azcentral sports Sun Feb 23, 2014 6:30 PM

Eric Chavez knows who he is at this point in his career.

He’s not the player he was when he won six consecutive Gold Gloves with the Oakland Athletics from 2001 to 2006. He’s not the guy who averaged 144 games a year in his first eight seasons.

He learned that the hard way after injuries limited him to 154 total games in Oakland from 2007 to 2010. When he signed with the New York Yankees for the 2011 season, he knew he wanted to be a veteran backup.

“My first year in New York, it was pretty easy for me,” said the 36-year-old. “When I looked at Andruw Jones and he was a backup, I was like, ‘If this guy’s doing it, for sure I’m doing it.’ ”

Chavez isn’t shunning the spotlight out of waning enthusiasm for the game. He just knows what his body can and can’t do at this point. Last season, he played 58 games in the field — mostly at third — and had 254 plate appearances.

He was productive, batting .281/.332/.478 and knocking in 44 runs, but also had two stints in the disabled list totaling 44 days. In his perfect 2014, Chavez would get between 200-250 at-bats and wouldn’t play more than two days in a row.

“I don’t need to play every day,” Chavez said. “I don’t need the spotlight. I just want to win. That’s the bottom line.”

It’s not as if Chavez is consigned to a veteran role out of lack of opportunity. Other players of his pedigree — like Chavez’s former Yankee teammate Derek Jeter, perhaps — may have tried to hold onto an everyday role too long.

Before re-upping with the Diamondbacks this off-season to the tune of one-year and $3.5 million, several teams approached Chavez about a more full-time role, he said.

“To be honest, a lot of teams wanted me to play first,” said Chavez, who manned first for the Diamondbacks just six times last season. “I don’t like first base. They wanted me to play first and they were throwing out like 400-450 at-bats. I was kind of thrown back a little bit.”

The Diamondbacks offered something close to home — Chavez lives in Arizona — and had a familiarity with his limitations. Staying in Arizona made sense.

“There’s not a whole lot of veteran guys that teams want to keep around,” Chavez said. “This is one of them. I think KT (General Manager Kevin Towers) really values that. It’s a good spot for me.”

Pitching schedule

On Sunday, Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson announced the starters for the team’s first three spring-training games.

Right-hander Brandon McCarthy will start the Diamondbacks’ Cactus League opener Wednesday, a 1:10 p.m. start against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Salt River Fields.

On Thursday, Bronson Arroyo and Randall Delgado will start the team’s two split-squad road games on Thursday against the Dodgers and Cubs, with Arroyo likely to face the Cubs.

The three likely will face a three-inning limit. Gibson wants his pitchers to have four starts before the team’s Australia trip in mid-March.

His Australia starters are to be determined, and Gibson doesn’t feel in any rush to figure it out.

“We’ve got some flexibility,” he said. “You can move things around.”

He did say whoever isn’t tabbed for a Down Under start is likely to remain in Arizona.

Arroyo on Bailey

Arroyo offered his thoughts on former Cincinnati Reds teammate Homer Bailey inking a six-year, $105 million extension — a deal many view as generous to a player with a career 4.25 ERA.

While lamenting how baseball salaries seem to be inflating faster than those of people in the real world, the 37-year-old Arroyo feels Bailey, 27, will more than live up to his big payday.

“He’s been a guy who you could have looked at at one point in his career and said, ‘This guy isn’t going to be what they said he was going to be,’ ” Arroyo said. “Now, he’s a beast out there. I’ll take him against anybody any day of the week.”