Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Great Moments in Labor Relations

The Players' Union is pursuing a grievance against the Astros over their treatment of Shawn Chacon. I presume the complaint revolves around no one instructing him to retreat to a neutral corner after the knockdown.
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Latrell Spreewell's release after twice attacking and choking PJ Carleisimo was turned into a suspension by the NBA grievance process, I have no doubt that the MLBPA anticipates saving at least some of Chacon's salary here.

July 1, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Anonymous said...

APBA Guy-

I was thinking what a nice world the players live in where assaulting a supervisor is not a firing offense, let alone a criminal case.

What's your lawyer's analysis of Chacon's likeley outcome before the arbitrator?

July 1, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Craig Calcaterra said...

No idea, really. My guess is that, like dlf said, they aren't trying to save his job, just some of his salary. Arbitrations often split the baby, so they may have a chance at something.

I guess it all turns on whether teams have been able to void contracts in the past when the players have been involved in violent incidents, and I don't know the answer to that question.

July 1, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Anonymous said...

APBA Guy-

Thanks for that. Part of the whole baseball entertainment package is seeing what the arbitrator says. I suspect you're right about Chacon will get something, but I have no data to support that suspicion.

July 1, 2008 at 2:25 PM
Anonymous said...

I'm trying to think of players released after allegations of violent behavior. The first that comes to mind is Julio Lugo, but if I recall correctly, Lugo was released with Houston paying the full salary. Others haven't been cut adrift if they could still perform (Brett Myers, Elijah Dukes, Bobby Cox). I know that the present baseball arbitrator Shyam Das reduced the suspension Kenny Rodgers who pushed a camera man during on-field warmups. Chacon is the perfect storm: crappy behavior plus crappy performance.

Regarding the "baby-splitting" comment by Craig, Das has reduced the suspension of John Rocker, but declined to do so for Rafeal Palmiero. Das' modus operandi seems more to be encouraging the parties to settle by holding his decisions (Jose Guillen, Sidney Ponson) than the more typical baby-splitting that arbitrators are accused of engaging in. (He also hears some NFL cases and was the hearing officer who determined that Terrell Owens had to repay the Eagles some of his signing bonus after his suspension.)

July 1, 2008 at 2:36 PM
Anonymous said...

Ponson has a similar sort of hearing that's been pending since 2005 when he was cut without pay from the Orioles for violating the morals clause of his contract by getting 2 DUIs and drunkenly punching a judge within 5 months...and that hearing never went through. I believe the Orioles still owe Ponson like 10 million dollars, but the hearing keeps getting pushed back, ostensibly to let Ponson build some sort of character argument against himself.

July 1, 2008 at 9:07 PM

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