Major League Baseball

Chavez hopes good times return

Published Mar. 20, 2010 5:38 p.m. ET

foxsports

Eric Chavez is the face of the Oakland A’s.

He was the foundation of the offense of baseball’s overachievers, a Gold Glove-winning, power-hitting threat who was a key component in a franchise advancing to the postseason in five out of seven seasons from 2000-2006.

He has become the lingering reminder of what once was for a team that has become an AL West afterthought, looking to rebound from three seasons of frustrations for himself and his team.

"It all happens so fast, you are enjoying it but don’t really understand the significance of what’s gone on and then it’s gone,’’ said Chavez. "You want to get it back. You don’t want it to end like this. And it becomes what drives you, wanting to help this franchise return to where you feel it belongs.’’

Think about it. In the summer of 2000, at the age of 21, Chavez became entrenched at third base for the A’s. The team never finished below second in the AL West his first eight big-league seasons. Five times in the seven seasons from 2000-2006, the A’s advanced to the postseason, and in the process Chavez hit 199 home runs, drove in 660 runs and won six Gold Gloves.

The good times ended in a hurry. The A’s advanced to the ALCS for the first time in 15 years in 2006. They haven’t seen .500 in the three years since, and they haven’t seen Chavez in their lineup very often.

The victim of two back and three shoulder surgeries, Chavez has appeared in only 121 games, had only 505 at-bats the last three seasons. He has hit only 17 home runs and driven in only 61 runs.

And now at the age of 32, in the final year of a six-year, $66 million contract that has been a financial burden for the A’s given Chavez’ on-field struggles, Chavez is battling for survival.

"I know the window of my career is short,’’ he said.

But he also knows he doesn’t want it to end with him having been a three-year dead weight. He wants to feel he contributed in some fashion. He has welcomed the chance this spring to make the conversion from third base to first base, where the throwing demands on his aching right shoulder will be limited. And he knows that even if he is healthy and settles in at first it will be in a part-time role.

"This has been tremendous,’’ he said of working at first base. "If I had to be at third base, making all the throws that come with the position, there is no way I could feel this good.

"I have to be realistic about my body and what it will allow me to do.’’

But it is not easy.

The last three seasons have been growing frustrations.

"When you come up, things happen so fast,’’ he said of the A’s championship seasons in his early years. "It’s exciting to be at the park every day. You think you are enjoying the moment, but you can’t really enjoy it because it happened so quickly.’’

The last three years, however, have given Chavez an appreciation for what was. It’s been tough enough to watch the team struggle, but to not feel like there is anything he can do to help makes it even worse. He was limited to 90 games in 2007, then 23 games in 2008, and only eight games last year, the last of which came on April 24.

"That was frustrating but it’s over,’’ said Chavez. "I can’t look back and change anything. You have to get ready for the next challenge and I am happy to have the opportunity to come back and try to finish out my career.’’

Admittedly, in spring training everybody has a bright outlook, but Chavez feels the A’s are in position to rebound from their three-year struggle. He sees a young pitching staff that has shown it can handle the competition.

With a bullpen anchored by closer Andrew Bailey, the 2009 AL Rookie of the Year, and a rotation in which only nine starts were made by a pitcher older than 25, the A’s finished third in the AL in earned-run average last year.

A misfiring offense, however, doomed the A’s to a third consecutive losing season. The A’s ranked ninth in the AL in runs scored, 12th in OPS. Raja Davis (.305) was the only player to hit .295 or better. Kurt Suzuki led the A’s with 88 RBI, 18 ahead of Jack Cust. Cust, who had 62 more strikeouts (185) than hits, led the team with 25 home runs, 10 more than Suzuki.

General manager Billy Beane worked during the offseason to correct that problem, and he was able to sign center fielder Coco Crisp, who the A’s feel can help ignite the offense from the top, and acquired third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff from San Diego to add production to the middle of the lineup.

The return of a productive Chavez, however, can mean more than anything else.

And Chavez knows it.

"We have a tough hill to climb, but we are in position to make a move with the young talent we have here,’’ he said. "With the Angels losing (John) Lackey, Vlad (Guerrero) and (Chone) Figgins, the division is pretty equal.’’