Veteran Athletic Eric Chavez’s days may be numbered. The 32-year old third baseman suffered a neck injury and has landed on the disabled list - again - and although he claims he’s not thinking about retiring, he has admitted that this could be it. Chavez has said he’s had neck problems since colliding with minor-league infielder Adrian Cardenas during spring training. Chavez tried to play through it, but the soreness of two bulging discs has caught up with him.

Chavez is the longest-tenured Oaklander still wearing the green and gold. He broke in to the bigs in 1998 and just a few years later became a staple in the Althetics’ lineup. He won a silver slugger award in 2002, and was a six-time gold glove winner from 2001 to 2006. Since then, he’s seen a dramatic decline after starting the 2008 season the DL due to back pain and missed two months. In June 2009, he was placed back on the DL for the rest of the season with the same issue.
From 2007 to 2009, Chavez played a total of 121 games, a number smaller than any single-season total he’s had since his first full season. 2010 wasn’t setting up to be much better, as he only had one home run and was averaging almost a strikeout per game. Something was clearly wrong with Chavez. Maybe in his efforts to get back to his old form, he was neglecting the fact that he needed to take some more time off. Needless to say, the gamble didn’t pay off.
The DL has become a second home to Chavez, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him go from the 15 to the 60-day version in the next two weeks. Chavez has said that one more major injury would ignite his retirement, but he’s hesitant to say this is the big one. As a leader both in service time and money earned for the A’s, Chavez is no doubt going to be missed on the field.