Oakland Athletics To Sign Coco Crisp

The Oakland Athletics have agreed to a two-year contract with outfielder Coco Crisp, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.com. The deal guarantees Crisp about $14 million over the next two years. Olney says that the outfielder will be paid $6 million in 2012 and $7 million in 2013, and there's a $7.5 million club option for 2014 with a $1 million buyout attached.

It had previously been reported that Crisp was settled on which team he would sign with this winter, and now we have the identity of that team. This move was actually somewhat expected, as the likes of Peter Gammons tweeted to MLB Daily Dish last night that one source identified to him that the A's were the mystery team on Crisp.

Crisp, 32, has spent the past two years in Oakland. He's actually played quite well in an A's uniform, posting 5.5 WAR in 211 games. The typically injury-prone center fielder managed to play in 136 games in 2011, and while his numbers weren't up to par (particularly on defense), he was still a league-average regular. Oakland clearly believes that his defense didn't decline in 2011 as much as UZR claims it did, which bodes with the more optimistic evaluations of his defense by DRS.

Presumably, Crisp will once again take over as the primary center fielder for the Athletics in 2012. With this move, the recently-acquired Josh Reddick will likely be the regular right fielder for Oakland, while Michael Taylor and Collin Cowgill will share time in left field.