All three of the A's 2011 starting outfielders are free agents, and on the day they lost one -- David DeJesus to the Cubs -- major league sources have indicated that Oakland is interested in retaining Coco Crisp.
According to FoxSports.com, Crisp's agent Steve Comte said Crisp would ideally like to play for a contender on the West Coast.
Crisp, 32, led the American League with 49 steals in 2011. The injury-plagued outfielder managed 136 games last year after being limited to 75 in his first season with the A's.
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Josh Willingham, the third and most sought-after free-agent outfielder, was offered arbitration, but he will likely not return to Oakland. As a modified Type A free agent under the new CBA, his signing with another team won't give the A's that team's first-round pick; instead, Oakland will receive a first-round pick coming immediately before that pick, as well as the standard sandwich pick (a compensatory pick in the sandwich round between rounds one and two).
Willingham could be targeted by the Twins or Red Sox, contingent upon what happens with their respective big-name free agents Michael Cuddyer and David Ortiz.
Nate Stuhlbarg is a web producer at CSNBayArea.com. Follow him on Twitter @StuhlbargCSN.