Born in the Bay Area, Marcus Semien attended the University of California at Berkeley, then thrived as an important leader after being traded from the White Sox back to the Oakland A’s. If he were to sign a one-year contract as a free agent, it was only natural that his preference would have been Oakland.
But when Semien agreed on a one-year $ 18 million deal on Tuesday, it wasn’t with the A’s, but with the Toronto Blue Jays. The A’s declined to make him a formal offer, but floated a concept that had little chance of seducing Semien, sources said – a one-year deal, $ 12.5 million with $ 10 million delayed in 10 installments of a year. year of $ 1 million each.
The A’s indicated they were unwilling to spend at the Jays level when they refused to make Semien a $ 18.9 million qualifier offer at the start of the off-season, earning their right to a draft pick. forfeited compensation if he signed with another club. But their failure to …