End of an Era -- Eric Chavez' option declined. Crisp, Ellis picked up.

Here’s my goodbye to one of my favorite A’s ever.

was to watch Chavvy play third base.

Chavy was my all-time favorite player. Him, along with Ellis and Duke were the only reminders of the old days.
Well, here’s my good-bye:
Good-bye Chavy. You were fantastic. I loved watching you play, watching star at third and at the plate, adding fun to to the team and clubhouse. You kept it loose, you were gritty and determined, and a real leader. You were the heart of this team. Good-bye.

against Texas late in the season, maybe 2007. Texas had a late inning rally with either bases loaded or runners at the corner, one one. Someone hit a smash to third, Chavez picked it, tagged Michael Young trying to get back to the bag and threw to first for the double play and it was beautiful. Classic Chavez. I’ve missed him already and will miss the yearly tease of hoping against hope he’ll be back. Best of luck to him.

Class act on and off the field. Best wishes on your future andyou will always be an Athletic to most of the fans.

This has always been a day i knew would come, but it doesn’t make it any easier. In my lifetime, I have never seen a third baseman who handled the glove quite like Eric Chavez did in his career. And when he was healthy, he had a lethal bat, with amazing opposite field power.

Like Oakland Si stated above, I used to get my seats on the third base side just to watch Chavez play the hot corner and it was a thing of beauty….
Indeed, it is a sad day for A’s fans and I sincerely hope that Eric decides to stick with the A;s organization in some capacity, or like many have mentioned, taking the place of Carney Lansford in the CSN studios in 2001.

I really don’t want to see him in another uniform as was being suggested by Susan Slusser’s Tweet…..it would just not be right. It would be like watching your ex dating your brother. Anyways, thanks for all the great memories and we will always love you Chavvy!

Go A’s!

I think it’s a good deal, especially if Crisp manages to stop breaking his fingers.

This sentence made me laugh. Here’s hopin!

Bad one Billy Beane

It’s going to be a while before we see someone of Chavvy’s talent and ability to frustrate. In his early years it seemed like just a matter of time before he left his All-Star level and became other-worldly, but it never happened and the injuries sapped any last chance of it happening. He was/is/will be my favorite player, probably to the end of my days, and for it to be (officially) over sucks big time.

The only thing left to do is to make Rickey the bench coach and Chavvy the infield/something else coach.

This is a very sad, yet expected, day.

man I’ll miss him. Makes me so sad to see him go out this way. 62 games in the last 3 seasons? :‘( I guess they’re going to break up mine and my bff’s dreamteam. Super happy about Ellis though..he’s mah boy…what a season for him! I hope he can somewhat replicate it and not digress terribly.

Making the fould ball catch while sliding into the dugout

Hitting an absolute BOMB against the White Sox in Chicago

  At least he got to play a few games last season and hit one more HR in a green & gold uni (unless they were wearing black that day).

I’m very happy about M-A, M-A-R, M-A-R-K, Ell-IS! and his magical unicorn.

What shouldn’t be forgotten is that Eric played through the injuries earlier in his career which eventually lead to the bigger injuries here at the end. Sure it was foolish to play through them but it showed what kind of player he was and how much he cared about his team. He literally gave up his body for the team and sacrificed the rest of the career in the process.

Foolish, but admirable.

2003 ALDS game 1: Harden pitching in the top of the 12th, and he manages to load the bases. Kapler hits a bullet to 3rd, Chavvy scoops it and runs to 3rd for the force.

After getting on base by via FC, and then getting to 3rd, Chavvy scores the winning run on the walkoff bunt. As he’s crossing the plate, he raises his fists in the air.

Bye, Chavvy. Please do us all favor and retire as an A. If you must play, please don’t play for the following teams (ranked in order of how bad it would suck if you played for said team):

Giants
Angels
Red Sox
Yankees

You’ve always been one of my favorite players, mostly because of your fantastical defense. It’s been hard watching you struggle to continue playing over the last few years, but it would hurt so, so much more to see you wear another team’s uniform. Please don’t try to play for another team. Let your body recover. Join CSNCA, bring some intelligence to the broadcasts, and stay with the A’s forever. We love you.

