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Yankees News: Eric Chavez Ready For Next Stage of Baseball Career

By Billy Brost

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After 17 seasons in the big leagues, most notably as the Gold Glove-winning, power-hitting third baseman of the Oakland Athletics, Eric Chavez is ready to move forward with what he hopes is his second life in professional baseball: as a scout and a coach. Chavez, who spent two seasons in the Bronx with the New York Yankees, returns to the team, and will act as a roving minor league scout/pseudo coach.

Chavez recently spoke by telephone with Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, and explained how excited he is to start working on the other side of the business in the game of baseball: “The next few weeks are going to be huge for me. It’s all new to me.”

Chavez also was able to enjoy a first-hand look at current Yankees’ shortstop Didi Gregorius, who he was teammates with briefly last season, before Chavez decided to hang up the cleats once and for all as a player. “If (Gregorius) can field the ball like I know he’s capable of doing and if he can provide that pop he’s capable of providing…he’s going to be really good.”

The Yankees plan to use Chavez by having him spend a week or so with each level of the farm system, evaluating, and offering advice to younger players who one day dream of enjoying the type of career that Chavez had for almost two decades. He learned about the management side of things as he accompanied Brian Cashman and Billy Eppler to the Winter Meetings in his native San Diego this past December: “Sitting in that board room in San Diego was eye-opening. How each person was speaking was completely different. And I was looking at pieces of paper and wondering what exactly some things meant.” While Chavez will be moving around the system during the 2015 season, he hopes to one day return to the field as a full-time coach, but he wanted to learn all angles of the game before making that decision.

Next: Too Much, Too Soon?

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