The meeting was tense, uncomfortable. Backup infielder Tommy La Stella had just rejoined the Chicago Cubs after spending nearly three weeks at home instead of reporting to Triple A Iowa. His teammates wanted answers. Some were even angry.



“Absolutely — that was most certainly the case,” La Stella’s friend, former Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta, recalls of the meeting at Wrigley Field on Aug. 31, 2016. “Some of the veteran guys were really unhappy with the way he handled the situation.”



To some of the players, as well as many on the outside, La Stella’s refusal to initially accept his Triple A assignment appeared the ultimate act of selfishness. Arrieta and others close to La Stella, however, knew the complicated truth: La Stella, then 27, was questioning himself, struggling with his identity, trying to figure out whether he still had a place in the baseball universe.



After finally reporting to Triple A and playing eight...