The White Sox were extra petty towards former relief pitcher Keynan Middleton in his return to Chicago after he called out the team's clubhouse culture.
The Chicago White Sox were one of the big sellers at this year's trade deadline, as they moved on from big-name players and impending free agents. One of the players they traded was relief pitcher Keynan Middleton, who they sent to the New York Yankees. Following the trade, Middleton called out Chicago's clubhouse culture, saying there are "no rules" and players get to do whatever they want, including skipping pitcher fielding practices.
This week, Middleton returned to Chicago as a member of the Yankees. When he was called upon in the bottom of the fourth inning to take over for Luis Severino. As he was pitching, the scoreboard at Guaranteed Rate Field appeared to omit Middleton's name.
Peep the blank space on the scoreboard right next to "RHP" and "3.83 ERA."
White Sox scoreboard omits Keynan Middleton's name after he trashed team's culture
While the fans who were watching the game or happened to see the video on social media think this was a case of the White Sox being petty against Middleton, the team denies it. In a statement released to Daryln Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, the White Sox claim that it was a glitch caused "because of duplicate players listed under one uniform number on MLB's downloadable Yankees roster."
When looking at the Yankees' 40-man roster, Middleton and No. 4 prospect Everson Periera both have the No. 93.
Here is exactly what Middleton had to say about the team's clubhouse culture.
"We came in with no rules," Middleton said, h/t ESPN. "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."
Following his comments about the White Sox, Middleton expressed how excited he was to be traded to the Yankees, whom he praised for their rules and culture.
"The second I found out I was traded, I shaved my face," Middleton said, h/t ESPN. "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."
Middleton's former teammate Lance Lynn was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers before the trade deadline. During an appearance on "Foul Territory," Lynn was asked by host A.J. Pierzynski if he had any comment on Middleton's critique of the White Sox. Lynn said, "I can tell you what he was wrong about," and then said nothing after that. Take with that what you will.
The White Sox denied Middleton's claims about there being no rules in the White Sox clubhouse. General manager Rick Hahn called out Middleton for critiquing the culture and claimed that his last conversation with him was over a disciplinary issue.
"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 the clubhouse where he sought me out to apologize for his unprofessional behavior Pedro had called him out on," Hahn said, h/t. the Associated Press. "At the time I figured that was a one-off."
Middleton said, h/t Associated Press, that he stands by his comments and expressed his desire to move on.
While the scoreboard situation on Wednesday looked petty, the White Sox claim that it was a glitch.
