I know that’s an unpopular opinion, but it’s how I feel. I liked Eric Chavez last year, as I’m sure many of you did, but I don’t think he’s the right player for the back up third baseman’s job. At his face, yeah, sure. He can hit right handed pitching (kind of) and is still good enough with the glove, but the most important thing about being a back up is health, and Chavez just can’t stay healthy to save his life.
Let’s review. Chavez started out fine for the Yankees last year. He put up a modest .339 wOBA in April (109 wRC+). But then he got hurt in early May and missed all but two days that month, missed all of June, and missed most of July. In July, August, and September, he wOBA’d/wRC+’d .224/30; .305/86; .258/45 in 136 PA. It’d be one thing if Chavez produced a lot while he was healthy, but he didn’t. Now, maybe I’m being a bit hard on him because those PAs came post-injury and he was hitting well in his pre-injury PAs. But, at this point (hell, at any point) Chavez just cannot be relied upon to stay healthy. For the money he’ll cost, he made $1.5M last year, so you’ve gotta figure he’ll want at least $2M this year, he’ll miss too much time to be worth the money. As much as I don’t like them as players for one reason or another, it’s probably a better use of money to roll with Eduardo Nunez and Ramiro Pena since they’re probably a better bet to stay healthy.
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7 Responses to The Yankees should not sign Eric Chavez
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Seems to me, if health is your main concern, you can always resort back to Nunez or Pena (or Laird) when Chavez gets hurt. I feel the same way as I do about a SP at this point; go for upside. Your backup plans remain the same if it doesn’t work out.
As for money, it would not surprise me if he came in at or below last year’s salary with incentives based on time on the active roster, or something similar. Minimal cost, especially if they’re not spending $15M on a SP.
Agree with everything you said. That said, I won’t lose a lot of sleep if Chavez signs elsewhere or retires.
Pena is terrible. If you didn’t like Chavez’s numbers after his injury last year. Check out Pena’s for the entire time he was up.
Agreed. Pena taking a few innings in the field is fine. But having him on the roster and expecting him to get three AB’s a game in the event of someone’s injury…yeesh. Pena just can’t hit at all.
And didn’t he make some key errors as well? Can’t recall the precise game but I’m pretty sure he cost them one with 2 E-6s.
I remember the same thing (although also don’t remember the specific instance).
I have to disagree. I love Ramiro’s glovework and arm, and would be very happy for him to backup third, short and second, but he hasn’t made enough contact to satisfy, and the bleaters won’t let it rest. Probably best in AAA, to stand ready in the case of injury.
Nunie made progress at short, and is starting to learn third, and possibly can serve as fifth outfielder. He hits enough to keep the lineup moving, and I find it fun to watch his maximal effort.
We were really lucky with the timing of Jete’s and Arod’s DLs last summer. Nunie had filled for Jeter, the Yanks had kept winning. When Arod went for surgery, Chavez was broke, and Nunie showed the guts to try third, and the Yanks kept winning.
If they had both been out in July and August, the season would not have gone so well. There was that weekend in Cincinatti: Ramiro got called up to play third and Nunie was spelling Jete for a game, and it all blew up. Would not like to try that for a month.
Chavez handles the bat extremely well, rarely fooled, and is a surefooted wizard at third. If Arod goes down for a month, Eric will make us glad we bought insurance.