A’s Beat: What’s next for Semien?
Marcus Semien, an impending free agent, said it crossed his mind multiple times the past couple of weeks that he might be playing his final days with the A’s.
“I’m pretty logistical. I understand what’s going on with everything, and our backs were against the wall a couple of times here in the playoffs,” Semien said after the A’s season ended Thursday in the AL Division Series.
“I took the field in the bottom of the eighth ( Thursday) and I’m like, ‘ Is this my last time playing shortstop for this team?’ I don’t know. I’ve never been in this position. ... This is just new to me.”
Semien, a Bay Area native who played at St. Mary’s HighBerkeley and Cal, has been a fixture at shortstop for the A’s the past six years, transforming himself from a shaky to surehanded defender and finishing third in the AL MVP voting in 2019.
He is a clubhouse leader and has missed fewer than seven games in all but one of the past six seasons. After turning 30 last month, he is slated to hit free agency this offseason for the first time. The freeagent market this winter is difficult to forecast coming off of such an unusual season, however, and it’s possible many free agents could sign oneyear deals with teams.
A’s manager Bob Melvin said in the wake of Thursday’s loss that he hadn’t thought about Semien’s status but: “I’m pretty close to Marcus — we’ll be in close contact here and I wish him the best, whatever happens.
“Obviously, we’d love to have him back,” Melvin said. “He’s meant so much to this organiShortstop zation not only as a player, but as a person, as a leader, what he means to the community. There are a lot of reasons that we would love to have Marcus back.”
Semien was among players whose numbers fell off in this 60game season, as he hit .223 with seven homers and 23 RBIs. He missed a week with a ribcage injury that ended his streak of 276 starts, secondlongest in Oakland history. In the playoffs, though, Semien hit .407 ( 11for27) with two home runs and six runs scored.
“You can’t have a better teammate than Marcus,” outfielder Mark Canha said. “He’s a fighter and he’s the guy you want on your team. I sure hope we get him back. But I don’t think that’s lost on anyone in our organization or anywhere else. Marcus is going to be just fine. He’s our captain and he’s a hell of a player and a hell of a friend.”
Different look: Melvin did not go to the mound to make the A’s pitching changes Thursday — pitching coach Scott Emerson did so instead. Melvin said the reason was minor.
“I just had a little foot thing pop up during batting practice and I didn’t want to limp out there and limp back and take a bunch of time, that’s all,” Melvin said.
The A’s bullpen, which led the majors with a 2.72 ERA in the regular season, was less dominant in the playoffs. A’s relievers combined for a 5.08 ERA in 332⁄ postseason innings
3 and allowed six home runs in seven games after giving up 23 in 60 regularseason games. In 182⁄ innings
3 in the ALDS, the bullpen allowed 17 runs ( 13 earned) on 20 hits.
“We struggled to hold ( the Astros) down really the entire game at times,” Melvin said. “So just a good offensive team that hit their stride at the right time.”