Thu 26 Jun 2008
I’m assuming this story is going to be all over ESPN and the talk radio circuit tomorrow (or later today depending on your perspective) so I figured I’d take a crack at it now. If you didn’t click on the link, the Houston Astros’ starting-turned-bullpen pitcher Shawn Chacon apparently jumped Ed Wade by strangling him and tossing him to the ground after a verbal altercation. Yikes.
I know when a team is in a free-fall, chemistry issues tend to come up. I’ve seen players get into fights with managers, but has anyone ever heard of an instance in which a player decided to practice judo on a GM? Chacon is currently signed to a one-year $2 million contract with the ’stros, and I’m willing to bet he’ll never pitch again the majors given his poor performance and tendency to pile-drive GMs. As a friend of mine once said, “This is more fucked than a box full of hangers.” We’ll see what happens in the coming days.
Though I have to wonder if Chacon said,”Wadey, tell me how the floor tastes!” before he decided to go Greco-Roman on him. (I’m hoping that joke never gets old.)
June 26th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Can they also suspend Ed Wade? guy was eating and he just came to get him.
didn’t leave him a note in the locker or a voice mail.
Just came up with everyone around and said “We need to talk.”
Then he proceeded to tongue lash chacon.
Not saying that chacon is justified, but what was ed wade thinking? Yeah, the law is on your side, but the law doesn’t help put your brain back in if it gets knocked out.
Wade was being an overbearing snit of a boss, and while he didn’t deserve what he got, I’d fire him were I in a position to do so.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:53 am
from my understanding of what exactly went down, I would say Wade had it coming. The guy was unhappy and said he wanted to be traded . . can you blame him the way the stros have been playing recently? As soon as I get out of the corps you better watch yourself if raise your voice to me. and tossing someone to the ground is more of a show of force than anything else, its not going to hurt ya unless you are made of glass.
Ed Wade just lost quite a bit of my respect.
June 26th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here.
While I certainly don’t think Ed Wade is by any means innocent, I think there is a distinction to be made here. The GM is paid to be the both the good and the bad guy, and if a player is mouthing off, then it’s the GM’s responsibility to maintain order. Somehow I think there’s more to the story than Chacon’s account of the events leading up the clubhouse brawl. Did Wade handle it poorly? Certainly. However at the end of the day, Wade was doing his job. He tried to take all of this behind closed doors that were already behind closed doors, but it was Chacon who ultimately chose to have it go down this way. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my brief 23 years of existence, is that people don’t like being shown up in front of others. Wade did his best (at least initially) to prevent it, but Chacon put himself in a dangerous position. Additionally, if Chacon and his delicate sensibilities can’t take some mouthing off from the GM in private (at least initially in private), I wonder about his composure in general. (That being said, I too lost some respect for Eddy)
Though I’ve got to wonder. If Chacon kept his ERA below numbers that require renting supercomputer time at NASA to compute, would he still have a job?
I guess everyone is at fault. Win some games and this will all work itself out!
And for the record, I’m going to constantly raise my voice to you when you return CMO! Time to prod prod prod.
June 27th, 2008 at 4:50 am
did i manage to somehow hurt your wrist last time? or was that bill?
June 27th, 2008 at 8:19 am
please don’t read into my previous post as a defense of chacon. He should have been released (as he was). I think he should possibly be charged with a misdemeanor as well.
I think that wade should have expected what he got. I mean, he “tried to keep it secret” by asking, in front of the team, to come talk to him privately.
That’s not really keeping it private, is it?
I think Chacon is lucky he wasn’t arrested, but I see it as Wade was looking for trouble, to some degree.
There are myriad ways to ask for a conversation in private without letting anyone else know you’ve asked for a private conference:
Phone call
Text Message
Note
Call his agent
Wade did only what was expedient to him, and had NO consideration whatsoever for his player.
Also, if wade is good at building a farm system, why is he a GM? isn’t that more for a director of scouting?