The A's have some big decisions to make on two key free agents this offseason. What will they do with shortstop Marcus Semien and closer Liam Hendriks?
For starters, neither player was extended an $18.9 million qualifying offer by Sunday's 2 p.m. PT deadline.
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SIGN UP HERE Semien and Hendriks very well could have played their last game in an A's jersey. That's exactly what the shortstop wondered after the A's fell to the Houston Astros in the ALDS this year, too.
“It was like ‘Is this my last time playing shortstop for this team?’” Semien said after the A's were eliminated from the playoffs.
The A's desperately hope the Bay Area native stays in Oakland, but he might wind up being too expensive on the open market. He struggled in this shortened season, batting just .223 with seven home runs in 53 games. But the year before, Semien finished third in AL MVP voting when he hit .285 with 33 homers and had an .892 OPS.
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Hendriks, 31, went 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA and saved 14 games this season. He was named the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year, and has a 1.79 combined ERA the last two seasons.
After yet another disappointing end to the season, the A's have big decisions to make when it comes to the future of Semien and Hendriks. They obviously want to keep both players in Oakland for the foreseeable future, but it's never that simple with the A's.
