July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Houston Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon lost his $2 million job last week when he expressed his disagreement with management by decking a manager.

Some fans of the Major League Baseball team are decrying the behavior -- not only Chacon's, but that of Ed Wade, the team general manager who was floored in the June 25 incident.

``On the Internet, there seems to be a very strong anti- Wade sentiment among some baseball people,'' said Bob Hulsey, who runs AstrosDaily.com, a Web site not affiliated with the team.

The backlash may stem in part from how Wade dealt with an unhappy employee. Chacon had been demoted from starting pitcher to reliever, and his agent told the team he wanted to be traded.

According to Wade's account in a statement provided by the team for this story, he approached Chacon in the Astros lunch room and asked him to meet privately. When Chacon refused, Wade told the player ``that he needed to look at himself in the (bleeping) mirror.''

Chacon answered ``with profane and threatening remarks,'' and knocked him to the ground, Wade said. Chacon shoved him again as he tried to stand up, he said.

Wade, 52, declined to comment for this story beyond the statement. Chacon, 30, wasn't available to comment, said Dan Horwits, the pitcher's agent.

Rare Incident

Chacon realizes his physical contact wasn't appropriate, Horwits said. ``There are some more details that will come out which will shed a little bit more light on the event,'' he said.

Bill McCurdy, historian emeritus for the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in Houston, said he couldn't recall a previous instance of a physical altercation between a baseball general manager and a player. McCurdy is 70 and says he has followed baseball since he was nine years old.

``You treat a grown man like that in front of his peers and something's going to happen, but it's not going to be good,'' McCurdy said. ``There's no way for him to suddenly get up, if Wade raises his voice at him, and slump silently away to the office like he's being sent to the principal.''

Chacon, who signed a one-year contract with the Astros before the current season, his first with the team, was put on waivers the day after the incident, effectively releasing him without pay. Greg Bouris, a spokesman for the players' union, the Major League Baseball Players Association, said the union has filed a grievance on Chacon's behalf.

Owner's Support

Astros officials declined to comment on Wade's handling of the matter. Team owner Drayton McLane told the Houston Chronicle in a June 26 article that he supported Wade and Chacon will never play for the Astros again.

Wade, the Astros general manager since September 2007, has been in baseball since 1977, starting as an intern with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Chacon was demoted to reliever after his earned run average, a calculation of runs given up per nine innings that is a measure of a pitcher's effectiveness, soared. In his first five starts this season, his ERA was 2.45. From April 30 through June 19, Chacon's ERA was 6.66.

After he gave up four runs in the first inning of a June 1 game in Milwaukee, Chacon turned his back on pitching coach Dewey Robinson, who had gone to the mound to talk to the pitcher, Wade said in his statement. The Astros also had been struggling, winning four games and losing 18 from May 28 through June 21.

Keep Cool

Still, ``I don't know how you can get into that type of conflict with a player,'' said Dan Duquette, a former general manager for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos. ``I just don't understand how that can happen.''

While Chacon should be held accountable for his actions, a manager has to control his emotions, said Richard DeFrank, an associate professor of management at the University of Houston. ``If you're faced with a situation where an employee has concerns and is upset and so forth, management needs to maintain a level of coolness and professionalism,'' he said.

Wade said he had asked Cecil Cooper, the Astros' field manager, to set up the private meeting with Chacon. When Chacon refused Cooper, Wade said, he went looking for him.

Wade was right to step in at that point, said Steve Phillips, a baseball analyst with ESPN and a former New York Mets general manager. ``When there's continuous insubordination from the player to the manager and pitching coach, at some point the general manager needs to get involved,'' Phillips said.

Fans are weighing in to object to how Wade did it, though. ``Actually, I think Wade, as a senior executive, has no business screaming at and cursing ANY of his employees, whether in private or public,'' said Lisa Gray, who contributes to an independent blog called The Astros Dugout.

Joshua Raisen, a Miami-area resident who has a Web site called Astroland, said he thinks the Chacon-Wade incident raises questions about the operation of the whole organization.

``What kind of environment has to be existing where things can even get to that point?'' Raisen said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Klump in Houston at eklump@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 3, 2008 00:01 EDT