Oakland’s longest tenured-player, Eric Chavez, has said that he’s most likely done for the remainder of the 2010 season. Despite this news however, the A’s Gold-Glove winner, has not announced his retirement just yet. Chavez, who is in his final year of the six-year deal he signed back in 2004, has an option for 2011, but the A’s are figured to just buy it out for $3 million.
Chavez, 32, has played in just 154 games since the start of the 2007 season, and has not been healthy since 2006. In his career, Chavez has hit .267/.343/.478 with 230 home runs and 787 RBIs. This season, however, Chavez played in only 33 games and hit just .234/.276/.333 with one homer and 10 RBIs. While initial reports suggested that the A’s 3B/DH expected to resume baseball activities last month and make a return this month, the team expects Chavez to close things down for the remainder of the season. Chavez was plagued with two bulging disks in his neck, and was never really able to make a full recovery. Despite these injuries, however, Chavez said that he’s got his own “Brett Farve thing,” and won’t announce his retirement until he’s absolutely positive that he cannot play baseball any longer.
Unfortunately, Chavez may not have much of a choice. Chavez is expected to be a free-agent this winter, and I just don’t see many teams giving him a shot to play. Given his injury history, Chavez should just call it quits and become an advisor or some sort of coach for the A’s organization. But for right now, the A’s slugger is expected to shut it down for the year and take things from there.
Disclaimer: The news about Chavez’s future for the 2010 season was first published by the San Francisco Chronicle or SF Gate. You can see the article by clicking here. All information, etc. is and should be credited to the SF Chronicle.