Yankees bringing Eric Chavez to camp

February 4, 2011 by Mike Axisa 38 Comments

Via Sweeny Murti, the Yankees are bringing infielder Eric Chavez to camp as a non-roster invitee. If it makes you feel better, just call it a minor league contract, same difference. In case you missed it, they added Ronnie Belliard on a similar deal earlier tonight.

Chavez, of course, hasn’t been healthy in years, battling back, elbow, neck, and shoulder injuries. He was awesome back in the day, with double-digit UZR‘s at third and wOBA’s in the .380’s, but that was a long time ago. He’s a lefty bat and it’s a zero risk move, why the hell not. Hannah wrote more about him just last weekend.

Fun fact: Chavez has the fourth highest WAR (35.8) of any player never to appear in an All-Star Game.

FIPster Doofus

“Cashman still thinks it’s 2003!”-Idiots
Pat D

Yea my two Chicago fan friends were making fun of me due to the Prior and Colon signings. It continued a tad with the Jones signing and much more in earnest with the Garcia signing. They kept telling me the Yankees are preparing for a great 2005.

Now with this, I’m sure I’ll hear it again.
- MikeD
  
  Your Chicago friends wish they had the problems the Yankees have now.
  - Pat D
    
    Eh…
http://youcantpredictbaseball.wordpress.com/ bexarama

a. as Mike said, this is just trolling the “derp derp 2003″ crowd.
b. Spring Training is going to be hilariously awesome this year
c. I’ll trade Chavez, Belliard, Colon, and Prior for Andy Pettitte ;_______;
NJYankeeFan

Chavez has to be the early favorite for the Carl Pavano/Nick Johnson honorary spot on the DL.
- Rey22
  
  Yep, but fortunately, we’d be paying Chavez basically nothing. Pavano charged $10M for that spot and Johnson $5M. If the Yanks are gona have one player be useless in the DL all year long, let it be Chavez and not someone important.
  - Ed
    
    I think Marte already won that spot for $4m.
http://kierstenschmidt.com Kiersten

No but seriously we’d be the ridiculous favorite to win the 2003 World Series.

And this is obligatory:
http://www.femmefan.com/new/site/images/lookerspics/lookers5/Eric_Chavez1.jpg
- GBOOF
  
  i have to admit he does look pretty cool there, and any guys who dispute that are just jealous they cant pull off that look
  - http://kierstenschmidt.com Kiersten
    
    Yeah that’s usually not my type, but damn does he pull it off.
- NJYankeeFan
  
  He reminds me a little bit of Mark Sanchez in that picture.
- rbizzler
  
  I love me some Chavy (but not in that way). I may have found a new use for my Chavez shirtjersey other than to wear while painting the house.
- Accent Shallow
  
  This is surprisingly tame, considering the domain is “femmefan”
http://twitter.com/dpatrickg Dirty Pena

2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003
- http://twitter.com/dpatrickg Dirty Pena
  
  Spring Training is going to be HILARIOUS.
  
  /2003
- MikeD
  
  If it’s 2003, I want Aaron Boone in camp.
  - http://www.yfsf.org AndrewYF
    
    I will also gladly take A-Rod’s and Jeter’s 2003 as well. Also, look at Marte’s 2003 stats.
    
    But how will a 19-year old Gardner fare? And Cano’s MLEs for 2003 are going to be uuuuugly.
    - whozat
      
      How will Phil Hughes get to the games? 16 year olds can’t drive in New York City!
      - Accent Shallow
        
        I wonder how many Yankees drive themselves to the stadium.
BPDELIA

are you effin kiddin me? How in god’s name did Tim Salmon never make an all star team? I know that his career came in the inflated #s era but come on. That dude was like a 280/380/500 slashline lock for almost a decade. He’s got a 165 OPS+ season in there.

Also TOny Phillips is one of my all time favorite players. I ALWAYS drafted him in strat-o-matic. He got no love because A) aside from a very few of us (like me) OBP was terrbly underrated during his prime and B) his greatest strength (his ability to play anywhere) made him appear as a player not good enough to start at one spot.

Phillips was a crazy valuable player IMO.

And Kirk Gibson’s versatility of skill and insane athleticsim is mazing he never made one. You could make a case that in that early 80s period he was one of the best players in the game.

As for Chavez. WHy not?

