Before I finish up the NRI position players and move on to the starting pitchers, a quick comment about Eric Chavez: Joel Sherman tweeted this morning that Yankees ownership doesn’t want to pony up money “to get DH and/or Chavez” unless A.J. Burnett is moved. I don’t mind the idea of getting a DH, and if you’ve read previous entries, you know that I am all for the Yankees adding a reserve third baseman who can produce, but I’m unclear as to why Chavez is the guy to go after. This is a guy who hit .263/.320/.356 last year. If you like OPS+, that’s a 79, or 21 percent below league average. If you like True Average, it’s .241. It’s not anything you should be looking for in a corner player.
I know this is nothing new, but Chavez’s many (many) injuries turned a great player into a non-entity. He’s 34 now, so it’s possible he would have arrived at this point by now anyway. The Gold Glove third baseman with power is gone, almost certainly forever. He’s also still fragile; he spent 82 days on the disabled list last year. It doesn’t make much sense to hire a caddy for A-Rod who is going to need a caddy of his own. That way lies Brandon Laird, or someone even more obscure. That way lies Ramiro Pena making starts at third base.
Last year, even with the missing time, Chavez got 175 plate appearances. The Yankees got two home runs out of that. I’m sure he’s a great guy to be around, but he hasn’t had even league-average production since 2007. His last two seasons total out to .251/.302/.347 with three home runs. If this is the level of substitute you aim for, you deserve what you get if you actually have to use it.
Very well said…
Two words:
MIGUEL CAIRO
So what you’re saying is you want an above average hitting and defensive third baseman to be used as a backup?
Good luck with that one!
Other then he being right-handed versus left for Chavez, what’s wrong with Laird in the role? Gives Yankees more flexibility( can play all the corner positions) and might turn into ok long term asset.
Agreed. One of the main reasons the Yankees are moving Burnett is to free up salary. Okay, then one solution would be to play Laird, who will cost all of 500K, as opposed to Chavez, who will probably cost 1.5 million. That’s another million saved right there.
Laird’s plate discipline is not great, yet he has legit power and will no doubt run into a few pitches and drop them over the fence. The main argument against Laird is he might be better served playing every day in AAA working on his plate discipline, as opposed to sitting on the bench in the majors waiting for an A-Rod injury. When that inevitably happens, Laird can then be recalled.
As one of the posters above notes, a quality back-up 3B’man is pretty rare because 3B is not all that deep in the Majors right now. A-Rod, despite all his time missed last year, still ranked as one of the top four 3B’man in the game. It’s a thin position, so while Steven’s through process is fine, the solution is not that easy.
Here’s something scary. Using fWAR, Eric Chavez delivered nearly twice as much value last year as Mark Reynolds, who played in 155 games and slugged 37 HRs. It was all on the defensive side, something that also needs to be included in the equation. Chavez still rates as a plus defender, while Reynolds was horrific. Factoring in defense, Chavez may be a little better option than Steven has given credit for, especially considering many of the weak options on the market.