And it wouldn’t be a Chavy thread without:

Also: Ellis! ♥

And I echo the sentiment that we wish you would retire as an A.

You’ll be missed, Mr. Chavez. Best of luck after baseball.

You are one of my favorite A’s players ever and I will miss seeing you don the green and gold. I will miss your heart, determination, athleticism, and professionalism. Good luck to you.

You were a great 3B! I loved knowing that when a ball was hit your way it was a sure out. You will be missed!

I’d tried for years and years to just shake his hand or get his autograph or anything.
It wasn’t that he didn’t make himself available, more so that I just never got a chance to.
I’m so glad I got to though.
It was the A’s ST game after the one in Scottsdale against the Giants. I saw him come out of the dugout, got his autograph, shook his hand and told him just how grateful I was for all the wonderful things he’d done early in his career.
He was about as nice as he could possibly have been, he was so grateful and reiterated his desire to be back at the level he once was.
At this point it’s been such a labor of love that I’m not too broken up about it, but I really do wish him the best in whatever is next. It would be wonderful to someday see him back with the team in some capacity, whether it be as a special instructor or even a coach of some kind…

Sad to see Eric go when he was healthy one of the top players at third base and one of the best defensive third basemen of all time and all those gold gloves to prove it hope he has good life after baseball and you will be missed Eric.

but I don’t agree with the talk about making him a coach.

First of all, I don’t assume that just because he was good at playing infield defense he’ll be good at teaching it. Second, I just don’t buy this notion that every time we love a former player we ought to keep him around as a coach, just so that he still get to see him every day.

One of my favorite memories: I was in attendance twelve years ago when he hit for the cycle (and then just a few years ago when Ellis hit for it too- the only two cycles hit by A’s at the Coliseum).

Chavvy was such a GREAT fielder. I’m not sure I ever saw a better third baseman, and I’m old enough to remember Brooks Robinson picking ’em back in the day.

I’m glad they picked up Ellis’ option. He is a class act, and great talent and should end his career with the A’s.

Buck and Ziggy were granted Super-2 status, making them eligible for arbitration this offseason.

You sure had a lot of Gold Gloves.

Terry Kennedy = 4 time All Star
Eric Chavez = 0 time All Star

Chavez was on a Brooks Robinson trajectory until 2007. Absolutely on his way to the Hall. Its a downright tragedy and really sunk our organization not having him repeat his 2000-2004 from 2006-2010. As good as Beltre and Zimmerman are at 3B, they never reached Chavvy’s Savvy over there. I’d take him in that era (00-04) over any 5 season spread from a 3B since 1980.

For years, it was always Eric Chavez who had the longest tenure with the team, and Ellis in second place.

Now Ellis is our longtime veteran, and second longest is … who? Suzuki? I can’t think of anyone who’s been around that long.

In his prime.. GG defense.. 30HRs.. 100RBIs.. what more can you ask for? Its a shame the injuries got him but hes the reason I loved the A’s.

The main reason I like the Eills signing is that we actually have depth at a position for a change. They could lose, but they could also win big. $6.5MM isn’t ridiculous.

With the extra money from letting go of Chavez and maybe, Sheets, the A’s can afford some free agents this offseason.

it was the last really fully healthy year Chavvy would have with us. He played well that year like he did the previous 4-5 seasons. He earned a GG, helped us get to the playoffs, and was part of the heart of that lineup ( can’t forget Miggy ). In the playoffs he left something to be desired, at least for me. Of course I didn’t appreciate and value the play of a team which would lead to playoff appearances then like I do now. I didn’t cherish and idolize individual efforts then like I do now. I didn’t care so much about these ideas of leadership and chemistry which I now believe are extremely important to success. So I wish I could watch the 2003 A’s again just so I could fully appreciate Chavvy. His defense, his bat, his laughter and smiles when on the field or in the dugout. All that I seemingly missed then but would love to have chance to view it again. Players like that don’t come around for a franchise so often.

V- mart to Oak town?

What about Ben Zobrist?

among the various things Chavvy said, he mentioned that he wants to play third base if he can sign with some club this coming season.