Shawn Chacon, meet Mr. Knight and Mr. Sprewell

You completely absolved Wade, who handled the situation terribly, of blame by writing stuff like, "Team officials did all they could to deal with the matter behind closed doors, so as not to 'disrespect' the player in front of his teammates."

Well, no, they didn't do all they could. Otherwise there wouldn't have been a confrontation. The situation had been brewing for days and Chacon was obviously angry and upset. The whole incident could have been avoided with smarter management.

Here's Ken Rosenthal's take:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8284734/Wade-really-needs-to-look-in-the-mirror

 

Like what exactly? Send him flowers? Candy? Maybe a strippergram?

 

You're right, I did absolve the GM because if the petulant pitcher goes to meet with the manager after the first few requests, the assault never takes place.

Or, if the petulant pitcher goes to meet with the manager after being told to by the fucking GM, the assault never takes place.

But we can't have that happen, can we? God forbid an employee is actually required to do what his/her boss instructs.

We have to find reasons to defend insubordination by the player by pointing out that the GM used -- oh no! -- harsh language.

Here is the way it used to work and is supposed to work. Your boss says he needs to meet with you, you ask him when and where and you get your ass to the meeting.

Instead, we've gotten to the point in which the underlings have to consult their schedule, their attorney and/or their union rep to see if they can fit that meeting in.

The aforementioned writer is an apologist for the player. Period.

Not sure what your title/position is at your shop but please tell me how you'd respond if your immediate supervisor said he/she needed to meet with you, you blew him/her off several times and then his/her supervisor said you needed to meet.

You're telling me you'd blow off the boss of your boss and then, after you assaulted that person, you'd try to pin even a sliver of responsibility anywhere but your lap?

You blow off your boss and the boss of your boss and you deserve to be terminated -- with harsh language.

You're arguing that they should have shown more respect to a player who blew off two of his bosses.

Smarter management my ass.

Cut his ass, as they have, and then battle the union to the death when it tries to pin this one on the team.

 

Maybe don't force a confrontation with someone who's angry? You know, display a little tact?

 

Dude, NO ONE has said Chacon wasn't wrong. No one defended his actions. So, move on from there. What I'm trying to explain to you is that it was handled piss poorly by Wade, who has a well-earned reputation for handling situations piss poorly.

 

"Shawn, if it's not too much trouble would you pretty please with sugar on top step into the manager's office"

Something like that?

 

Yeah, one where he wasn't going to get pinned to the ground by an employee in front of all of the other employees and lose their respect forever.

 

Well I guess you better explain it to me more slowly, perhaps with subtitles.

They tried TWICE to meet in private with the player.

The manager asked to meet with him.

The GM told the player he had to meet with the manager.

How many times should they have been expected to ask the player to meet with them before they said enough?

Three? Four? Five? To the All-Star break? Through the rest of the season?

On bended knee?

When you exhibit a lack of respect for authority in such a brazen manner you forfeit the right to bitch about being treated with a lack of respect.

I'll put it the context of a newsroom;

Your boss leaves messages for you asking to come in for a meeting. You return the calls and say you refuse to meet in person that he/she can take care of it on the phone.

Boss says: Nope. We need to talk in person.

How long is your boss going to put up with your refusals to meet and continue to ask nicely so as not to force a confrontation?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they weren't going to send him to the minors, right? They were just going to take him out of the rotation and move him to the bullpen.

 

Well that type of obvious disrespect surely would have been met with a similar response from the player.

And remember, it would have been better had they "asked nicely" for Chacon to surrender his spot in the rotation.

 

And the players would have retained any respect for a GM who told a player he needed to report to the manager's office and then, after the player refused, tucked his tail and walked away quietly?

 

I wrote a column about this today. The language in the basic agreement - the Just Cause section - reads like this: “The Parties recognize that a Player may be subjected to disciplinary action for just cause by his Club, the Vice President, On-Field Operations or the Commissioner. Therefore, in Grievances involving discipline, the issue to be resolved shall be whether there has been just cause for the penalty imposed.”

How, in this case, does the punishment not fit the crime?

What would happen to any of us if we were to do the same? We'd be out on our asses, no questions asked.