HOUSTON — Shawn Chacon cleared waivers and was released Monday by the Houston Astros, five days after a physical altercation with general manager Ed Wade in the clubhouse.
Michael Weiner, the general counsel of the players’ association, said the union planned to file a grievance Tuesday. The union will claim the Astros improperly terminated the deal and that Chacon is owed the remaining $983,607 of his $2 million salary this year.
“As part of the collective bargaining agreement, that’s their right,” Wade said before the Astros opened a four-game series against the L.A. Dodgers. “I really don’t have a reaction to it.”
Wade, the Philadelphia Phillies’ GM from 1998-2005, said he’s never been through the grievance process before. Many of these types of cases settle before going through to a decision by arbitrator Shyam Das.
“It will certainly be a new experience for us,” Wade said.
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.
Chacon was put on waivers Thursday. The Astros said last week that if another team did not claim Chacon by Monday, the team would release the pitcher and terminate his contract for cause.
The Astros said Chacon violated a provision in the uniform player contract 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.”
Wade said he was done talking about Chacon and what happened.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to have anything more to say about the issue,” he said. “We dealt with this and gave everybody ample opportunity to ask questions the other day about it.
“He’s a free agent now. Whatever course is taken down the road is out of our hands. He’s not our player anymore.”
Chacon’s agent, Dan Horwits, did not immediately return a phone message left by The Associated Press.
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.
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