MONDAY, 8:05am: Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that Chavez emphasized he is not retiring. He'll attempt to rehab his neck injury. Chavez has a pair of bulging discs; Slusser has more in her May 22nd blog post.
SATURDAY, 2:09pm: The recent neck injury suffered by Eric Chavez may force him to retire, the A's slugger told Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group (link goes to Twitter).
However, in a follow-up tweet, Stiglich cautions that he has yet to hear from the team trainer and therefore it's hard to say if the injury is even season-ending. Furthermore, Chavez says that he wants to return. The longtime third baseman is hitting .234/.276/.333 in 123 plate apperances this season.
The 32-year-old is in the final year of a six-year, $66MM extension he agreed to in March of 2004. Chavez will earn an additional $3MM when he is bought out of the 2011 season. According to Baseball Reference, the California native has earned more than $75MM in his big league career.
Why was the previous post deleted?
Because there was some wrong information and a link from a year ago. They fixed it now.
Given the amount of games he played the last few years, the casual fan might have thought he already DID retire. Sad though, he was a great player before all the injuries. Sounds like he’s giving up hope of playing healthy again. I can’t say I blame him. Bon voyage, Mr. Chavez. Good luck on your next endeavors.
Its a shame his talent wasn’t fully shown due to his injuries. Reminds me of Nick Johnson’s career thus far
I don’t think Nick Johnson is a good comparable. Chavez was an awesome 3B for a while before the injuries destroyed him, while Johnson has always been injured.
I remember when Chavez was a human…
Regardless of injury, few people would choose retirement over playing a game they REALLY love, and being extremely well paid to do it. Chávez isn’t trying to live your dream. He’s trying to live his.