Outfielder Matt Joyce agrees to $11M, 2-year deal with A’s
OAKLAND — Matt Joyce hopes to play more regularly again in his new role with the Oakland Athletics, who needed a new outfielder to fill a big void and put him high on their offseason list.
The versatile Joyce reached agreement on an $11 million, two-year contract Wednesday after passing a physical.
“Obviously the biggest thing that was kind of noticed for me was how interested they were and the opportunity to get substantial playing time again coming from the situations that I was in last year,” Joyce said. “We’re really pumped and excited for the whole opportunity and how it worked out.”
The 32-year-old journeyman has played 140 games in each of three of the last four seasons, batting .242 with 13 home runs and 42 RBIs this year for Pittsburgh. A regular pinch hitter, he started 30 games in right field and is likely to be a regular against right-handed hitting with a possible platoon role with Mark Canha.
Joyce will earn $5 million in 2017 and $6 million the following season. Oakland dealt right fielder Josh Reddick to the Dodgers at the trade deadline and then sent Coco Crisp back to his former Cleveland club.
Joyce will play for his fifth major league team as he begins his 10th season. The security means a lot for Joyce as he prepares for the birth of his first child.
“It was obviously the perfect fit,” Joyce said. “It was a great fit for the kind of player I am and the kind of organization Oakland is. It’s a good opportunity with a two-year deal on the table with a lot of security and the chance to play a lot is huge for me.”
At 69-83, the A’s responded from losing 10 of 11 to win their final two games at Seattle and finish with one more victory than a year ago. But they finished in fifth place and at the bottom of the AL West for the second straight season — another year of injuries and big-name departures.