5 possible free agent suitors for Marcus Semien
Scouting Report. . . Oakland Athletics. 2.. 96. Pick Analysis. player
Coming off a down year, Semien’s price may be down far enough to pave the way for a return to Oakland. But as Craig Edwards of FanGraphs noted, Semien posted 133 wRC+ after his first 14 games of the 2020 season (including playoffs). His wRC+ in his breakout 2019 season? 137. There’s a buy-low opportunity in a broad sense. Over a normal season, Semien may have carried that surge through a campaign that wouldn’t make a $100 million free-agent deal look that aggressive.
Right after Oakland’s early postseason exit, the A’s’ brass expressed desire and optimism about bringing Semien back.
David Forst said he texted Marcus Semien yesterday: "I told him we would love to have him back here. We've had an open line of communication with him and his agent. That will certainly be one of the topics for this offseason."
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) October 9, 2020
Billy Beane on the other A's options for shortstop: "I don't feel good about anybody better than Marcus at this time. I know Bob and David feel most comfortable with Marcus."
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) October 9, 2020
Semien also acknowledged the uncertainty of his future in Oakland.
“I thought about that in the wild-card series ….I took the field in the bottom of the eighth thinking, ‘Is this my last time playing shortstop for this team?’ I don’t know,” Semien said, via the San Jose Mercury News.
A couple contract projections for Semien from Kiley McDaniel of ESPN and Edwards from FanGraphs, three years, $54 million and four years, $64 million, respectively, should be within the A’s’ price range. If Semien finds a colder market than his agent is trying to speak into existence, the odds of a return to Oakland will grow. If he prefers to return, it may take another team blowing the A’s out of the water with an offer to move him off the idea.