Rays Made Serious Play For Coco Crisp

The Oakland A’s made a big move yesterday, re-signing outfielder Coco Crisp to a two year, $14 million deal. News like this is not usually pertinent to Rays fans. Today, however, there has been an interesting development. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the decision came down to the Rays and the A’s, and Crisp even went as far as saying the Rays were “the best option” as of Saturday. Then, the A’s made a deal to Crisp’s liking. In the end Crisp chose to remain in Oakland to be close to home and in an environment he is familiar with.

News of the Rays pursuit of Coco Crisp makes you wonder what Andrew Friedman is thinking. As it stands right now, the Rays don’t need an outfielder, with Matt Joyce, BJ Upton, and Desmond Jennings already occupying the three spots. Could there be a trade on the horizon involving BJ Upton? Marc Topkin wrote about what the Rays would have done, and he assumed it would be BJ to go, saying it wouldn’t make sense to trade any of the other Rays outfielders.

Topkin also mentioned that, given Crisp’s final contract, the Rays wouldn’t have saved much by going to Crisp over Upton. Crisp is a decent hitter and may be an immediate improvement over Upton, but he is five years older. In the end, I don’t think it would be worth it unless the Rays are thinking of flipping Upton for a guy like Michael Morse, as I mentioned yesterday.

There are many saying this year could be Upton’s breakout season. Joe Sheehan was talking about Upton on MLB Network yesterday, and he went as far as saying BJ could be the next Matt Kemp. People have been saying that BJ will have a great season for the last couple seasons, but we can always hope that BJ will finally live up to his potential. He is only 27, just now entering his prime. He has shown streaks of brilliance over the years, so this could be the year where it finally lasts a season.

It’s nice to see that there are actual things happening on the Rays front recently, after signing Fernando Rodney today and making a play for Coco Crisp. Maybe the Rays will finally make a significant move in the not too distant future.