To Eric Chavez’s credit, he has managed to stay productive into his late 30’s, having posted an .825 OPS since the start of the 2012 season. He just hasn’t been able to stay healthy.
Chavez, now 36, suffered from a strained oblique and a strained left knee last season. The Diamondbacks placed him on the disabled list three weeks ago with a sprained left knee. They transferred him from the 15-day disabled list to the 15-day disabled list on Sunday. As the injury is degenerative, the team isn’t holding out hope it’ll get better, and Chavez may end up needing surgery.
As MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert reports, Chavez says surgery would be “the worst-case scenario”, one which may push him to retire.
“I’m just so close to the end, you know, where I’ve got to worry about feeling good for the rest of my life,” Chavez said. “So surgery would be the worst-case scenario for me to kind of be going down that line.”
Chavez was asked if he planned on retiring at the end of this year.
“It’s a possibility,” he said. “I’m never going to say never. For some reason I have this personal rule that when guys retire you’ve got to be away from the game for two years before you officially say you retired. Because there’s too many that come back.”
Chavez is a veteran of 17 seasons in the major leagues. Having played with the Athletics, Yankees, and D-Backs, Chavez has a career .268/.342/.475 slash line with 260 home runs and 902 RBI. He also has six Gold Glove awards to his name.
