Yoenis Cespedes says ‘I’m going to play the last year of my career with Oakland’

The former A’s standout still loves Oakland and wants to go back.

Oakland is visiting New York for a series against the New York Mets this weekend, and the occasion gave outfielder Yoenis Cespedes the opportunity to appreciate his former club and reminisce a little.

In regards to possibly one day going back to play for the Oakland A’s, Cespedes told the San Francisco Chronicle,

“I wish that happens. I told Blevins, ‘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.”

“I still love the A’s, they were the first team to give me an opportunity to play in the big leagues. I love Oakland all the time.”

He also specifically pointed out his love for A’s manager Bob Melvin, saying “he’s the best manager for me so far,” at which Melvin said:

“I know he enjoyed his time with us. We had good teams and a great clubhouse — which he was the center of. It doesn’t surprise me he’d want to come back.”

Whether that was a pointed dig at Terry Collins or not, his reluctance to speak to New York media has been well documented at this point and some fans are pointing to this interview as yet another example of him spurning the city he actually plays for in favor of other reporters and press.

Cespedes is signed through 2020 with the Mets, when he’ll be on the cusp of turning 35 at the end of that season, a prime opportunity to jump back to Oakland to reunite with his former club.

But his comments, as New York prepares to embark on a full-on fire sale before the trade deadline, are timed just suspiciously enough that some Mets fans are taking his intent more directly than he may have meant.

Playing in a reunion series with the first major league club that gave him a shot probably brings up a lot of emotions, and loving one team doesn’t mean someone is throwing another team under the bus unequivocally, despite what fans may thing about his effort for the Mets.

Cespedes also just says stuff that throws people off all the time, even when he doesn’t mean to or is giving interviews in his native language (this was an interview conducted in English only). This is yet one more example of that phenomenon.

There’s also the fact that players are as wary as ever these days of bad press and saying the wrong thing. Whether Cespedes went into this interview hoping to purposefully annoy Mets fans and stick it to Terry Collins or not (which by all accounts he did not), it’s a great set of quotes and those are few and far between in baseball right now.

Having a player speak his mind about his team and his career hopes should be welcomed so that it happens more often. Jumping down someone’s throat about a quote that could be construed any number of ways isn’t going to make players more open and accessible in the future.