Third baseman Eric Chavez has retired, effective immediately, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link). The 36-year-old has seen time in 17 MLB seasons.
Chavez hit .246/.346/.449 in 81 plate appearances for the Diamondbacks this season, but hasn’t played since early June due to injury. He’s battled knee trouble this season and also has a long history of back issues.
Of course, his best seasons came earlier in his career with the Athletics, when Chavez was among the game’s more productive players. Over the 2000-2006 time frame, Chavez compiled a .273/.352/.495 slash with 199 home runs. With outstanding defense, he was worth 31 rWAR and 31.1 fWAR during that stretch.
From that point forward, Chavez was limited by injuries, and never saw more than 400 trips to the plate in a season. But he remained a productive reserve, ultimately moving to the Yankees and then Diamondbacks.
It was no coincidence that the “Moneyball” Athletics made five postseason appearances in the time that Chavez was at his peak. Though he never quite delivered full value on a six-year, $66MM extension signed before the 2004 campaign, Chavez nevertheless was, in the aggregate, a cheap source of top-level production for Oakland after being taken 10th overall in the 1996 draft.
angels killer, great career
Amazing defense, Great hitting, Angels killer. Whats not to love?
Go A’s!
Eric Chavez Acquires Jon Lester
Into retirement?
Eric Chavez Asking About Left-Handed Relievers; Out of Running for Emilio Bonifacio
Emilio Bonifacio would make a pretty bad lefty reliever anyway!
Well, I figured he played just about every other position… ;)
Eric Chavez Asking About Left-Handed Relievers; Out of Running for Emilio Bonifacio
Maybe there’s some truth to this; if you’d said Eric Chavez works with Oakland FO To Acquire Jon Lester, I would’ve laughed.
Well, there goes DBacks season….
Seriously though, Chavez was a gamer, unfortunate he had to put up with so many ailments.
Terrible timing, no one will talk about this today lol
Maybe that was why he did it? My guess is he wanted to see if the D-Backs could somehow muster a run and when they fell too far back he decided to bail. For a veteran like him, completely understandable.
a shame his career was marred by injury- he was a stud in Oakland.
This guy could have been a hall of famer if he never got injured
Shame he had so many injuries. He had a chance at the HoF. 30 WAR by the time he was 27.
Had a great career until he kept getting hurt. Loved him as a Yankee. Great guy, great player.
Really too bad. We really liked him here in NY. Knew was injured but you could still see the talent and the work ethic.
Grew up with Chavez (in little league and hs) and watched him excel passed most others. Congrats on a great career!
One of favorite non-Pirates of all time. Eric, you’ll be missed…
Tough way to end his career. The guy could flat out rake. I could see him making a good hitting coach if he decides thats something he wants to do.
Eric Chavez just ARod’d the trade deadline!
really good player when he was young and healthy. A real pleasure to watch. He even made himself into a decent bench guy for a few years, too. I was surprised to see he never made the all-star team, but I suppose that in his early days his numbers were far more commonplace. Good luck, Chavvy.
Sorry to see this. Chavez was such a great player in his glory years
Eric Chavez was one hell of a player. I’ll always remember him and the rest of those early 2000s teams…. such great memories slowly fading away by the day.
Awesome Yankee!!
He could have ridden off into the sunset long ago, but I think he liked playing the game too much… and good for him. Happy retirement Eric.
He could have ridden off into the sunset long ago, but I think he liked playing the game too much… and good for him. Happy retirement Eric.
I have an opening at 3b in the 35 and over men’s league I’m in. Eric if your interested it only costs 100$. You can play any position you’d like to; lol. Seriously though dude, your an awesome player. When you were at Oakland you were my favorite. You once hit a home run to rf in a playoff game vs the twins just over my head. I tried but just couldn’t get high enough to catch it, if I walked as tall as you always did I would’ve had it easily.