Marcus Semien had seemingly played his way out of an extension with the Oakland A’s last season. He had a career year, one that the A’s had been waiting for since acquiring him as part of the return for Jeff Samardzija. Semien had an MVP caliber year, and with one year left before free agency, seemed destined for a large payday.
Semien still needed to prove himself in 2020. He needed to show that his career season was not a fluke, that he was capable of sustaining something close to that level of production.