FanPost

It’s Time for Yoenis Cespedes to Come Home

Cespedes 2021 is more than a meme now. With Khris Davis out of the picture, the A’s have an opening for a power-hitting LF/DH. It’s time for the A’s to fill that roster spot with free agent Yoenis Cespedes.

Were his 2017 comments about wanting to return to Oakland just lip service? His love for Oakland has always felt genuine from where I sit. Frankly I can’t believe anyone associated with the 2012 A’s has any negative feelings toward the organization. Entering what could be Bob Melvin’s final season as A’s manager, bringing back Cespedes may be a serendipitous conclusion to this era of Oakland A’s baseball. In his own words:

‘I don’t know how many years I’m going to play, but I’m going to play the last year of my career with Oakland.’ I don’t know if that’s possible or not, but that’s my goal."

Further, it’s worth wondering whether at a certain salary, Yoenis Cespedes would pay for himself in the form of ticket sales and merchandise. I’m generally wary of such claims, but Cespedes has such a unique status with this fan base and his salary might be so low on a bounce-back contract that it becomes the case here. Coming off a pandemic and with the attendance picture blurry, it’s a bit of a risk.

It makes baseball sense, though! I promise. Cespedes hasn’t played regularly since 2016 and he missed all of 2019. He’s put up a 125 OPS+ since 2017 in just 127 games over those four seasons, and he opted out of the 2020 season after a poor eight games amid reports that he was unhappy with his role as a full-time DH. But as a low-risk flier, he makes sense. The A’s are currently set to run out Mark Canha, Ramon Laureano, and Stephen Piscotty in the outfield along with Blaze Tom and perhaps one member of their group of lefty-hitting AAA outfielders (Seth Brown, Luis Barrera, Skye Bolt, Dustin Fowler), plus Chad Pinder is an option despite also being the utility infielder.

I count twelve hitters currently on the major league roster:

  1. Sean Murphy
  2. Austin Allen
  3. Matt Olson
  4. Tony Kemp
  5. Elvis Andrus
  6. Matt Chapman
  7. Chad Pinder
  8. Mark Canha
  9. Ramon Laureano
  10. Stephen Piscotty
  11. Blaze Tom
  12. Brown/Fowler/Bolt?
That 13th spot was penciled in for Khris Davis, but with him now gone it’s wide open for a power threat. Offer Yoenis Cespedes a one-year contract, perhaps laden with incentives. It’s been a rough offseason, why not have some fun with it?