“Rookie pitchers sleep in the bullpen during games, some players skip team meetings, and some skip fielding practice. And no one is disciplined.”
This is the current state of affairs in the Chicago White Sox organization, according to former Major League Baseball (MLB) 바카라사이트 New York Yankees pitcher Khinin Middleton, 29. Middleton, a bullpen pitcher, was traded to the Yankees on Feb. 2 after spending this year with the White Sox.
According to Middleton, who was quoted by ESPN in an article published online on July 7, the White Sox are a disorganized team that is hard to call a big league club.
Middleton recalled that when he signed a minor league contract in January of this year, “there were no team rules,” he said.
Everyone was doing their own thing, and there were no rules or guidelines to control players’ personal behavior as a team.
There’s plenty of evidence to back up Middleton’s revelations, ESPN added.
“When I started spring training this year, I was told that a lot of this stuff happened last year,” Middleton said, “and they didn’t say, ‘Don’t miss fielding practice,’ or ‘Don’t miss team meetings,’ they just said, ‘OK,’ when it actually happened.”
Middleton shaved his beard after joining the Yankees.
He also pointed to the absence of starting pitcher Lance Lynn and veteran reliever Kendall Graveman, saying, “They left the team in spring training to go to the World Baseball Classic (WBC), and it takes a very strong person in an organization to create a team culture, and the White Sox had two guys who were going to set the tone for the team.”
Like Middleton, Lynn and Graveman were traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, respectively, before the trade deadline.
Middleton now finds himself with the Yankees, who have one of the most conservative bylaws among the 30 major league clubs.
He’s clean-shaven, with a no-beard rule, and he’s never late for a team meeting. He knows there’s a steep price to pay for doing so.
Middleton’s comments come as the White Sox, whose season was derailed by a “fire sale” of key players, find themselves at the center of the media spotlight after a brawl reminiscent of boxing against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.