Plopped right in the middle of an interesting feature about Adam LaRoche on ESPN.com is this:
"Then there's this: LaRoche, along with Brewers pitcher Blaine Boyer, spent 10 days in November in Southeast Asian brothels, wearing a hidden camera and doing undercover work to help rescue underage sex slaves."
I'm sorry, what?
Boyer, who had a sneakily effective year for the Twins (2.49 ERA in 68 appearances) in 2015 before signing with the Brewers in 2016 (no runs allowed in three outings so far), is apparently very good friends with LaRoche — the subject of much controversy this spring after he was told by the White Sox that his teenage son shouldn't be hanging around the clubhouse.
Boyer was LaRoche's sounding board as he wrestled with the decision he ultimately came to: retirement.
The story later reveals that the trip to Asia planted the seed for the decision, as it was then that they were confronted head-on with issues far greater than baseball.
Working through a nonprofit called the Exodus Road, LaRoche and Boyer conducted surveillance in brothels and tried to determine the age of the girls — known only by numbers pinned to bikinis — and identify their bosses.
"Something huge happened there for us," Boyer says. "You can't explain it. Can't put your finger on it. If you make a wrong move, you're getting tossed off a building. We were in deep, man, but that's the way it needed to be done. Adam and I truly believe God brought us there and said, 'This is what I have for you boys.'"