But Salmon? THat blows me away
- Greg C
  
  I have to admit I didn’t pay as much attention to OBP back in those days. Before I posted, I was looking at Phillips’ BR page and I was blown away by a few of his seasons with his BB, OBP, and run totals. At the time I remember seeing him as more of a versatile “full-time utility” guy who had a couple good years ( like when he hit .300) and couple years with more pop but a lower average. I could not have fully appreciated a .261 season without a lot of RBI back in those days.
  
  I also underrated Salmon. For whatever reason I only remembered him for his ROY and felt like he kinda lived off his repuation from that, got hurt a lot, and was a middling slugger type. Again, I didn’t appreciate all the .400 OBP years and was more impressed by multiple .300 and 100 RBI seasons back then.
- http://twitter.com/steveh_MandAura Steve H
  
  Strat-o-Matic is what made me figure out OBP (and slugging) were much better than batting average when I was about 8 years old. Instead of looking at the batting average on the bottom of the card, I would just count the number of good outcomes on the card and pick those guys first. The more good outcomes, the better player they were, regardless of average. So there were a lot of .250 hitters in the lineups I put together while benching .300 players. It made so much sense to me before I was even 10 years old, and yet, today there are still people who get paid to write about (or play) the game for a living who can’t grasp this concept.
  - Captain Bawls
    
    Strat-o-Matic for the win! Same story here haha. When I was learning SoM, it taught me the glory of OBP and the general meaningless of wins and RBIs.
Greg C

I would look a lot like Chavez if I borrowed my son’s haircut and glasses.

The most interesting this about this post to me is I am somewhat surprised Kirk Gibson was never an All-Star. I wonder how many MVPs ( and guys that got MVP votes in 4 seasons) were never All-Stars.

I’m not surprised Tony Phillips wasn’t an All-Star but he put together a nice career.
- MikeD
  
  Phillips would be an All-Star today with this new “utility” role they’ve added to ensure there’s always enough players on the team. In fact, he’d probably be an All-Star every year!
BPDELIA

Ha I just wrote that Salmon was a 285/385/500 lock and then went to his BR page and gues what lol. His career is 282/385/498. Damn I guessed pretty freakin close one that one
BPDELIA

Dude. two more things Is Kirk Gibson the only player EVERY to win an MVP and NEVER make an all star team. Yes he didn’t deserve that MVP but he still had an excellent season and a great career. Personally for me that MVP is Straw
‘s followed by CLark and then COne.

Also in 1991 and 1993 look at Phillips years. In 1991 he started 56 games in the OF, 46 at 3b and 36 at second. His slash was 281/374/438.

In 1993 he was a straight up all star any way you slice it. Still moved all around the OF and played a lot off games in the IF and put up a fantastic 213/443/398 with 113 RS and 132 BBs.

Like I said I really loved Tony Phillips. One of my all time faves
- Brian
  
  .213/.443/.398???
  that is a lot of freaking walks!
  - RalphieD
    
    that should read 313 not 213
Pasqua

I’m looking forward to a Spring Training of, “Hey! I know him!” instead of the usual, “Who the hell is that?”
ND Mike

Is everyone gonna get like 2 at bats before the regular season begins?
- whozat
  
  Nah, it’s just that like…Doug Bernier and Cody Ransom won’t be getting ABs. It’ll be Belliard and Chavez. There’s always filler guys, it’s just that this time, they’re vets you’ve heard of.
http://jukeofurl.wordpress.com Juke Early

The Yankee mgt. logic has to be – ONE of these guys has to be lightning in a bottle. My bet is on Prior. Just because.
Preston

Jones and Cervelli are guaranteed a spot, and one of Pena or Nunez has to make it to back up at SS. But if Chavez looks good enough defensively and with the bat to beat out Belliard, Golson, Russo, Curtis, and Laird I’d be pretty excited about how our bench looks going into the season.
MannyGee

there is going to be a shit-ton of Icy Hot and Bag Balm at Steinbrenner field this spring… but seriously, good luck to Chavez, should he not sprain his taint while fielding a groundball in Kissimmee
Andrew518

If we’re going to sign someone to fill the DL spot I’d personally rather have Nick Johnson. You can call this a “no risk move” but a 40 man roster spot is worth something. I’m ok with the risk/reward on the pitchers (Colon,Garcia,Prior) but this just won’t work out.
Andrew518

Fun Fact:

Hard for your WAR to drop when you don’t play.