Athletics third baseman Eric Chavez has missed a lot of games over the last few years because of his back and shoulder injuries. Chavez played in only 90 games back in 2007, and 23 games last season. This year he's appeared in eight games and has three hits in 30 at-bats thanks to his balky back. Now it seems that his back may be keeping him off the baseball diamond for the rest of his life.At this point Chavez is basically playing Russian roulette with it. Sure, he didn't blow his head off with the first pull of the trigger, but the odds are increasing with every shot, dive, swing, lifted piece of luggage or sneeze he makes that his career will be dead soon.
The next time Eric Chavez's back goes out, it will be the end of his career.As somebody who has had his own issues with his back in recent years, I can sympathize with Chavez. I actually jacked mine up last Thursday night just by sneezing, and I could hardly move for the next two days. How in the hell Chavez or guys like Joe Crede could keep playing baseball with the same issues, I've never understood.
"Pretty much game, set and match," the A's third baseman told The Chronicle by phone from his home in Phoenix.
Chavez is rehabbing his most recent back problem in Arizona in the hopes of rejoining the A's on their next homestand. Doctors, however, have told him that a herniated disk in his back could go at any time, even if he sneezes.
If that happens, Chavez will need to have his previously repaired vertebra, the L4-L5, fused with the vertebra that is currently herniated, which is the L3-L4. Another microdiscectomy such as the one Chavez had in October, 2007, is out, because it would leave his spine too unstable, Chavez said.
Hopefully Chavez will be able to overcome these injuries, but realistically, I don't see him being able to finish his career without any more flare ups so I think it's only a matter of time before he hangs his cleats up.
