Is this Marcus Semien’s last shot to win a World Series with the A’s?

Marcus Semien is one of a handful of players on the Oakland A’s roster who will be making his third straight postseason appearance with the club this week, this one coming against the team that drafted him, the Chicago White Sox.

Semien hopes it’s not his last try at a World Series with Oakland.

Semien and the A’s avoided arbitration in January as the two sides agreed to a one-year, $13 million contract. In an agreement made between Major League Baseball and the players’ union, players received about 37 percent of their 2020 pay.

The deal meant, though, that Semien would become a free agent this offseason. With Semien likely in line for an expensive, long-term extension, this could be his last playoff run with the notoriously tight-fisted A’s.

“I haven’t thought about,” a possible contract extension, Semien said. “Of course you want to know where you’re going to be next year, but the main goal this year for everybody in this clubhouse is to win the World Series. Anything after that will be handled after that.”

It would mean a lot to Semien, an East Bay native through and through, to remain in Oakland. While he was drafted by the White Sox and made his Major League debut with the team in 2013, Oakland is where he proved he could be an everyday big league player.

“It’s hard to sit there and say, ‘Oh, I want an extension right now,’ when we’re all focused on winning a World Series,” Semien said. “We’ll see what happens. This is home for me. I’ve said it before, I love playing here.

“I think I came up here. I’ve played six years in the major leagues here. I was drafted by the White Sox, but I’ve been here. I’m able to be with my family pretty much every day that we’re at home. I get to sleep in my own bed.”

Both Semien and starting pitcher Chris Bassitt are facing their former team.

Bassitt was drafted by the White Sox in the 16tth round in 2011 out of the University of Akron. Semien was drafted twice by Chicago, once out of Saint Mary’s College High School in Albany in 2008 (34th round), and the second time out of Cal in 2011 (sixth round).

Both came to A’s in a lopsided 2014 trade with the White Sox that also saw catcher Josh Phegley and future St. Louis Cardinal Rangel Ravelo come to Oakland, with Jeff Samardzija and Michael Ynoa going to Chicago.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 12: Marcus Semien #10 of the Oakland Athletics celebrates a three-run homerun with Stephen Piscotty #25 against the Texas Rangers in the fifth inning at Globe Life Field on September 12, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) 

Samardzija pitched just one season for the White Sox before he signed as a free agent with the Giants. Ynoa, who has battled injuries and has pitched in just 45 big league games, resigned with the A’s in the winter earlier this year..

“I know a lot of those guys over there,” Semien said of the White Sox. “It’s primarily the same coaching staff beside (manager Rick Renteria). It’s going to be a battle, but it’s nice to be at home.”

Asked if he and Bassitt have any extra edge to this series because they started with the White Sox, Semien said, “It’s been so long since we got traded. If it was 2015 or 2016, or shortly after the trade, maybe. But I just feel like it’s the postseason, so of course there’s an edge to beat whoever we’re facing.

“But (the trade) was so long ago, that I don’t think it’s crossing my mind as much.”

Semien played in 53 of 60 games in the regular season as he hit .223 with seven home runs and 23 RBI. He has a career OPS of .747, and was third in American League MVP voting in 2019. He had 147 assists and a .967 fielding percentage this year, ranking him fourth and 14th among all MLB shortstops.  He, Matt Chapman and Matt Olson formed one of the best infields in baseball when they were all together.

What does that all mean as far as Semien’s next contract is concerned, with perhaps some belt-tightening going on around MLB because of the financial ramifications of the pandemic?

Good question. Not even Semien knows right now.

“I haven’t thought about what the numbers (are for an) extension,” Semien said, “because nobody knows yet.”

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Author: Curtis Pashelka

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