HOUSTON — The Houston Astros have released Shawn Chacon, opting to cut the right-hander a day after he grabbed general manager Ed Wade by the neck and threw him to the ground.

The team requested waivers on Chacon on Thursday for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release. If he isn’t claimed by another major league team by Monday, waivers will expire and his contract will be terminated without pay. 

Chacon, upset after getting demoted to the bullpen over the weekend, told the Houston Chronicle this problem began when Wade saw him in the dining room before the game against Texas. Wade wanted to meet with Chacon in manager Cecil Cooper’s office, the pitcher said.

“I sat down to eat and Ed Wade came to me and very sternly said, ‘You need to come with me to the office,”’ Chacon said. “I said ‘for what?’ I said ‘I don’t want to go to the office with you and Cooper.’ And I said, ‘You can tell me whatever you got to tell me right here.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, you want me to tell you right here?’ And I said, ‘yeah.’ I’m not yelling. I’m calm.”

AP

In this June 19 photo, Houston Astros starter Shawn Chacon delivers a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the third inning of a baseball game in Baltimore. Chacon has been suspended indefinitely by the Astros.

Chacon said things went downhill from there.

“He started yelling and cussing,” Chacon said of Wade, according to a story on the Chronicle’s Web site. “I’m sitting there and I said to him very calmly, ‘Ed, you need to stop yelling at me. Then I stood up and said, ‘You better stop yelling at me.’ I stood up. He continued and was basically yelling.”

Chacon said that after Wade told him he needed to “look in the mirror,” it got worse.

“So at that point I lost my cool and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him,” he said.  “Words were exchanged.”

Chacon said players quickly came and separated the two. He recalled outfielder Reggie Abercrombie pulling him away from Wade.

At a news conference Thursday, Wade said he simply wanted to talk with Chacon to "clear the air."

He denied Chacon's version of the story.

"Contrary to what has been previously stated, I did not raise my voice to the player, curse the player and had not made any defamatory remarks towards the player," Wade said.

Wade said he asked repeatedly to speak with Chacon, but Chacon insisted he could say whatever he had to say right there.

"At that point, I told him that if he wanted me to address him in front of his teammates I would, and I told him that he needed to look at himself in the (bleeping) mirror," Wade said. "Chacon responded with profane and threatening remarks and got up from his seat. He moved in front of me until we were standing chest-to-chest and then shoved me to the ground.  When I attempted to get to my feet, he shoved me a second time, at which point players and coaches intervened."

Wade said he then told Chacon he was suspended and he eventually left the clubhouse. Wade then held a brief meeting with the players.

 "It was such a surprise and disappointment," Astros owner Drayton McLane said Thursday.

Chacon has been upset since being bumped from the rotation and moved into the bullpen on Sunday.

Chacon is 2-3 with a 5.04 ERA in 15 starts for Houston this year. The right-hander set a major league record with nine straight no-decisions to start the season.

Chacon is now concerned that he might not pitch in the majors again.

“Maybe it shouldn’t have happened,” Chacon said. “But when you do those things and you’re yelling at somebody and you’re cussing you better know what type of person you’re dealing with. If there’s any regret, I just wish they had just let me alone. I wish they had left me alone,” he told the Chronicle.

Chacon signed a $2 million, one-year contract with Houston in February after spending 2007 with Pittsburgh. He split time as a starter and a reliever there and was 5-4 with a 3.94 ERA and one save in 64 appearances with the Pirates.