CESPEDES AGREES TO $36M, 4-YEAR DEAL WITH A’S ADVERTISING BY JANIE MCCAULEY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OAKLAND, Calif. — After a winter of rebuilding, the Oakland Athletics were the surprise winner for Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes and the A’s
CESPEDES AGREES TO $36M, 4-YEAR DEAL WITH A’S
BY JANIE MCCAULEY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OAKLAND, Calif. — After a winter of rebuilding, the Oakland Athletics were the surprise winner for Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes.
Cespedes and the A’s have agreed to a $36 million, four-year contract — quite a splash for the low-budget franchise that traded away several key faces this offseason.
Agent Adam Katz confirmed Monday the slugging outfielder had reached agreement on a deal, with details still to be finalized. This is a significant move for Oakland, which wanted to add a steady hitter.
Cespedes will earn $6.5 million this year, $8.5 million in 2013 and $10.5 million in each of the final two seasons. He can become a free agent at the end of the contract, which is the highest for a Cuban defector. Cespedes’ deal tops Jose Contreras’ $32 million, four-year contract with the Yankees before the 2003 season.
The A’s expect Cespedes to secure his P1 visa in the next couple of weeks, travel to the team’s Arizona spring training site to take his physical and be ready to start training shortly thereafter.
The team also still has interest in slugger Manny Ramirez. The A’s, hoping to be given clearance from Major League Baseball to relocate to San Jose and construct a new ballpark, have been in rebuilding mode this offseason. Oakland traded starting pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill and also All-Star closer Andrew Bailey.
Cespedes toured the Miami Marlins’ new downtown ballpark last Wednesday, and appeared to have other suitors, as well. In a surprising move, it was the A’s who made a splash and outbid some big-spending clubs.
“You don’t land everybody you want to land. But I think we’ve been aggressive,” Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said. “We’re really happy with the way the club looks. You always have a sense of disappointment when you’re trying to either trade for or sign a player. It’s not the first time and won’t be the last. We would certainly wish him well.”
Cespedes played for Cuba in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and is projected to be ready for the majors. Cespedes said six teams were interested in signing him: the Marlins, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland and the Chicago Cubs and White Sox.
Major League Baseball said Monday it has been told by Cespedes’ agent that he has obtained an unblocking license from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control — another key step to him signing.
In January, Cespedes’ representatives announced he had established legal residency in the Dominican Republic, the final hurdle to him becoming a free agent. MLB then had to receive proof of residency before clubs were notified of his status as a free agent.
Yahoo! Sports first reported the agreement.
ORTIZ, RED SOX
AGREE AT $14.6M
BOSTON — David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox avoided salary arbitration by agreeing Monday to a one-year contract worth $14.6 million.
The deal for the slugging designated hitter was midway between the $16.5 million he asked for last month and the $12.65 million submitted by the Red Sox, which matched his 2011 earnings.
Ortiz became a free agent after the season then passed up a chance to go elsewhere when he accepted Boston’s arbitration offer on Dec. 7.
“I feel happy since I avoided going to arbitration,” he said on Monday, hours before the hearing had been scheduled to start in St. Petersburg, Fla. “People are used to see me with the Red Sox uniform, and when you have so much time in one organization, and you’re identified with it, the best thing is to stay, even if it is for 1 or 2 million less.”
The Red Sox have not gone to an arbitration hearing in 10 years and have no unsigned players eligible for arbitration.
Ortiz hit .309 with 29 homers and 96 RBIs last year.
Signed as a free agent from the Minnesota Twins in 2003, the 36-year-old is entering his 10th season with the Red Sox.
“I figure I was gonna reach this deal, and that’s what we’re celebrating right now,” he said.
He played last season in the option year of a contract that paid him $65.2 million over five seasons.
Ortiz remains in the middle of a Red Sox lineup that has undergone several changes since the team went 7-20 last September and missed the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.
