The St. Louis Cardinals are heavily in the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes these days, and that situation is expected to come to a conclusion soon. If Beltran doesn't happen to choose the Cardinals as his next team, St. Louis will turn its attention towards another free agent outfielder in Coco Crisp, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Beltran, 34, is reporting considering a variety of two- and three-year offers from different teams at the moment. Reports say that he's expected to make a decision this week, with offers on the table from the Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and a second National League team. After spending all of last season playing right field, he would presumably retain that role with St. Louis should he sign there.
Things might be a little different if Beltran signs elsewhere and the Cardinals decide to go the Coco Crisp route, though. Crisp, 32, derives a good deal of his value from his defensive skills in center field, so it wouldn't make a ton of sense for a team to heavily pursue him with the idea of moving him to an outfield corner. Signing Crisp would likely push Jon Jay over to right field, which would be a pretty solid defensive alignment.
Crisp spent last season with the Oakland Athletics after signing a one-year deal during the previous offseason. Staying healthy for the first time in years, Crisp posted a .264/.314/.379 line over 583 plate appearances while leading the American League with 49 steals.
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