Eric Chavez Career In Jeopardy

[redsfan4445]

Per MLBtraderumors:

Eric Chavez Career In Jeopardy
By Tim Dierkes [May 19 at 9:44am CST]
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has the latest details on the health of A's third baseman Eric Chavez. While Chavez hopes to join the team soon, his career will be over if the herniated disk in his back goes out. In that case he'd need a career-ending spinal fusion procedure. Since the disk can go out with as little as a sneeze, Slusser says "his future in baseball will be operating on a very thin line."

Chavez's six-year, $66MM extension was signed in March of 2004. He's owed an additional $8.6MM this year plus $12MM in 2010 and a $3MM buyout for 2011, for a total of $23.6MM left on the contract. Sadly the contract has been a sunk cost for a while now. As Slusser says, A's GM Billy Beane figures to be on the lookout for third base prospects in trades.


Could the Reds swing a deal involving Edwin??? I know its to early to go after Holiday, but would they? hmm just curious...

[Homer Bailey]

Per MLBtraderumors:

Eric Chavez Career In Jeopardy
By Tim Dierkes [May 19 at 9:44am CST]
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has the latest details on the health of A's third baseman Eric Chavez. While Chavez hopes to join the team soon, his career will be over if the herniated disk in his back goes out. In that case he'd need a career-ending spinal fusion procedure. Since the disk can go out with as little as a sneeze, Slusser says "his future in baseball will be operating on a very thin line."

Chavez's six-year, $66MM extension was signed in March of 2004. He's owed an additional $8.6MM this year plus $12MM in 2010 and a $3MM buyout for 2011, for a total of $23.6MM left on the contract. Sadly the contract has been a sunk cost for a while now. As Slusser says, A's GM Billy Beane figures to be on the lookout for third base prospects in trades.


Could the Reds swing a deal involving Edwin??? I know its to early to go after Holiday, but would they? hmm just curious...

That's a shame. I hung out with Chavez at the OSU National Championship game in Glendale a few years back. Drank a few beers and played cornhole with him, Jermaine Dye, Frank Thomas, Nick Swisher, and A.J. Piersinski (sp?). He was a really, really cool dude, and I've rooted for him ever since.

Frank was not as cool. To say the least.

[westofyou]

http://baseballmusings.com/


Let’s face it, the only reason Chavez is still playing for the Atheltics is that he’s signed to a big contract through 2010. He was a budding superstar who signed for a relatively low price and delivered nothing. Now he’s a sneeze away from physically not being able to play:

Chavez is rehabbing his most recent back problem in Arizona in the hopes of rejoining the A’s on their next homestand. Doctors, however, have told him that a herniated disk in his back could go at any time, even if he sneezes.

If that happens, Chavez will need to have his previously repaired vertebra, the L4-L5, fused with the vertebra that is currently herniated, which is the L3-L4. Another microdiscectomy such as the one Chavez had in October, 2007, is out, because it would leave his spine too unstable, Chavez said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/18/SPTP17MKKV.DTL&feed=rss.athletics


Spinal fusions don’t allow for the type of physical activity performed by pro athletes.

The other problem is that Chavez played so little in the last three seasons that he likely lost the reaction time he needs to be a successful baseball player. Baseball is a game of repetition. When you can’t play every day, a player loses muscle memory and the pattern recognizers that allow identification of pitches. Even if Chavez comes back from his current back problem, the chance of him being any good is very low. The A’s appear to be content to get something for their money, rather than try to replace him with some who can actually contribute at the position.

[Rojo]

Making Chavez the one player you long-term made sense to me -- third basemen who can field and hit are rare commodities. Best laid plans.

[bucksfan2]

Making Chavez the one player you long-term made sense to me -- third basemen who can field and hit are rare commodities. Best laid plans.

I found that odd out of all the good young players that Beane decided to extend long term was Chavez. In hindsight it backfired but at the time it was a pretty solid idea.

[Benihana]

Encarnacion for Holliday, straight up- makes sense for both sides.

