FanHouse

Eric Chavez has been on the disabled list since July 27th with a bad back, and though the Athletics were hoping the Gold Glove third baseman would be back this week, they're going to have to wait a little bit longer.

While Chavez was hoping it was a little discomfort, now he fears the injury may be something worse than originally thought and he'll be meeting with a doctor on Wednesday to find out if his fear is justified.

"We'll see what he's got to say," Chavez said of the doctor. "I'll get an opinion and then I might see somebody else and then come up with a game plan...We're hoping that someone can point us in the right direction."

There must be some sort of correlation between being a very good third baseman, and back trouble. The White Sox have already lost Joe Crede for the season, and now the Athletics are wondering if they may need to deal with the same thing.

Back issues are one of the hardest things to deal with for a player, or anybody else really, and I think Chavez and the Athletics should consider shutting it down for the season at some point. Depending on what the doctors tell Chavez, and how much longer the discomfort lasts, there's no point in running the risk of letting Chavez make it worse. The Athletics probably aren't going to make some crazy run to the top of the AL West so it's not like they have to have Chavez right now. Some time off will probably be the best thing for his back and his health going into next season.