In January, the Oakland Athletics re-signed free agent Coco Crisp. They told him he would play center field. In February, the Oakland Athletics signed Yoenis Cespedes. It looked like Cespedes would bump Crisp over to left, and Monday, that was made official, as it was announced that Cespedes will start for the A's in center in Japan.
Nightengale: Coco Crisp Kind Of Regrets Signing With A’s
Coco Crisp will deal with the change and try to be the best left fielder he can be. But as he tells Bob Nightengale, he would’ve made a different decision as a free agent had he known what would happen in Oakland.
Coco Crisp never would have re-signed with the Oakland Athletics, he revealed Monday, if he had known they were going to move him to left field.
“No, I wouldn’t have come back here as a left fielder,” said Crisp, who signed a two-year, $14 million free-agent contract in January. “I would have signed with Tampa.”
The Rays were interested in Crisp as a center fielder, and had B.J. Upton on the trading block. But there was uncertainty over whether Upton would be moved, which led Crisp back to Oakland. He just wanted to go somewhere to play center field, and now he's not going to play center field.
Don’t misinterpret this as sour grapes. Crisp seems to be dedicated to the A’s, and he seems to have the right attitude about his situation. He’s just being honest. Had he known he wouldn’t play center in Oakland, he wouldn’t have re-signed with Oakland. Now that he has re-signed with Oakland, and now that he knows he won’t play center, he’ll make the best of it.
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