Blue Jays future does not include Donaldson
Source says team would like to unload infielder sooner than later
TORONTO — Where do the Toronto Blue Jays go from here? This is a club that honestly believed it could compete heading into the season, but is down to its fourth option at third base due to a series of injuries, and will welcome its 14th different starting pitcher, Sean Reid-Foley, in Kansas City on Monday. The Jays are on pace to win 73 games.
Clearly spurred by what has been a head-shaking series of injuries and forced to act by the frustration of painfully slow-to-heal aches and pains to key performers, the Jays under GM Ross Atkins and president Mark Shapiro, have finally accepted the fact that the last 49 days of 2018, with home attendance down more than any other Major League Baseball franchise, should become a preview of ’19 and beyond.
The future for the Jays is right now and that future will include extended looks at catcher Danny Jansen, starting pitchers Reid-Foley and Ryan Borucki, plus viewing Russ Martin as a well-paid utility infielder and third catcher. There will be even more decisions when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. returns to health, with Aledmys Diaz and Devon Travis also in the middle-infield mix.
The biggest impact for the organization emerging from this change of direction, according to a source close to the situation, is that the Jays ideally want nothing to do with third-baseman Josh Donaldson by the end of the season, including being forced to make a qualifying offer to the former American League MVP.
If Donaldson were to finish the year with the Jays, they would need to make the $18-million qualifying offer in order to receive draft-pick compensation — between the second and third rounds in June 2019. The Jays would rather make a trade for the injured all-star before Aug. 31, even if the return is the approximate equivalent in talent of that 80-100 overall pick next summer. They would rather trade him, even if they would have to pay down much of the remaining pro-rated salary on Donaldson’s $23-million expiring contract for 2018.
This trade is not as difficult to accomplish as it would seem. There are contending teams out there right now that simply would need to see Donaldson play games either at the minor or major-league level to confirm that he is healthy enough to help them down the stretch and into October.
Donaldson is now working out in Florida at the minor-league complex and has a couple of more tests to pass, physically, before he is comfortable enough to play in a couple of rehab games, likely in Florida then returns to the Jays. Those might be the most heavily scouted Class-A or Gulf Coast League games of the year.
At one point, the Jays and the MLB industry believed that only because of Donaldson’s age, the asking price for a healthy Bringer of Rain at the July 31 trade deadline would be less than that for Manny Machado, but would be a very healthy return of prospects, nonetheless. The Jays were big losers in that perception.
In hindsight, critics would say that the Jays made a huge mistake by not trading Donaldson last winter and getting a package of solid prospects, but the fact that they hung on to him and even made him a multi-year offer in January simply confirms that, heading into 2018, they believed that Donaldson, playing on a one-year deal and angling for a huge free-agent payday, could help them contend.
Then when Atkins signed fifth starter Jaime Garcia for one year at $10 million, it simply confirmed that belief in the team they had assembled. On paper, it was a solid rotation. It has not worked out and has led to this. Donaldson is not in the plans. The process of the Jays trading Donaldson prior to Aug. 31 is as follows. The significance of that date is that players not in an organization before Sept. 1 cannot be on any post-season roster.
Donaldson has not even been placed on waivers yet. That can only happen for active players, or those playing on rehab options. Whenever he plays his first minor-league game, the ball will start rolling quickly. There can be multiple claims for a player, but the Jays can only negotiate a trade with one team and if that doesn’t work out they have to pull him back or else let him go and get nothing in return, with the claiming team inheriting the full remaining salary. The Jays will not be playing hardball for the return.
The pecking order for waiver claims by team is in reverse order of the overall AL standings, followed by reverse order in the National League. Even though the Cleveland Indians are in first in their division, their win percentage would give them first shot among AL contenders. They could move the versatile Jose Ramirez to second base to allow J.D. to play third.
The New York Yankees might also claim Donaldson behind Cleveland in order to block the Boston Red Sox who have the best mark in baseball and would only be in the mix if there were no other AL claims.
The key for the Jays is that Donaldson needs to play in some minor-league games in the next two weeks so the process can begin.