A's get a 3B signed cheaply for the next two years, while shedding an expensive rental because they're going nowhere this year. Reds get a rental RH-hitting LF to hit cleanup between Votto and Bruce and propel them to the playoffs for this year. Rosales plays 3B until Frazier is ready. Votto or Alonso move to LF assuming Holliday is not re-signed. Reds get Type A draft pick compensation.

I'd call it a win-win-win.

CF Taveras
2B Phillips
1B Votto
LF Holliday
RF Bruce
3B Rosales
C Hernandez
SS Hairston

[fearofpopvol1]

Encarnacion for Holliday, straight up- makes sense for both sides.

A's get a 3B signed cheaply for the next two years, while shedding an expensive rental because they're going nowhere this year. Reds get a rental RH-hitting LF to hit cleanup between Votto and Bruce and propel them to the playoffs for this year. Rosales plays 3B until Frazier is ready. Votto or Alonso move to LF assuming Holliday is not re-signed. Reds get Type A draft pick compensation.

I'd call it a win-win-win.

CF Taveras
2B Phillips
1B Votto
LF Holliday
RF Bruce
3B Rosales
C Hernandez
SS Hairston

The A's will not go for that. I think they'd rather have the "Type A" pick at the end of the year than EdE. There will be another contender offer up a better package. The Reds will need to include another prospect or two to get that deal done.

[Screwball]

I wonder if Jocketty would be a little gun-shy about trading prospects to Oakland for a proven veteran.

[M2]

Chavez played in the Bay Area and slumped after 2004. I know he's got some serious injuries at the moment, but I find it hard to believe his best years weren't PED-enabled.

[Rojo]

Chavez played in the Bay Area and slumped after 2004. I know he's got some serious injuries at the moment, but I find it hard to believe his best years weren't PED-enabled.

Not disagreeing with you but is the Bay Area now tainted?

Come to think of it my game really deteriorated after 2004.

[M2]

Not disagreeing with you but is the Bay Area now tainted?

Come to think of it my game really deteriorated after 2004.

Fair question, I don't blame the geography so much as the two clubhouses in that area. To be fair, I'm not sure the Giants were all that dirty compared to their peers. Bonds probably puts an unfair focus on that club.

Yet the A's were dirty back into the '80s. Chavez came up in a clubhouse where if you weren't juicing, you weren't trying. Hey, maybe they were dirty back in the '70s too. I want to bend the space-time continuum to give Gene Tenace a through PED screen. If he turned up dirty it would restore my faith that maybe there is some order to the universe.

My game's moved up to a higher level. I know how to hold a drink in my hand and come across like I know what I'm talking about. It's the secret of the universe.

[Benihana]

I wonder if Jocketty would be a little gun-shy about trading prospects to Oakland for a proven veteran.

Why, because of Mark Mulder? How about the other Mark?

[westofyou]

Not disagreeing with you but is the Bay Area now tainted?


Sadly yes, it had the franchises, all 4 major sports, the great medical schools, the large sprawling area that defined it as the Bay Area and the crunch of the technology industry's success prodding all the other industries in the area to create something from nothing in ten minutes.

Pop!

Went the bubble.

[ochre]

Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative

[bucksfan2]

Chavez played in the Bay Area and slumped after 2004. I know he's got some serious injuries at the moment, but I find it hard to believe his best years weren't PED-enabled.

I did a little research off the top of my head and came up with this. Look at the big name players who have come through the A's organization and their history after they left the A's. Both Tejada and the Giambi brothers have been linked strongly to PED's. Mulder and Hudson have had injuries derail their career. Zito has been downright awful after he signed the huge contract with the Giants. Im sure there are other players that you can throw into the mix but those were just the names that I came up with off the top of my head.

But this brings me to a pure speculative conclusion. It would not surprise me one bit if PEDs were not only rampant on the A's but also pushed by the organization. The A's as an organization have always tried to find an advantage over the rest of baseball by using the cheapest ways possible. Again this is pure speculation, but its something I can't dismiss at face value.

[Jpup]

Benito Santiago, Marvin Bernard, Bobby Estalella...