say in direct response to Keynan Middleton’s comments:
“Quite frankly, it’s a little bit ironic that Keynan’s the one saying this because my last conversation with him face-to-face was a week ago in this clubhouse where he sought me out to apologize for his unprofessional behavior – unprofessional behavior that Pedro [Grifol] had called him out on and had an individual meeting with him about, and Keynan wanted to apologize for. I told him, at the time, I figured that was a one off and not something that anyone need to get into greater detail of. And he shared that he understood there was a trade deadline coming up and that if we moved him, he would be very interested in returning to us as a free agent.
“As for the content of the report, unfortunately, I mentioned to you a few weeks ago that there’s going to probably be some palace intrigue around here, and you had to be careful about sourcing and what kind of information was out there and who was saying what and not getting both sides.”
– White Sox GM Rick Hahn (via NBC Sports Chicago)
Hahn also went on to deny reports that a pitcher was sleeping in the bullpen during a game and that there were no consequences for players who didn’t take part in scheduled practices.
“No one in this organization for the last several weeks has run from the fact that we’ve had cultural issues and we need to improve the leadership in that room. We’re going to continue to strive to get better in that area. But one thing we’re not going to do is stand idly by while false reports are put out there about the character of the men that remain in that room.”
– White Sox GM Rick Hahn (via NBC Sports Chicago)
Owner Jerry Reinsdorf also happened to pass by media members, according to several tweets, though declined to comment.
The report of cultural issues within the White Sox clubhouse originally came to light on Sunday night after Jesse Rogers of ESPN published a scathing report of the current conditions with the White Sox. The detailed account of questionable behavior and leadership comes directly from former reliever Keynan Middleton who, among other things, was highly critical of the team’s “no rules” culture. The report includes everything from a lack of accountability in practice all the way down to players sleeping in the bullpen during games.
Middleton began by reviewing some of the on-field shortcomings of the White Sox, which are incredibly alarming.
“We came in with no rules. I don’t know how you police the culture if there are no rules or guidelines to follow because everyone is doing their own thing. Like, how do you say anything about it because there are no rules? You have rookies sleeping in the bullpen during the game. You have guys missing meetings. You have guys missing PFPs [pitcher fielding practices] and there are no consequences for any of this stuff.”
– Former White Sox reliever Keynan Middleton (via ESPN)
Though there are plenty of additional details in between, which can be read here, perhaps his most damming quote of all closed out his interview.
“The second I found out I was traded, I shaved my face. I was ready to play by their rules because all I want to do is win games…You know how to act [here]. You know not to be late and you know there are consequences if you are late… Did I want to shave my beard off? Hell no. I had to. I wanted to be a part of [the Yankees]. There was no question.”
– Former White Sox reliever Keynan Middleton (via ESPN)
Rogers followed up his original article by appearing on ESPN Chicago’s Kap & J. Hood Show on Monday morning to not only talk about this report but name specific players who are part of the White Sox’s problem.
“… It’s the ones you know. Grandal is no friend to the pitchers. Moncada is no hard worker who is there for his team or teammates… Eloy is happy-go-lucky but isn’t a hard worker, at least according to the people I’m talking to…”
– MLB insider Jesse Rogers (via Kap & J. Hood on ESPN)
While any problems the White Sox have with Yasmani Grandal will come to an end, at the latest, by the end of the year, that can’t be said for both Jimenez and Moncada, who are both under contract for at least one more season. This report does call into question the team’s decision to trade Jake Burger – while he did bring back a solid return, it doesn’t appear as if he was part of the problem. 670 The Score also did report during the Trade Deadline that the Marlins were interested in Jimenez, however, the White Sox did not want to move him at the time and the teams presumably shifted to Burger.
Oh, and since we mentioned Grandal earlier, let’s get back to the separate report that came to light on Monday afternoon. According to Shane Riordan of 670 The Score, Anderson and Grandal were involved in a physical altercation right before the All-Star Break. Riordan shared an update on the story before going live on the radio station’s Parkins & Spiegel Show on Monday afternoon.
Based on the report, Grandal was not in the lineup the day before the All-Star break and wanted to leave early due to the frustration of not playing. Trainers and staff members said he couldn’t do that unless he cleared it with Grifol and the coaching staff. Anderson apparently caught wind of this and then said something along the lines of, “F*** him. If he doesn’t want to be here, I’ll pay for his flight.” Grandal then walked over to Anderson in the tub and slapped the shortstop across the face, they fought and had to be separated.
Though it’s been a wild day of news, we can’t say for certain that this is the extent of it. There’s certainly the potential for this to only be the tip of the iceberg with even more stories of dysfunction to surface. We will continue to monitor this ongoing situation and provide any additional updates as we get them.
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Featured Photo: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Rick is such a liar. I suppose Lance Lynn was lying also. And Pedro said last week in an interview that we had a few culture issues but we addressed them and that he will take responsibility for the problems.
Rick Hahn always addresses issues by sidestepping them! When he says that no one in the organization has run from the fact that there are cultural issues and that they are working on getting better at leadership in this area, who does he think he is fooling? Why did it take former players speaking up to bring this to light? What a condescending little prick!