There was about a month at the beginning of the season where reporters were dogging Chipper Jones about whether he might retire at the end of the season.  It went on for weeks, because Jones had been the cornerstone of the Atlanta Braves for so long, and the only manager he had ever known was also planning to retire at the end of the season.  Jones has played for the Braves for 17 years, and actually is #37 on the career home run list of all-time. Jones also won an MVP in 1999.   Not a bad career.

Eventually, though, Jones came out and said he was the not going to plan on retiring- unless things didn’t go so well the rest of the way, it became a non-story.

On the other side of the country- a guy who might have once been dubbed the “next Chipper Jones, had they not been so close in age” is thinking about retiring.  Oakland A’s 3rd baseman Eric Chavez has found he has two bulging disks in his neck- which might require surgery.  Susan Slusser has details.

Chavez has had a 13 year career and was once thought so promising the Oakland A’s signed him to a long term deal and let Miguel Tejada walk as a free agent.  Chavez was supposed to be the durable one and the one that could make adjustments over the long haul.  That isn’t how it played out.  His injuries are numerous- and during the last contract he may have been on the disabled list more than he was on the active roster.  Chavez won a couple of gold gloves, and had his A’s been contenders, he may have also received some serious MVP attention, but in just 4 fewer seasons, he has a little over half of the home runs of Jones and half of the hits.  Oakland has a $12.5 million option on Chavez for 2011, but there is no way that option is picked up- and that as much as anything has the 3rd baseman thinking about retirement.

So why am i comparing the two this morning?  Because the two stories start in a similar place, as many in baseball do, with so much promise.  But so much goes into how they end.  Jones played for the Braves for all of his career and went to the playoffs in 11 of his first 16 seasons.  (Looks like he could return in 2010, as well.) Chavez went to the playoffs in 5 of his 13.  While Jones has had chronic back problems over the years, he has stayed healthy enough to move from 3rd base to left field and back to 3rd more than once.  Chavez’ problems kept him out of games, and forced the A’s to always make sure they have a solid back-up for him.

Miguel Tejada meanwhile went on to have quite the career- though perhaps with the help of steroids- playing for the Orioles, the Astros and now the Padres.  At one point he had the longest active consecutive game streak in the majors, and sits at #5 on the all time list.  How different hindsight might make the decision to keep Chavez and let Tejada go.

Its a funny game, and there is no telling what can happen with those can’t miss prospects. Good Luck Eric Chavez.