Shawn Chacon Bodyslams His GM

[Valadius]

Shawn Chacon has been suspended indefinitely for going insane:

Chacon Bodyslammed Ed Wade After Demotion to Bullpen

]Astros suspend pitcher Shawn Chacon indefinitely By KRISTIE RIEKEN, AP Sports Writer 40 minutes ago HOUSTON (AP)�Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon was suspended indefinitely by the team Wednesday for insubordination after reportedly grabbing general manager Ed Wade by the neck and throwing him to the ground. Chacon, upset after getting demoted to the bullpen over the weekend, told the Houston Chronicle this problem began when Wade saw him in the dining room before the game against Texas. Wade wanted to meet with Chacon in manager Cecil Cooper�s office, the pitcher said. �I sat down to eat and Ed Wade came to me and very sternly said, �You need to come with me to the office,�� Chacon said. �I said �for what?� I said �I don�t want to go to the office with you and Cooper.� And I said, �You can tell me whatever you got to tell me right here.� He�s like, �Oh, you want me to tell you right here?� And I said, �yeah.� I�m not yelling. I�m calm.� Chacon said things went downhill from there. �He started yelling and cussing,� Chacon said of Wade, according to a story on the Chronicle�s Web site. �I�m sitting there and I said to him very calmly, �Ed, you need to stop yelling at me. Then I stood up and said, �You better stop yelling at me.� I stood up. He continued and was basically yelling.� Chacon said that after Wade told him he needed to �look in the mirror,� it got worse. �So at that point I lost my cool and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him,� he said. �Words were exchanged.� Chacon said players quickly came and separated the two. He recalled outfielder Reggie Abercrombie pulling him away from Wade. Wade announced the move, but would not provide any other details. Chacon has been upset since being bumped from the rotation and moved into the bullpen on Sunday. Chacon is 2-3 with a 5.04 ERA in 15 starts for Houston this year. The right-hander set a major league record with nine straight no-decisions to start the season. �He is suspended pending final resolution of whatever move we end up making with him,� Wade said. When asked if Chacon was disciplined because he physically accosted Wade, the GM said: �I�m not getting into any details of anything beyond what I just said. It is an internal matter.� Wade did confirm that Chacon�s agent called and requested a trade earlier this week but said �that has nothing to do with the events of today.� Chacon is now concerned that he might not pitch in the majors again. �Maybe it shouldn�t have happened,� Chacon said. �But when you do those things and you�re yelling at somebody and you�re cussing you better know what type of person you�re dealing with. If there�s any regret, I just wish they had just let me alone. I wish they had left me alone,� he told the Chronicle. Chacon signed a $2 million, one-year contract with Houston in February after spending 2007 with Pittsburgh. He split time as a starter and a reliever there and was 5-4 with a 3.94 ERA and one save in 64 appearances with the Pirates.

[Guest themetfairy]

Valadius wrote: Shawn Chacon has been suspended indefinitely for going insane: Chacon Bodyslammed Ed Wade After Demotion to Bullpen ] �So at that point I lost my cool and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him,� he said. �Words were exchanged.�

By that point, words were irrelevant.

[Guest AG/DC]

"Gee," I say as I'm clicking, "I wonder what he metaphorically means by 'bodyslams'."

Ms. Edgy's only comment was, "Tut-tut, steriods."

[Zvon]

]�But when you do those things and you�re yelling at somebody and you�re cussing you better know what type of person you�re dealing with.

I agree.
Apparently in this case a lunatic.

[Guest AG/DC]

He was very helpful in clarifying that.

[Valadius]

From the Houston Chronicle:

