As the Oakland Athletics prepare to take the field for their fourth spring training game, the drama has officially begun. A’s OF Coco Crisp, who is in uniform but won’t start today’s game, was reportedly arrested in Scottsdale last night on suspicion of driving under the influence. Crisp has not commented on the issue and the A’s front office will reportedly issue a statement sometime soon.
Crisp is expected to be the opening day centerfielder and a key part of the A’s base-stealing strategy. He missed a large chunk of the 2010 season but still managed to steal 32 bases while only being caught three times. He was fourth on the team in OPS and third among players with at least 250 at bats. He actually was tied with Jack Cust for the team lead in slugging percentage.
As Susan Slusser indicated in the article above, A’s players that have been arrested for DUIs have not had the longest post-DUI track record with the A’s. Esteban Loaiza was waived the following year, while Clayton Mortensen lasted a little over a year before being designated for assignment and then traded. Given that this occurred last night there is plenty of information yet to be processed. We’ll post the A’s statement on the matter once it is released (either in this update, or a subsequent update).
Susan Slusser posted the A's official statement:
"Coco Crisp was arrested and detained early this morning under the suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. He was released from the City of Scottsdale Jail this morning and arrived at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on time for team pre-game drills. The A's are aware of the situation and take such matters seriously. The team and Coco will have no further comment until further details are available."