MLB Rumors: Marcus Semien Drawing Interest from Rangers Amid Story, Seager Buzz

Shortstop appears to be at the top of the Texas Rangers' wishlist.

MLB Network's Jon Morosi reported the Rangers are interested in Marcus Semien.

According to Morosi, Texas has also met with Scott Boras, who represents Corey Seager. The team also hosted Trevor Story on Tuesday, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.

The Rangers finished 60-102 in 2021, their second straight year with a winning percentage below .400. A five-year playoff drought is bad enough, but being abject isn't ideal when you have a new ballpark (Globe Life Field) you're looking to fill.

As Grant posited, concurrent pursuits of Semien, Seager and Story may not mean Texas is hedging its bets and hoping to sign only one of the three. 

Semien told Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith he considers himself a shortstop, but he spent the majority of his one season with the Toronto Blue Jays at second base. If they were so inclined, the Rangers could theoretically sign Semien in addition to Seager or Story and play them together.

Simply getting Semien would be a major coup. The 31-year-old was third in the American League MVP voting after finishing with 45 home runs, 102 RBI and an .873 OPS, per Baseball Reference.

His performance at the plate was slightly lower compared to 2019, when he had another third-place MVP finish after batting .285 and posting an .892 OPS.

In between he had a brutal 2020 campaign, slugging .374 and hitting seven homers in 53 games. That wasn't a far cry from what he had delivered prior to 2019, either. That will inevitably lead to questions about what—if any—kind of regression might be in store in 2022.

But he's unquestionably one of the top position players in free agency, and his arrival in Texas would send a clear message to the fanbase.