BACK FROM THE DEAD
Donaldson puts arm issues behind him, returning to third
The dead arm era is over. It lasted parts of five days and was amplified with thousands of words and all kinds of angst.
Whatever seemed wrong with Josh Donaldson on Opening Day — and he did look like he was trying to shot put the baseball from third base to first — seems somewhat back to normal. At least, for now.
Donaldson was back at third base on Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre as the Jays pounded on the White Sox 14-5, and you held your breath just a little, because of what happened in the opener, because he looked like one of those infielders who discovered a case of the yips, because, dammit, he’s Josh Donaldson and these kinds of things aren’t supposed to happen to the biggest star Toronto baseball has seen for more than 20 years.
Watching Donaldson warm up before the game seemed different than watching him warm up any other time. It was like you weren’t sure where the ball was going, like he wasn’t sure. He played short toss then long toss with Gift Ngoepe and each throw needed a little extra effort, the kind that made you uncomfortable to watch, not certain what was going to come a few minutes later.
Then J.A. Happ walked to the mound. And he threw his two first pitches to Yoan Moncada, the White Sox leadoff batter, the third pitch was hit down the third-base line, foul. And Donaldson fielded it in foul territory and partly to convince himself, partly to convince those watching, he made the throw to first base, a little high, certainly strong enough. The crowd cheered enthusiastically.
Nothing at all like what David Cone described as “pie-throwing” from the opener against the Yankees.
This much we know in the early season: This is a muchchanged Blue Jays team. John Gibbons talked about that before the game. He talked about how Russell Martin and Devon Travis will play less, to try and stay healthier. He talked about the movement in the batting order, the alterations in the field. This isn’t one of those teams you pencil in the lineup one night and then pencil in the same lineup tomorrow.
Even Donaldson, used to playing almost every game or every season, will play fewer games at third base as part of Gibbons’ rotation. Whatever might be wrong with him — mentally, physically, who really knows? — Gibbons is determined to protect his best player. And that’s among the many reasons players enjoy playing for him.
There are already some narratives through six games of the young season. The pitching depth of the Blue Jays’ starters. The better bench. A four-game winning streak. And everything, as always, revolves, as it must, around Donaldson.
He is the star in a lineup without any other stars. He is the one who walks with swagger and carries himself with a star’s sense of importance, the way so many greats carry themselves. Donaldson tweeted before the game and posted a photo of his glove, name inscribed in cursive across it, and his new bat, about his new marketing deal with the baseball manufacturer. The greats can do that and it doesn’t seem like anything but ordinary. Donaldson did that wearing a new Mariucci cap.
And then the game began, in a front of a crowd smaller than any seen in the building last season. Last year, the smallest Blue Jays crowd was 28,401 on a Monday night in September against Detroit. Last night, two seats were open for every one filed. This is just one of the many battles this team is fighting.
And yet here is Donaldson on a one-year contract, maybe trade bait come July, maybe here for a playoff attempt of some kind. This Jays lineup isn’t good enough to get to the post season but the starting pitchers are. And centre to all of it is Donaldson. Does he stay? Does he go? What can they get for him? How much can they sign him for, and for how many years?
And what’s beneath the early season difficulty, the loss of arm?
You have to wonder why he came to spring training already bothered by injury, a year after doing the team’s off-season training, he chose to do his own. He came hurt, was protected in the spring, admitted that spring training baseball is essentially a waste of time for him, was excused from going to Montreal for the pre-season games, and then looked like he should have been on the disabled list to start the season.
The Jays told us not to worry. We worried. Gibbons said it was nothing. Donaldson said don’t worry. And with two on base in the top half of the first inning, with two out, Wellington Castillo hit a rather innocuous ball down the third base line. The kind of ball that’s easily fielded by Donaldson.
And then that second of doubt. Not from him. From just about everybody watching. For a second you weren’t sure. Could he do it?
Five days ago he couldn’t. With ease, Donaldson made the throw to first base without question, without crisis. Collectively, the third of the stadium that had people in the seats, applauded and exhaled at precisely the same time. The throw was perfect. Castillo was out. The inning was over.
The dead arm story with it.