Oakland Athletics Should Consider Trading Shortstop Marcus Semien Instead of Brett Lawrie
The Oakland Athletics are currently in the midst of talks with the Chicago White Sox on a pending deal that would send infielder Brett Lawrie to Chicago. Even though they have been working on this deal since last night, they have yet to come to an agreement. That being said, it is not Lawrie that the A’s should be looking to trade. Oakland should consider trading their young shortstop – Marcus Semien.
Before explaining why the Athletics should trade Semien instead of Lawrie, let’s quickly take a look back at yesterday’s Winter Meetings when Manager Bob Melvin and Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Billy Beane spoke with the media. They talked quite a bit about the infield, how starting positions have yet to be assigned, and that they are looking to trade one of their infielders. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweeted, the A’s are going to trade the player that gets the team the most in return. Lawrie fits this bill since he has been drawing interest from many teams, but so does Semien.
Melvin says unclear how middle infield shakes out with moves likely still to come - and most likely to trade player who brings biggest haul.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) December 8, 2015
Like Lawrie, Semien is supposed to have a lot of untapped potential. From his performance in the minors, Semien’s bat is expected to be very powerful as he gains more experience in the major leagues. He was pretty consistent at the plate this year for the Athletics, but his offensive skills were overshadowed by his dismal defense. Even though he committed the most errors in the Majors in 2015, he did slowly improve as the season progressed thanks to Ron Washington’s coaching skills. Like Lawrie, Semien’s future potential could bring in a good haul for the A’s.
Currently, Semien and newly-acquired Jed Lowrie are competing for the shortstop starting position for next year. Even though the Oakland Athletics believe that Semien is versatile enough to play in other areas in the middle infield, it could take him awhile to completely master a new position since his basic defensive skills are not up to par. Trading Semien would quickly solve this issue.
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Additionally, it would be not a be a huge blow to the roster to lose Semien – the A’s just have to keep Lawrie, which seems unlikely right now. However, if the A’s were to keep Lawrie, they have Lowrie to cover shortstop, Lawrie at second, and Danny Valencia over at third. This could be a pretty solid middle infield.
Whether Semien is moved to a new position or a different team, it does seem likely that he will be moved somewhere. It would just be interesting to see what types of offers the A’s would receive if they decided to shop Semien around. Because of his age and potential talent, he could be a pretty good trade piece for the Oakland Athletics.