]Astros' Chacon goes all Sprewell on Wade By. STEVE CAMPBELL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Shawn Chacon's bosses wanted to see him. In the office of Astros manager Cecil Cooper. Immediately. Chacon didn't want to go into the office, didn't want to hear what Cooper and general manager Ed Wade had to say. Chacon wanted to sit in the clubhouse dining room and eat in peace. The Astros agreed to pay Chacon $2 million this season, and there are no incentive clauses in his contract for accepting invitations to appear in the manager's office. Apparently, it never occurred to anybody that such a thing could possibly be above and beyond the call of workplace duty. That led to a confrontation Wednesday in which Chacon, by his own admission, literally tried to wring Wade's neck. Wade had the nerve to suggest � a tad indelicately, perhaps � that Chacon take a good look in the mirror. Well, no wonder Chacon couldn't stand there calmly and take that. If you were Shawn Anthony Chacon, and you'd pitched your way into a demotion on a pitching-starved team, and you'd somehow developed a misguided sense of entitlement that caused you to think you deserved the job security of a Supreme Court justice, would you really want to look yourself in the mirror? Chacon has wanted out of Houston desperately since the Astros made the decision Sunday to move him from the starting rotation. Well, Chacon got what he wanted shortly before a 3-2 defeat against the Texas Rangers. He might be a little more careful what he wishes for in the future. The Astros suspended Chacon "indefinitely" after he admitted he attacked Wade during an argument shortly after batting practice. In what may have been Chacon's last act as a big leaguer, he went Latrell Sprewell on his boss. "Insubordination to the club," was as far as Wade was willing to go in explaining the suspension. Sprewell got other chances after his attack on coach P.J. Carlesimo. Of course, Sprewell was an All-Star NBA guard. Chacon is a 30-year-old righthander with a 45-61 career record and 4.99 earned run average. He is 2-3 with a 5.04 ERA this season in 15 starts. When Chacon learned Sunday of the Astros' plans to drop him from the rotation, he characterized the decision as "horse (expletive)." Through agent Dan Horwits, Chacon began lobbying for a trade. Never mind that the four pitchers that impending call-up Runelvys Hernandez joins in the rotation have lower ERAs than Chacon this season: Brandon Backe (4.82), Brian Moehler (4.03), Wandy Rodriguez (2.81) and Roy Oswalt (4.77). "I hoped he would pitch better for us," Wade said. "The bottom line is we took him out of the rotation Sunday basically on merit." Chacon signed with the Astros after spring training began on the promise he would get a chance to compete for a spot in the rotation. He earned a starting job, fair and square, and had a 3.53 ERA in his first eight starts. His performance began eroding � an all-too-familiar pattern in his career. Again and again, Chacon has been good enough to get a job and not good enough to keep one. He made the All-Star team for the Colorado Rockies in 2003 � the year after he went 5-11 with a 5.73 ERA. The year after that All-Star selection, Chacon went 1-9 with a 7.11 ERA as a closer. During the 2005 stretch run for the New York Yankees, Chacon went 7-3 with a 2.85 ERA. The Yankees dumped Chacon and his 7.00 ERA midway into the next season. Up, down, up, down. A major league record nine consecutive no-decisions to start this season. A tantrum on the mound during a recent rocky outing. Now this. The Astros are Chacon's fourth team in the past four seasons. Even at that, Cooper was talking enthusiastically a few hours before the game about the impact Chacon could make out of the bullpen. He had watched in admiration as Chacon fashioned a 1.59 ERA in seven relief outings against the Astros last year as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. "I thought he was really good," Cooper said. The plan, Cooper said, was to get Chacon into the bullpen mix "as soon as I can get him in." Next thing Cooper knew, Chacon was taking the quickest way off the team � maybe out of the majors � for good. Maybe some baseball numerologist should have seen it coming. Chacon had quality starts in each of his first five outings � and nary a victory to show for it. In 10 starts since then, Chacon allowed a .299 batting average and a .583 slugging average. His ERA: 6.66.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

]Chacon is now concerned that he might not pitch in the majors again.

Good thing he's concerned about that now, rather than before he assaulted his employer.

[Frayed Knot]

How quickly after Houston formally cuts ties with him is he picked up by the Yanx?

A: It depends, as the time lag will be inversely proportional to the success of Sydney Ponson



Chacon, after all, was conferred "TY" status back in 2005 when he and Aaron Small were picked up in desperation (following injuries to Big Unit, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano & Jaret Wright) and proceeded to go 17-3 down the stretch as the MFYs tied for the division lead (won on tie-breakers) on the final weekend of the season and finished 2 games ahead of the WC.

[Valadius]

]Astros release Chacon after altercation with GM By KRISTIE RIEKEN, AP Sports Writer 2 hours, 26 minutes ago HOUSTON (AP)�The Houston Astros have released Shawn Chacon, opting to cut the right-hander a day after he reportedly grabbed general manager Ed Wade by the neck and threw him to the ground. The team requested waivers on Chacon on Thursday for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release. If he isn�t claimed by another major league team by Monday, waivers will expire and his contract will be terminated without pay.

[Guest attgig]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3469541

]NEW YORK -- The players' association filed a grievance Tuesday over the release of pitcher Shawn Chacon, saying the team's decision to terminate his contract was without just cause. Chacon cleared waivers and was released Monday, five days after a physical altercation with Houston Astros general manager Ed Wade in the clubhouse. Chacon had a $2 million salary this year, and the decision to terminate the contract meant $983,607 won't be paid. He also lost the chance to make up to $1 million in performance bonuses based on innings. "The grievance alleges that he was unlawfully terminated and asked that he be made whole," said Michael Weiner, the union's general counsel. The union alleged Chacon was disciplined without just cause under the collective bargaining agreement and terminated without just cause under the uniform player contract. The 30-year-old pitcher was suspended after shoving Wade to the floor before the Astros played Texas last Wednesday. Wade said he had asked Chacon to come into manager Cecil Cooper's office for a meeting. Chacon refused, and the confrontation ensued. The Astros said Chacon violated a provision in the UPC that states the player may be terminated if he shall "fail, refuse, or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship or to keep himself in first-class physical condition or to obey to the club's training rules." Chacon was 2-3 with a 5.04 ERA in 15 starts this season. He set a major league record for a starting pitcher with nine straight no-decisions to open the season. Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

really? you bodyslam your boss, and you have the nerve to say that you're unlawfully terminated?

Would ANYONE besides professional athletes actually contest this?

[Guest AG/DC]

]"The grievance alleges that he was unlawfully terminated and asked that he be made whole," said Michael Weiner, the union's general counsel.

If that isn't a cry for help, I don't know what is.

[nymr83]

the PA's lawyers should be disciplined for even filing a grievance that absurd.

[Guest themetfairy]

]Would ANYONE besides professional athletes actually contest this?

My husband is a management-side labor attorney. You wouldn't believe the kinds of things that get contested.

In all fairness, unions can be held liable if they fail to represent their members' interests, so they are under a lot of pressure to grieve just about any discipline (especially terminations).

[nymr83]

yeah, this gets filed as a matter of course in any termination, but that should really stop when the termination was for a physical assault.