(670 The Score) Trying to make a final push in hopes of salvaging a lost season, the White Sox held another players-only meeting Thursday ahead of a series finale against the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The meeting came a day after the White Sox announced that manager Tony La Russa would take an indefinite medical leave of absence and as Chicago sits five games back of Cleveland in the AL Central race.
"They are all grown men,” acting manager Miguel Cairo said. “They were talking about what we have left. The one thing we have to do as a team is be on the same page. Communication is so important. I have talked to the guys about that. I am going to be honest and up front with them. The message is weather you are playing or not, be ready to go out there and play and have fun. The game is about having fun, but as soon as you cross the lines, it’s a battle. You must be a warrior.”
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White Sox players revealed only a few details on what specifically was discussed in the meeting.
"I am going to keep the message from our meeting in-house," reliever Kendall Graveman said. “I might share it with you at a different time but not now. We still have a job to do here. It's hard to speak to what the vibe is here. Everybody has their own way of doing things. If we were in this position as a manager, we would all do things differently.
“One thing I will say is we have to control what we can control. Right now, we must communicate better than anyone in the league. That means from player to player and player to coach. That is also from top to bottom in the entire organization. Good success is found first in communication. That is the basis of what we must do.”
The White Sox are still processing La Russa’s health situation and absence.
"It’s very weird without Tony here,” catcher Seby Zavala said. “We still have a chance. We certainly are not in the driver's seat. The schedule has us playing the teams who are a few games ahead of us in the last month. So the conversation was about us handling our business. That should put us in a good spot. We need to take care of what we can control and win series after series. We feel we should be winning. Doing your work is not enough. We must produce on the field. We just need to find a way to produce and win. The meeting will be kept between us players, but we all need to prepare each day whether we are starting or not to beat that pitcher that day. The message is we need to find a way to win here.”
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
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