Chicago White Sox: Chris Sale wrong to call out Robin Ventura
Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale had an interesting rationalization for why he cut up jerseys last weekend.
The Chicago White Sox enter Wednesday with a record of 50-50. A .500 record at the end of July would be seen as a positive sign by some teams, but it is a disappointment for the White Sox after a 23-10 start to the season.
The only player still playing at an elite level is Chris Sale, who owns a 14-3 record along with a 3.18 ERA. But while his play is elite, his attitude seems to be that of someone in tee-ball.
Sale got angry about wearing the justifiably uncomfortable, untucked 1976 throwback jerseys, so he went ahead and cut them all up so no one on the team could wear them. He is currently serving a suspension for his actions, and his trade value may have gone down a bit after the scene he caused.
What was even worse is that he seemed to blame his manager Robin Ventura for not sticking up for his players, according to an interview with Sale on MLB.com published earlier this week:
"“Robin is the one who has to fight for us in that department,” Sale said. “If the players don’t feel comfortable 100 percent about what we are doing to win the game, and we have an easy fix — it was as easy as hanging up another jersey and everyone was fine. For them to put business first over winning, that’s when I lost it.”"
While the jerseys do look uncomfortable, cutting them up like an angry child is completely uncalled for. One can just imagine Sale running around the clubhouse in a rage with a pair of scissors while the clubhouse manager is cowering in the corner.
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Sale needs to understand that the business aspect of the business is just as important as the play on the field. The two divisions go together to create a successful organization and make enough money to pay the players tens of millions each season.
The right move would have been to just wear the jersey, then complain after the game if he truly thought it affected his performance. Instead, he forced the White Sox bullpen to have to cover for him and pitch the entire game Saturday.
This incident may have initially hurt his trade value, but a contending team is still going to give up a great deal of talent for Sale if the White Sox want to trade him. The only concern is that Sale called out his current manager for something that was not too big of a deal, so what will happen if he faces a major disagreement with his new manager? Will he burn the hats? Throw everyone’s cleats in the toilets?
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It is fair for a player to not want the team to put business ahead of winning, but wearing a jersey once a season does not fit that description. And the outburst may have cost Sale his job in Chicago.