Chris Sale was scheduled to start tonight’s game against the Detroit Tigers, but the Chicago White Sox scratched the lefty at the last minute. The team said in a statement that Sale was removed because of an incident in the clubhouse that was “non-physical in nature.”
The release:
Matt Albers started in Sale’s place.
When a pitcher’s abruptly scratched in July, the natural line of thought is that the team’s close to trading him, but the reason for this move might be something else. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reported that the incident involved Sale and the White Sox management:
Back in March, when Adam LaRoche abruptly retired because the team wouldn’t let his 14-year-old son hang out in the clubhouse, Sale spoke out in favor of LaRoche and blamed executive vice president Kenny Williams for handling the situation poorly.
Update (8:15 p.m.): Multiple reports say that Sale was mad about the throwback jerseys for tonight’s game. According to Tommy Stokke of FanRag Sports, the pitcher cut up the uniforms so they were unusable:
Ken Rosenthal added more:
Correction (8:28 p.m.): These are the White Sox jerseys for tonight.
Update (8:34 p.m.): More details from Rosenthal.
Update (8:38 p.m.): The White Sox are wearing different throwbacks tonight, but these were the original throwbacks that were given away to fans.