It's impossible not to speculate about Eric Chavez' future.

Here's a 25-year-old lefty slugger who has hit 66 home runs and driven in 123 runs for Oakland the past two years. A strong-armed, nimble third baseman who already has two Gold Gloves on his shelf. Just now entering his prime, Chavez is often compared to Scott Rolen and even a young, left-handed Mike Schmidt. It seems only a matter of time before he wins an MVP Award.

	Eric Chavez says Barry Zito's music is horrible.

Chavez enjoys the projections as much as a ferret in his sanitary socks. A notorious slow starter, who ended last week batting .282-7-14 following a game-winning homer against the Yankees, Chavez chafes at the speculation surrounding him, genuinely questioning how much he deserves, or even wants, to stand out on the baseball field. I sat down with him this weekend in New York.

Question: Ken Macha has called you "the most talented player I've seen in my 32 years in baseball." Is that encouraging, or a curse?

Chavez: I'd kind of rather that not be said. I'm not directing that towards Macha. Without putting boundaries on myself, I'm going to try to improve -- to get myself conditioned in the offseason so the next season I can improve. That's all I'm worried about. I'm not worried about catching anybody or comparing myself to anybody, this third baseman or that third baseman. I'm going to play hard every day and every year. I just don't like having to live up to the certain standards that people have. In a way it's kind of unfair -- if people think you have that kind of ability and that kind of potential and you don't get to that level, I'm an underachiever. I don't want that. I don't want that burden. There's very few guys who come into this league who come in and dominate right out of the box, like A-Rod. The progression I've had, I'm happy with that. I don't feel that I haven't achieved something. I've done well, you know?

Question: Runs batted in are big for you, but you have only 14 so far in Oakland's first 31 games. What do you think is the cause of that?

Chavez: There could be a lot of things. The first month of the season, there's no way I'm gonna pressure myself saying I should be here or there. The greatest thing I've gotten from my first three or four years of playing, my slow starts, is that in my second half, no matter what I've done in the first half, I'm capable of putting up big numbers. So I'm not pressured into saying, "Oh God, I only have 14 RBIs." I'm not worried about it. Two years ago, I had like 11 homers and 38 RBIs at the break. And I finished up with like 32 and 114. That's almost like a blessing -- if I struggle again in the first half I'm not going to hit the panic button.

Question: Do you think playing on the Japan tour last winter will play a role in your development?

Chavez: It helped tremendously. Last year, when people asked me about maybe making the All-Star game, I said I kind of didn't want to go because I felt uncomfortable -- the thought of me going and being in the same locker room as those guys kind of threw me for a loop. So when I got to go to Japan, that was the first time I'd ever been around players of that caliber. I'd played with Jason Giambi before, but you've got Bernie Williams, Barry Bonds. I just got comfortable.

Question: Rather than uncomfortable?

Chavez: I definitely could have been. But it was in the offseason, and it served a different purpose for me. My numbers have warranted me being in certain positions, but I really haven't felt that way. Getting to be around those guys relaxed me a little bit. They're normal guys. And I can play amongst them. It really helped me out a lot.

	Giambi

Question: Just say you were the best player on your team. Would you be comfortable with that?

Chavez: I don't think so. It's funny you bring it up, because I've been talking about this with my teammates lately. I just want to be one of the guys thrown in the mix. Kind of like the Yankees are, and the Mariners are, where it's a team -- there isn't one guy who sticks out. I definitely don't want to be like Jason (Giambi) when he was here, the focal point.

Question: Does that have anything to do with your low RBI total this year? There's a lot more pressure on you with Jason gone, Jermaine Dye hurt and Miguel Tejada struggling.

Chavez: I haven't put that kind of pressure on myself. I might have last year after Jason left. No one knew what our offense was gonna be like. This year I'm not worried about it.

