The Oakland Athletics are in Queens taking on the New York Mets. If Yoenis Cespedes gets his way, it will not be the last reunion with his former team.
In an interview with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, Cespedes said that he wants to finish his career with the A’s.
“I wish that happens,” he said, per Slusser, referencing a conversation with another former Oakland player, Jerry Blevins. “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.”
It says something about Oakland that Cespedes has such fond memories there. He has plenty of other teams to choose from. Cespedes was with the A’s from 2012 until the 2014 trade deadline, when he was dealt to the Boston Red Sox. Following that year, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers, where he remained until his 2015 trade deadline deal to the Mets.
Also, if Cespedes is talking about the final year of his career, that’s still a quite a few years away. Cespedes will turn 32 in October and while he’s dealt with injuries, his play doesn’t show rapid signs of slowing down.