Coco Crisp believes A's have ulterior motive for not playing him

Coco Crisp and the Athletics are heading toward a nasty breakup. (Getty Images/Joe Robbins)

The longest-tenured member of the Oakland Athletics will probably be looking for a new home this winter. Outfielder Coco Crisp is not happy about his reduced playing time, and believes there’s an ulterior motive behind the A’s decision to keep him on the bench.

Crisp, who currently makes $11 million, has a vesting option for the 2017 season. There are four ways for that option to be picked up. Crisp either has to accumulate 550 plate appearances this season, 1,100 plate appearances over the past two years, 130 games played in 2016 or 260 games played over the past two seasons. If Crisp hits any of those goals, the Athletics have to pick up a $13 million option on Crisp for 2017.

As of right now, that’s not going to happen. Crisp received 139 plate appearances last season, and was limited to 44 games due to injuries. He has no shot at hitting either of the combined incentives.

If Crisp is going to hit his vesting option, he needs to keep playing this year. Thus far, the 36-year-old has 396 plate appearances on the year, and has played in 93 games. With regular playing time, he could surpass, or at least come pretty close to those incentives.

Problem is, the Athletics are no longer giving him normal playing time. At 52-67, Oakland has fallen out of contention. As a result, the team has focused on playing younger players in order to evaluate them moving forward. At 36 years old, Crisp doesn’t fit into that group.

While the organization’s reasoning makes sense, Crisp told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronciel that he’s “extremely hurt” about the decision.

“I’m extremely hurt, the way things are being handled,” said Crisp, who did not play in Monday’s 5-2 loss at Texas. “I’m not calling anyone names, but this is really frustrating and disappointing. This has been my favorite organization going back to when I was a kid, because of Rickey Henderson, and I’ve enjoyed playing here so much, and I’ve put it all out there. … Up until recently, it’s been tremendously enjoyable.”

Crisp does a good job of expressing his displeasure without getting into the specifics behind the move from the A’s perspective. His agent, Steve Comte, was a little more willing to take the Athletics to task for the reduced playing time.

“But this team has never been motivated to give up a dollar,” Crisp’s agent, Steve Comte said. “I know Billy Beane has always been fond of Coco, but what they’re doing now is really a joke. I’ve advised Coco to take the high road, but the way things are going is a disservice to him.”

That puts both sides in an extremely uncomfortable situation moving forward. On the one hand, Crisp hasn’t played particularly well this year. He’s hitting just .239/.307/.410 over 396 plate appearances. Combine that with his age, and it’s perfectly reasonable for the A’s to want to get a look at other players.

Problem is, Crisp is healthy, and the vesting option was supposed to be a show of good faith by Oakland. As long as Crisp could physically get out on the field, they were supposed to play him and he was supposed to reach his option. That’s not how options always work, of course, but that’s the ideal situation.

It also doesn’t help that Oakland has a reputation as a low-budget team. They have a lot to gain by preventing Crisp’s option from vesting … $13 million to be exact. That’s a big chunk of money for the A’s, and allows them to have more flexibility in the offseason. Sitting Crisp may be the right move for the franchise, but it still comes across as ruthless.

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No matter what happens, a happy ending doesn’t seem likely. After seven years in Oakland, Crisp will be looking for a new team this offseason. There are worse things, and no one is going to shed a tear for Crisp, but it’s still pretty sad to see a good relationship fall apart over something like this.

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