Marcus Semien is originally from the Bay Area, who attended the University of California at Berkeley, then flourished as a major leaguer after being transferred from the White Sox home to Oakland A. If he was going to sign a one-year contract as free agent, he thought his preference would be Oakland.
But when Semien reached an agreement with a $ 18 million one-year contract on Tuesday, it wasn’t with A, but with the Toronto Blue Jays. A’s refused to make him a formal offer, instead floating a concept that had little chance of luring Semien, sources said – a $ 12.5 million a year deal with $ 10 million postponed in 10 one-year tranches of $ 1 million each.
A signaled their refusal to spend at Jays’ level when they refused to make a $ 18.9 million qualifying offer to Semien at the start of the off-season, losing his right to compensation if he be signed with another club. But their failure to …