Chris Sale Speaks Out On #JerseyGate
MLB.com — CHICAGO — Chris Sale doesn’t want to be traded — and doesn’t believe he will be — in the wake of Saturday night’s pregame outburst that resulted in him being scratched from his start that evening and then suspended five games by the White Sox.
“I want to win a championship in Chicago. That’s been my goal from Day 1,” Sale told MLB.com Monday afternoon during a 30-minute interview, his first public comments since Saturday. “It has never changed. I only get more passionate about it because I know that it’s not easy winning a championship. There’s a lot that goes into it. “Our main focus should be winning. I know that every single player comes in ready to win every day. I can’t speak on anybody else. … I don’t think I would be traded. I don’t know for sure. I don’t know what they are thinking now or what’s going on.”
For Sale, the core issue wasn’t the uniforms themselves, although he did have issues with them, but putting business interests ahead of winning. “Nothing else matters really,” Sale said, in a calm and composed but still passionate manner. “People don’t talk about the guys who get paid the most. They talk about the guys with the rings and teams that won the rings. Our guys in this clubhouse deserve, in every single game, the best opportunity to go achieve that goal of winning a championship. That’s why we are all here. Nothing else matters.”
There are, of course, financial considerations for the White Sox as there are for any business. Throwback days are popular with fans and often are accompanied by a spike in attendance. Switching uniforms at the last moment, without an opportunity to inform fans of the change, certainly could have engendered frustration on the part of fans who came to see the team play in those uniforms. The issue, for Sale, began in Spring Training when the players were fitted for the special jerseys, which in 2015 were too large and therefore uncomfortable to play in. Sale said that players were not fans of this jersey overall, and he said then that if the jerseys fell on his day to pitch, he didn’t want to wear them, in part because he never had pitched in an untucked jersey in his life. On the night before Sale’s Saturday start, he was advised that the ’76 throwbacks were set for his start and Sale asked the clubhouse manager for a different uniform, then expressing the sentiment to pitching coach Don Cooper. Sale was in favor of the ’83 throwbacks, which eventually were worn Saturday, because he didn’t want the untucked style of the ’76 uniform.
When he arrived Saturday and the ’76 throwbacks were set out for the players, Sale again took his issue to Cooper and manager Robin Ventura, with whom he admittedly lost his cool. He did not get the answer he wanted and, upon returning to the clubhouse, Sale reportedly cut up his uniform and then those of his teammates, rendering them unwearable. “When I saw that there was something in the way of that 100 percent winning mentality, I had an issue,” Sale said. “I tried to bring it up and say, ‘Hey listen, these are my thoughts and concerns,’ and they got pushed away because of the business deal that was set in place. I’ll never understand why we need to do something on the business side on the field that might impede us winning a game.
“[The ’76 uniforms] are uncomfortable and unorthodox. I didn’t want to go out there and not be at the top of my game in every aspect that I need to be in. Not only that, but I didn’t want anything to alter my mechanics. … There’s a lot of different things that went into it. Looking bad had absolutely zero to do with it. Nothing.” In the end, Ventura told Sale there would be no last-minute change. “I didn’t put promotion in front of winning,” Ventura said. “But I think we all have things that we have to do. There has to be a line somewhere, and that’s what ended up happening.” “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.”
I’ve had Chris Sale’s back from day 1 on this situation. Yes, what he did was really childish, but after reading his comments it just reinforced everything I had already thought about Chris Sale: He’s an ultimate competitor with an insatiable appetite for success and he doesn’t want anything to impede those two things. After his interview last night with Scott Merkin, my love for him as the face of the Chicago White Sox reached an all-time high. There isn’t one pitcher in the game I want anchoring the White Sox rotation for the foreseeable future other than Chris Sale. That’s the first major takeaway here. The next one?
At least to me, it’s pretty clear at this point that Robin Ventura doesn’t have the balls to manage a Major League Baseball team.
Now, people have obviously been clamoring for Ventura’s head on a stake GOT style for what, 3 seasons now? I used to be one of those people until it was exceedingly obvious that the White Sox just had shit rosters for the entirety of Ventura’s tenure more or less, so I have been off the #FireRobin bandwagon for a pretty decent while now. Yeah, he isn’t great at all at what he does, but it doesn’t matter. Joe Maddon, Tony Larussa, Joe Torre, etc. ain’t doing shit with the rosters Ventura’s inherited either. Now, I’m of the belief that the less an MLB manager actually has to “manage” on the field, the better the team is doing. If he can just sit back, relax, and let the lineup and pitching staff do their thing, the team is probably doing well. Where a manager is most important is behind the scenes; in the clubhouse where there aren’t cameras all over so arm-chair managers like me breaking down every managerial decision that’s made.
That’s why I’ve always given Ventura the benefit of the doubt. By all accounts he’s a really good dude; pretty sure everyone can agree with that. He’s also someone who’s been around the game his whole life and one who knows how a Major League clubhouse works and doesn’t work. Ya know, someone who can keep things on an even keel behind closed doors so off the field bull shit doesn’t affect wins and losses.
With that said, I was never sure if he had the CEO gene in his DNA. Someone who can tell people to fuck off if need be; someone who can control a subordinate with extreme temper control issues. Now it’s clear he can’t. Sale’s comments make that clear. Again, the two biggest stories surrounding the Sox this year regard a 12 year old in the clubhouse 24/7 and throwback fucking jerseys pissing off the team’s star pitcher. Can’t have that Robin. Can’t have that at all.
Again, Chris Sale is a competitor. He is dying to lead this team to success. If untucked wool jerseys that are incredibly heavy and hot on a 95 degree day with 100 percent humidity can potentially impede him from happening, then fuck you. Wear the 83’s. Fuck Jerry Reinsdorf and his promotions. Chris Sale doesn’t give a shit about the business side of baseball. He gets it, but he doesn’t give a shit about it. He’s paid to win baseball games. And the manager is supposed to put his team in the best possible position to win said games. When Ventura doesn’t have his best player, team leader and franchise face’s back in a situation like this, there are major problems.
In the end, Sale’s reaction was still stupid and childish, but that’s beside the point at this point. If Reinsdorf, Ventura and whoever else are worried about business deals and the people in the stands getting pissed off that the team isn’t wearing their completely unorthodox uniforms, fuck outta here. Their priorities are clearly in the wrong places. Chris Sale’s priorities? Right where they need to be. And that’s why he’s the best.