lets be real, why would he play for over a year injured. Just does not make sense. Hes never been able to hit in the clutch , that is the main reason I dont like him and would be happy if he was not on the A's.

You said that you would rather have him say something like this:

"You know what? I'm not getting the job done ... and I haven't gotten the job done for quite some time now. I've gotten better defensively, but I've digressed ... BIG TIME ...offensively. Now I'm a liability and I need to get better."

Didn't he do that last year when he admitted he should be batting eighth?

My next point is that it is unfair to just say that he is outright blaming his suckiness on his injuries. Please. Since there is no link i don't even have a context to judge this by, but i do know that A's announcers frequently talk about his ailments and how he refuses to blame his struggles on them. So give me a break, i think him saying this is coincidentally bad timing, and i'm not even sure he didn't say that in response to a question from the media.

And again, you make him out to be this pussy the way he "blames his struggles on his injuries". And also there is the part about players not being allowed to disclose injuries under some stupid agreement.

Finally, i agree about his failure to adjust. I did not pay attention close enough to be able to identify any particular reason that he has digressed so much from last April to now, but i do know this: He added 15 pounds of muscle last offseason and it showed in April, and since then it seems he has lost  bat speed. He swings and misses at fastballs frequently it seems, and he also waves out outside fastballs. He should be taking those the other way, and i can't help but think his forearms/weight loss have something to do with that. Once he starts taking balls opposite field (because we all know he can) he'll be a different hitter.

Why would it be better for Chavez to spout some cliche like "I'm not getting the job done"?  If he did, I'm sure you'd want an explanation as to WHY he isn't getting the job done, and perhaps you'd even criticize him for not figuring out the problem.  But he's given a plausible explanation for his offensive struggles.  And from his comments during the off-season, it sounded like he was very optimistic about the effectiveness of the treatment he was receiving.  Apparently, it hasn't worked out so well over the long run, but I can certainly understand why he would want to try that first, before undergoing surgery.    

he can be a 30 hr 270 BA 100 RBI guy.  There was an expectation when he signed his deal that he'd produce more and from what I've read of people's comments about him, those numbers aren't good enough.  Partly this has to do with the "We should have kept Tejada Syndrome" which you thankfully aren't rehashing.  But the 30/270/100 guy is really all we can ever expect out of Chavez, which, if I'm reading what you're saying, you'd accept.  

But why hasn't he reached that this year and last?  Simple.  Injuries.  Is it his an excuse?  No.  It's simply the truth.  It's hard to catch up to a fastball when you're forearms hurt like hell when swinging a bat.  When you're doing things you don't normally do... when you're, yes I'll admit it, a head case at times and you're not producing the way you know you should regardless of the reasons, he presses and gives really bad at bats.  

But now we're rehashing the "clutch" hitter issue.  Against the Indians he had a homerun and a huge hit before Bradley.  Does he do it everytime, no.  But no hitter does.  But people like to focus more on his failures and tend to ignore his successes.

There's nothing wrong with expecting above average offensive numbers from him.  I expect the same from Kendall and am pissed he makes as much as he does and sucks as much as he does.  But if you're expecting a 300 BA 40+ HR, clean up hitter who can carry a team offensively, that simply never was Chavez nor will it ever be.  Could he do it at some point in his career, sure.  Will he, probably not.

I'm not talking anybody but he himself, that's not in anything I wrote.  I don't think he has any particular  influence on any other player, good or bad.  You're right that there isn't a position of "the man", but it's intellectually dishonest, imo, to claim that any player other than Chavez is designed to be the centerpiece of this team.  It's why out of all the players Beane could have kept, he kept Chavez.  He's the most talented player on the team, at the bat and on the field.  And we're now in the third consecutive year of Chavez not performing commensurate with his talent.  So, what's the problem here?  

Maybe it is all just a physical thing.  But it doesn't look like that when he's batting, imo.  And it doesn't sound like it when he makes his excuses to the media.  I could be entirely wrong, but I really do believe his confidence is shot.  And, please don't misunderstand, I'm not saying that makes him a bad guy.  I'm saying that his lack of competitiveness is one of the reasons I think his confidence is shot.  

I don't know if therapy would actually help him.  That wasn't entirely a serious suggestion.  Finely tuned athlete with a snakepit for a mind, probably needs to come out of it more than go deeper in it.  I do think, at the very least, as the author of the diary said, he should shut up about his issues in the media.  Building more outs and excuses for him doesn't help the situation.

and sit himself Kendall should.  If Billy or
Bob won't make the descision, Kendall should step up and do it himself.  Chavez should be batting 7th but needs the protection of a 4 hitter so he will do even worse than when he was batting third.

in that this is a much better argument to make.  My only question is whether he really has been "making excuses" in the media.  From everything I've heard he's accepted responsbility for his struggles and doesn't blame his injuries.  My only issue with the fact that he doesn't get good at bats is that, without using it as an excuse, it's hard to swing the bat affectively when you're arms are hurting.  If you want to argue that he should take himself out of the lineup and maybe go to the DL if it's affected him this much, I'd back that idea.  Slamming him for not living up to the most basic expectation b/c of his injuries I can't .

was when Kendall kissed Chavez's bat before his first game in 2005.

At this point, i just don't give a crap anymore i just want to see the A's play. There is a point when the analysis just gets tiring, whether it's valid or not.

What he says about it has a lot to do with what's in his head. And what's in his head has something to do with how he performs.

Don't dismiss this like you might dismiss some paean to Derek Jeter's grit or something amorphous about clubhouse chemistry.

A player's attitude about his own skills matters. If he's internally comfortable with who he is as a player, it makes is less likely that he will become a better player.

Chavez just hasn't ever struck me as particularly hungry.

Greatest. Picture. Ever.