Gulf between Donaldson, Jays too wide to bridge
Injury saga ends with Bringer of Rain dealt to Cleveland, writes Rob Longley.
MIAMI As the once-bountiful relationship between Josh Donaldson and the Toronto Blue Jays moved closer and closer to divorce on Friday, the apparent reasons for the rift help to explain the impasse.
Donaldson, the former American League MVP, was dealt to the Cleveland Indians on Friday evening for a player to be named later as his relationship with the Jays reached its inevitable and openly bitter conclusion.
With a number of potential suitors in the mix, Jays general manager Ross Atkins figured to be weighing the best offers for a player that it seems clear no longer fits the team’s future plans.
The Indians, who are runaway leaders in the AL Central, evidently came up with the best offer, though the player coming back has yet to be confirmed.
Adding to the drama and emotion of the deal is the fact that Cleveland visits Toronto next weekend.
It’s expected that Donaldson, who is currently on a rehab assignment for a calf injury, will be at the Rogers Centre for that wild set.
Also Friday, Curtis Granderson, the 37-year-old in his first year with the Blue Jays, was dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers in return for Canadian outfielder Demi Orimoloye.
As for the demise of relations that helped run Donaldson out of town, it wasn’t pretty. Both sides have their versions of what went wrong, and further details are sure to come out in the upcoming days. But in an interview with Postmedia this week in Dunedin, Donaldson made it clear the full story of his calf injury wasn’t revealed.
While some may have questioned the fact that the veteran third baseman was out of the lineup for three months with what the team still refers to as calf tightness, the Bringer of Rain told Postmedia the injury was far worse than had been widely reported.
Donaldson said that while rehabbing the strain he “completely ruptured his calf ” with further injury to another “area outside the calf,” making things that much worse. Those multiple injuries complicated and slowed his recovery to the point where he was unable to run the bases and field with confidence until recently.
Donaldson maintained that he needed to be 100 per cent before returning to big-league game action. The longer the recovery took, the more it compromised Jays management’s ability to move him, first at the July 31 deadline and later on Friday’s final opportunity.
The 32-year-old Florida native finally returned to game action this week in two games with the Class-A Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League. He said he had hoped to get in a couple of triple-A games before returning to the majors, but it’s unclear if he’ll be allowed to do that with Cleveland.
As he revealed at the end of last season, Donaldson said he was going to go in a different direction with his training, essentially rejecting the Jays’ high-performance department.
In our interview at Dunedin Stadium following his second rehab game this week, Donaldson reiterated that stance. Essentially, he veered away from team rehab to do things on his own.
“I’ve made some changes,” Donaldson said. “I feel able to bounce back quicker than in the past.”
Jays management would take exception to Donaldson’s assertions about his health and recovery. Privately there have been whispers that they weren’t pleased with Donaldson’s routine. Obviously, for the US$23 million they paid for a one-year deal, the team clearly didn’t get much in return.
On the record this week, Atkins declined to comment on Donaldson’s health as the focus on getting a deal done intensified.
But the veteran third baseman said the very nature of his calf injury or injuries prevented a rush job.
“It’s something where I have to listen to my body and what it’s trying to tell me to do,” Donaldson said. “This (season) is the worst-case scenario, the worst thing that could have happened.”
Despite the apparent rift, in our conversation Donaldson gave no indication that he wanted to leave the team he helped get to the 2015 and 2016 ALCS.
The deeper into the day Friday went, the more that appeared unlikely, however. By the time the Jays’ game against the Florida Marlins began, as many as five teams were rumoured to be in on the action.
In Dunedin, meanwhile, Donaldson wasn’t in the lineup.
“I love playing the game of baseball, and when I can’t do that, it’s not good. I finally feel like I’m getting to that place where I can get out there and move, hopefully continue to compete at a high level.”
It just won’t be with the Jays.