Report: White Sox shirked Seattle clubhouse dues to protest Mariners' policy

Chris Sale's decision to cut up the jerseys his team was supposed to wear Saturday - an act of insubordination that landed the 27-year-old ace a five-day suspension - wasn't the only clubhouse controversy to embroil the Chicago White Sox this week, apparently.

Three days before Sale defiantly pulled out his scissors, White Sox players reportedly left Seattle without paying clubhouse dues and tips - a gesture of protest against a new Mariners policy that apportions 60 percent of the dues into a team-managed account, sources told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

Jerry Dipoto, the Mariners' newly hired general manager, confirmed that the White Sox are the first club to refuse to pay Jeff Bopp, Seattle's visiting clubhouse manager, but also that other teams responded with "curiosity" to their policy (which, Rosenthal explains, constitutes an infringement by management on a relationship that historically existed only between players and clubhouse attendants).

"There has been some curiosity with other teams in the league, but nobody reacted the way the White Sox did," Dipoto said. "The fact that they decided to leave town without paying, clearly it's their choice. They don't have to. There's no rule that says you must."

During their recent three-game set at Safeco Field, several White Sox players, including Sale and Adam Eaton, met with Mariners assistant GM Jeff Kingston to express concern over the policy, which redirects the majority of their dues and tips to management instead of Bopp (typically, clubhouse managers use those funds to purchase food and other items for the players, and redistributes a percentage of the tips to his assistants).

According to Rosenthal, the players' union has voiced concern over a lack of uniformity in clubhouse protocols in collective bargaining, and issues like these could be addressed when the current CBA expires Dec. 1.