Question: You've described yourself to me as a "Dominican-type hitter." But this year you have 18 walks and 22 strikeouts, which is much more even than you're used to. Are you trying to get deeper into counts or is it just happenstance?

Chavez: This stuff is just happening. I know that this is what Billy (Beane) says he wants from players, but I don't take any of that stuff into consideration. I don't say, "Damn, this is what Billy wants me to do." I might swing at the first pitch three times tonight. I'm trying to stay aggressive and swing at pitches in the zone.

Question: I've seen some detailed data about your performance this year vs. last, and it's very striking -- when you went down 0-1 in the count last year, you hit just as well as usual, .285 with your regular power. This year, in 51 at-bats in that situation, you're hitting .118 with almost all singles and just one RBI. Strike one is important for a pitcher, but why has it hurt you so much?

Chavez: I've seen these kind of numbers before. Last year they showed me something where I was hitting like .300 on pitches out of the zone. And in the zone I was hitting .240. Am I gonna start telling myself to swing at pitches out of the zone?

Question: But let's look at it not so much as numbers. Could your approach have changed at all when a pitcher gets the first strike on you? Have you gotten more defensive for some reason? Something does seem to be happening, at least from the outside.

Chavez: I have to be honest with you -- I don't want to say nothing. Nobody in this league wants to go 0-2. You can ask anybody. They don't want to go 0-2. When you look at the numbers, I don't want to go down 0-2. That's what it's telling you -- I'm looking to put a pitch in play way too early in the count.

Question: You're one Achilles' heel seems to still be lefties -- you're hitting .120 against them, rather than .325 against righties. What is the status of that adjustment?

Chavez: The more I see them, the better. The one year I hit lefties best, I think we led the league in facing left-handed starters. By like 15 or 20 games. It's just about feeling comfortable and seeing them.

Question: Last year, when I saw you in September just before the playoffs, you said you were "totally gassed," exhausted. Are you taking a different approach this year to make sure you stay strong at the end of the season?

Chavez: Last year I hurt my back early on, so during the season I had to alter my weightlifting, which kind of hurt me later on. Macha, this year, is giving players rest more -- I had two days off recently. All that stuff's gonna help down the road. Macha's done a great job resting guys early on here and that's gonna pay off towards the end.

	Tejada

Question: You told me last year that you hate playing third base (rather than shortstop) because the game looks goofy to you from that angle. The Gold Glove third baseman hates the position?

Chavez: [Laughs.] I don't dread it like I used to. It's still not my favorite position on the field. His [points to Miguel Tejada] is. But I'm definitely feeling better there now. It's the same thing as lefties -- me running out there and getting used to it.

Question: On Saturday in New York, you hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to put the A's ahead of the Yankees, and in the bottom of the inning made a two-out throwing error that brought the tying run to the plate. Were you just thinking, "Oh no ... "

Chavez: I was ready to kill myself. I was trying to take my time, set myself and throw it over to first, and I think the more I do that, the worse I get. I throw the ball better on the run for some reason. I take my time to make a good throw and I throw a duck fart over there.

Question: How does the situation surrounding Tejada, with the A's saying they almost certainly won't sign him, affect you? With people wondering if the team will have enough money to sign you after next year, does it raise uncertainties in your mind about your future?

Chavez: I haven't worried about it at all. I'm really not concerned about it. I know I have two years left here, this year and next year. We've got a good team. And I want to win. When that time comes we'll deal with it.

Question: Given that you hate all the expectations surrounding you, all the talk about possible MVPs and 40-homer seasons, without using numbers, what are your own expectations for yourself?

Chavez: I want to feel like when I come to the field every day that there's something positive that I do for my team. That I can say, "Even if I'm 0-for-4, I'm happy with what I did." A walk, a 12-pitch at-bat, a good play. I'm just not there yet. I haven't done it this month, so I'm not there yet. I don't think I've reached my peak.

Alan Schwarz is the senior writer of Baseball America magazine and a regular contributor to ESPN.com.