From this article: Are there ironclad rules on who among non-players has access to the clubhouse and under what conditions? Within certain boundaries (access by the press, etc), I would think this subject was strictly a clubhouse matter, for the players to mainly to decide for themselves. To me it's a mark of how a manager "runs his clubhouse", for these kinds of disagreements to be worked out amicably. And if there's an impasse, eventually one or both players approaches a coach, the manager eventually is reeled in, and he figures out what needs to happen - in this case, by first checking with the front office for exactly what language is in the contract and what verbal commitments may have been also agreed to. For Ventura to consider speaking up against LaRoche, as implied above, it would mean not knowing information the front office could have provided. This sounds, to me, pretty weak by Ventura. And pretty brain-dead by Williams to directly inject the front office into this. Imagine Rob Antony, for example, getting mixed up in something like this. TK, Gardy, or Molitor surely would have politely told him to keep your ...well, darn nose out of my ...well, dadgum clubhouse. A long goshdarn time before anything hit the media. / edit - one more thought: If a manager starts to take (or not take) actions based on fear of losing his clubhouse..., dude, you've lost your clubhouse.