Welcome to the Yankees Eric Chavez and Ronnie Belliard!

From the Oakland Tribune:

Former A’s third baseman Eric Chavez signed a minor-league contract with the New York Yankees on Friday, WFAN Radio in New York reported.

Chavez, a six-time Gold Glove Award winner at third base, figures to play a backup role with the Yankees, if he makes the team. Alex Rodriguez is the Yankees’ starting third baseman.

The oft-injured Chavez has played in only 67 games with the A’s since July of 2007. The 33-year-old has had numerous back and shoulder surgeries.

Chavez is a .267 lifetime hitter and has 230 career home runs. He had one home run and 10 RBIs in 123 plate appearances with Oakland in 2010. A neck injury landed him on the disabled list in May and he never returned to the field.

The Yankees also signed Ronnie Belliard who most recently played with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was also signed to a Minor League deal and was invited to Spring Training. The deal was first reported by Enrique Rojas of ESPNdeportes.com.

I know people are probably rolling their eyes at these deals but it’s not like they’ve signed big money deals. And wouldn’t it be a nice story, especially for Chavez if he could make the big league squad, even just as a backup? He’s had such bad injury luck in his career.

Anyway, the countdown to Pitchers and Catchers is now 10 days!