Marcus Semien Signed A 7-Year $175 Million Deal And Immediately Turned Into One Of The Worst Players In Baseball
It really isn't being talked about enough how Marcus Semien signed a massive 7-year, $175 million deal with the Rangers and immediately got his powers taken by the Monstars. He has been by far the worst free agent signing and is certainly in the conversation for worst player in baseball. Chris Davis thinks this deal is a bad one, even he thinks Semien stinks this season. This is a guy who finished third in MVP voting last year. 45 home runs, 38 doubles, 102 batted in, a .265 average, OBP of .334, slugged .538, and had an OPS of .873. All good numbers, he was a damn good player last year for Toronto. This year is the exact opposite. Look at his baseball savant numbers above, NONE OF THOSE ARE GOOD except his sprint speed. Everything else tells you he is awful right now. Look at that average exit velocity, it's terrible. How does a guy who had such a good year last year completely fall off the face of the earth? At least Chris Davis did it over a few years, Semien did it the second he signed on the dotted line. I mean the Rangers spent half a billion dollars on him and Corey Seager and Semien and the return hasn't been great at all.
After an 0-4 night last night Semien is now batting .157 with an OBP of .223, and is slugging .209. Awful. And to make it worse, he hasn't even hit a home run this season, and this is one season after he set the record for homers by a second baseman and now he has none. Big old goose egg. 26 Ks in 34 games, 10 walks, 8 RBI, he does have 7 of his 21 hits for doubles, but outside of the doubles there is nothing positive in his stat line. I don't think this is a guy who got paid and decided to take his foot off the gas, it's just bizarre how bad he is currently. If I'm a Rangers fan I'm in a full-blown panic with this signing. 6 more seasons and a lotttt of money left, not a great start! He's not hitting the ball hard at all, he's horrible against fastballs, he can't square anything up. Dalton Del Don, a fantasy baseball analyst for Yahoo pointed out that Semien started Monday as statistically the worst hitter in baseball with a wRC+ (29). That's the worst in baseball. He was never a great hitter, not a .315-.330 guy, but he was never terribly bad like this.
I mean he has to hit a home run soon....right? Right? How long can this brutal start for him continue? When isn't it a cold start and just a bad season? This may be a tough one to swallow for Rangers fans.