As long as the Sox didn't make this decision with the intention of forcing Laroche to retire, which from everything I've read it sounds like they didn't, then I'm 100% fine with this, even if they did give some sort of verbal agreement to let the kid be around all the time.
The Sox have every right to make a policy change if they believe that it will have a positive impact on the team.
And I'm fine with Laroche's decision, so long as it doesn't end up getting his teammates all pissed at management over this.