Alejando De Aza to opt out

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski on March 26, 2017 at 9:57 PM

I don't know if I missed this in Slusser's story earlier or if it's a new addition, but it looks like Alejandro De Aza isn't going to make the team and is therefore going to opt out of his contract and hit the free agent market. What's less clear is whether this is because the A's are going with Jaff Decker as their fifth outfielder or whether they're seriously going to run with Mark Canha as the backup in center and take an eighth reliever instead. Either way, I'm a little surprised not to see De Aza make the team as a lefty who can at least fake center a little bit backing up the right-handed Davises in the outfield. I don't know whether Decker has an opt-out, but if he doesn't, you'd think you'd start off with the guy who does have one, see how that goes, and then if it doesn't really work, fall back on Decker later on. It's not as if, after all, the 25th guy is going to make or break the A's season.