Old News: Todd Frazier and Adam Eaton Fucking HATE Each Other

Okay so one of the storylines in baseball the past week was Todd Frazier and Adam Eaton confronting each other after Eaton grounded into a double play on Monday evening:

This was kinda weird, as Frazier was playing 3B and Eaton ended the inning not reaching first.  I have no idea who initiated this kerfuffle by talking shit first, but that doesn’t really matter, as their mutual loathing for each other dates back to 2016 when they both played for one of the most oddly assembled teams in baseball history.

That’s where we’re going to start here.  Take a look at this roster:

Todd Frazier – good guy, hard-nosed vet
Adam Eaton – fuckwad
Brett Lawrie – total weirdo, loose cannon workout freak who looks like he could snap at any minute
Melky Cabrera – good guy, total goofball
Justin Morneau – hardnose vet
Jimmy Rollins – hardnose vet
Chris Sale – team leader, BELOVED in the clubhouse, insatiable appetite for success, despised losing, cut up jerseys to prove a point, apparently clashed with Kenny Williams
James Shields – hardnose vet, awesome guy, team leader…. washed up, but awesome clubhouse presence
Mat Latos – one of the most hated clubhouse guys in baseball
Adam LaRoche – vet, weirdo, but not a “bad” guy, per se, just did his own thing

Now any clubhouse or locker room is an organism in and of itself.  But in order to be a successful clubhouse, all 25 members of the team need to pull from the same rope.  This one didn’t.  Not at all.  It was a collection of total wild cards top to bottom.

This is based on some fact, some conjecture.  For instance, I’ve never really asked about Mat Latos aside from asking Carlos Rodon on Red Line Radio who vouched for him, but a simple google search will tell you how he was one of the worst clubhouse guys of all time.  Just a complete and total asshole top to bottom.

But I do know for a stone cold fact that Adam Eaton was pretty much universally despised in the White Sox clubhouse.  This is coming straight from a member of the 2016 White Sox.  Ozzie Guillen reiterated that last night:

I don’t know *too* many specifics, but let’s start with the fact that Adam Eaton defended Adam LaRoche for having his 12 year old son in the clubhouse NON STOP.  Now there is nothing wrong with bringing your kids to the field here and there. A lot of Major Leaguers do so and it’s not a big deal – but there are appropriate times for it and there are inappropriate times for it.  Having a child in the clubhouse 100% of the time is not appropriate.  The hard-nosed vets of the team agreed.  The rumor was that Jimmy Rollins was the one to initially tell Laroche to get his son the fuck out of the clubhouse.  Not sure if that’s true or not, again, there’s some conjecture here.

And when he apparently spoke up, Kenny Williams put the kibosh on the Drake LaRoche saga, and it lead to Adam Eaton gaing one of the most preposterous quotes in the history of spoken language:

Calling a 12 year old a “leader” is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life.  It’s mind blowing how hilariously cringeworthy that quote is.

Now there was clearly a divide in that clubhouse.  There was the “who cares if Drake LaRoche is here” camp, and there was the “get this kid the fuck out of the clubhouse” camp.  Again, this is conjecture, but I’m guessing the former camp was spearheaded by Sale and Eaton, as Sale told Kenny to stay the fuck out of the clubhouse and Eaton called Drake LaRoche a “leader”, and the latter was lead by Jimmy Rollins – who was subsequently cut and never played again – and Frazier, who literally stuffed Eaton in a locker:

Just the most dysfunctional clubhouse of all time.  And it’s kinda funny, as the Sox started 23-10 that year and everyone was talking about how they were going to play the Cubs in the World Series.

So fast forward to present day.  Eaton and Frazier had their little powwow on Monday night, then both took to the media to speak their minds.

Frazier says Eaton started jawing at him:

That’s Adam, that’s him… I heard what he said, it didn’t really bother me that much but at the end of the day you can ask when I played with the White Sox in 2016, ask all 23 of those guys and they know what happened… for him to even talk after that?  I don’t know how you talk after that, but that’s all I’ll say after that.  If you know Adam, every team he’s been on, you hear what people say, you’d understand.  I was a part of it for a year and a half

Read: Frazier whooped Adam’s ass in 2016

Eaton responds:

Eaton claiming Frazier only started coming at him once he was held back is BEYOND funny.  It’s basically a game of he said, she said but all signs point to Eaton being the agitator.  Could be wrong, but history is on Frazier’s side here

But apparently the two hashed it out yesterday:

Frazier looks so goddamn annoyed.  It’s kinda a ridiculous story but it all goes back to, again, what was the one of the most oddball clubhouses ever, the 2016 Chicago White Sox.  There should be a 30 for 30 made on that goddamn team. But we know this: Adam Eaton is a good player on the field, a total pest and dickhead off it.