Ex-Chicago White Sox Pitcher Slams Team’s Lack Of Rules After Tim Anderson Brawl

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Chicago White Sox star Tim Anderson had a no good, very bad weekend against AL Central rival the Cleveland Guardians.

Anderson, a two-time All-Star in the midst of the worst season of his career, began the series by going 0-3 in a 4-2 loss on Friday night.

He then rebounded a bit to go 1-3 in a 7-4 victory on Saturday, but that was far from the lead story. Instead, it was Anderson getting knocked out after starting a fight with Guardians star Jose Ramirez in the sixth inning.

Anderson then sat out of Sunday’s series finale and is likely facing a significant suspension from Major League Baseball. But he took to Twitter to air out his (somewhat crazy) thoughts on the situation.

Now one former White Sox player is chiming in and letting people know that he’s not surprised by a debacle.

“We came in with no rules,” New York Yankees reliever Middleton told 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?”

Middleton, a 29-year-old reliever with a 3.66 ERA, joined the Yankees from Chicago at the MLB trade deadline.

“You have rookies sleeping in the bullpen during the game. You have guys missing meetings, (and) you have guys missing PFPs (pitcher fielding practices), and there are no consequences for any of this stuff,” he continued.

The White Sox did not comment when asked about his allegations. But ESPN did corroborate the story.

“The second I found out I was traded, I shaved my face,” Middleton said about the Yankees’ structure.. “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.”

Talk about a damning indictment. The White Sox are 45-68 under first-year manager Pedro Grifol. And it doesn’t appear things are trending up.