Ed Wade Will F*$# Your Ass Up. (Bitch.)

Ed Wade isn't the smartest tool in the shed. Still, he's somehow managed to become the general manager of two major league baseball teams. That's not a small accomplishment, and in fact, its pretty impressive.

However, that's not to say he is any good at it. Some might delicately say he isn't among the top ten GMs in baseball. Other slightly more crass people might say Wade is an idiot. But, as is often the case, the truth is, well, in this case Wade actually is an idiot.

To drive home that point, Wade has made a number of boneheaded moves in his first year guiding the Houston Astros. He traded a number of good young players to Baltimore for Miguel Tejada a day before Tejada's name was revealed to be included on a list of players who took steroids in the Mitchell Report. Anytime you get duped by Baltimore you know you're not doing too well.

Also, he signed Shawn Chacon. Chacon, an alternately mediocre and terrible pitcher, who has bounced around from team to team, most recently with Pittsburgh before Wade brought him to Houston.

The Astros have had trouble preventing runs this year and Chacon was not very likely to improve on that. And, surprise, he didn't! He was moved to the bullpen from the starting rotation this week. I'll let the NY Times take it from here:

Chacon, upset after getting demoted to the bullpen over the weekend, told The
Houston Chronicle the 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. Chacon said he didn’t want to go to the office, and he told Wade that they could talk in the dining room. Chacon said that Wade then began to yell, and he said he asked Wade not to yell at him. Chacon said that after Wade told him he needed to “look in the mirror,” he grabbed him [by the neck] and threw him to the ground.

Unlike Spreewell (who, come on now, just had to feed his children), Chacon's reaction somehow seems warranted.

Still, you have to hand it to Wade. You wouldn't think screaming and swearing at a player in full view of his teammates would likely to do much to improve either the quality of pitching on the team nor the chemistry in the clubhouse, but Wade is an outside the box thinker and he's willing to try anything to make his team better. Kudos, sir!

A more cynical person might suggest the possibility exists that Wade only pulled this stunt to promote his new book, "Git'n Yo Ass Beat: The art of people skills," by Ed Wade. However, that would require some forethought, which makes the suggestion unlikely.