Donaldson gets up to speed
The suggestion had been made, while the Blue Jays were in Florida facing the Rays early this week, that injured third baseman Josh Donaldson might report to Rogers Centre on the off-day and attempt running the bases at full speed. If that paid off, then by Friday he could be in Triple-A Buffalo for a rehab game.
But there it was mid-afternoon on Friday, just prior to Game 1 of a three-game set against the Washington Nationals, and Donaldson was on the infield taking dozens of ground balls from coach Luis Rivera, not seeming at all inclined to head toward Buffalo as a rehabbing Bison. Was this a setback after the organization’s brave talk?
“I’d love to be able to go to Buffalo. I’m just not ready to sprint right now,” Donaldson said back in the clubhouse after 45 minutes of baseball activities. “I’ve made some steps in the right direction, being able to run and do a few things here and there. I can do everything minus get to top speed right now. I need to be able to run, and I need to be able to run comfortably.”
Recall that this is a second stint on the DL for Bringer of Rain this season. He missed 18 games in April with shoulder inflammation and has now missed 15 with a strained calf since he injured it going from first to third on a hit on May 28.
“I thought I’d be ready by the first 10 (days), but obviously there’s some things in there that maybe I wasn’t necessarily expecting,” Donaldson said. “Sometimes they heal quickly. Sometimes they hang around a bit longer.”
This is not a good situation for Donaldson as he limps toward free agency. At the age of 32, this will likely be his only chance for a mega payday via the free-agent process. After he played at least 155 games every year from 2013 to 2016, the past two seasons have been injuryriddled and discouraging for someone who prided himself on durability.
“I don’t want to say never,” Donaldson responded when asked if he thought this would ever happen to him. “I mean, it happens. It’s part of the game. You see it all across the game. I don’t necessarily feel sorry for myself. It’s one of those things where it happens and now I’ve got to deal with it. These are the cards that I’ve been dealt and I have to do the best with them that I can. Whenever I’m able to go out there and play — mentally I feel very good about where I’m at, and confident of my abilities to be able to produce when I get my chance.”
There remains the possibility that when Donaldson finally is able to let loose and sprint around the bases, he may not have to go for a stint at Triple-A. He has been taking batting practice and, just like Friday, been doing fielding drills.
“I would feel comfortable enough to not do a rehab game,” Donaldson agreed. “But the fact of it is, they’re probably going to want me to play in one just to get a couple of at-bats.”
General manager Ross Atkins has already been fielding phone calls from other clubs about the talent on his team, and what it would take in terms of prospects for a contender to pry some of it away. Until Donaldson can return to third base for the Jays, he will not be part of any outside inquiries.
“Regardless of the situation we’re in, we’re always communicating,” Atkins said of the 29 other GMs. “We have to consider every angle and every possibility. We talk about any avenue to make our organization better. Understanding the market is what we’re doing now. Throughout that process, there aren’t many players that aren’t discussed. (We’re) not in a good situation. It’s not where we want to be. It’s not what we set out to do. We set out to have a contending team, and right now we don’t.”
The two most debilitating injuries have been to Donaldson and presumed No. 1 starter Marcus Stroman, who has been out with a shoulder injury since last pitching on May 8. The right-hander made his first rehab start at Class-A Dunedin on Wednesday and is slated to start for Double-A New Hampshire on Monday. He is in Toronto for the weekend with his teammates, but says he will not speak publicly until he is activated, perhaps next weekend in Anaheim.
Atkins suggested that it’s a natural progression for Stroman and if he’s able to throw around 85 pitches comfortably for the Fisher Cats and comes away healthy, they would feel he is able to return and be close to 100 pitches in his return to the majors. Stroman is winless in seven starts with a 7.71 ERA.
Atkins believes the club is still in the preliminary stages of deciding whether to become buyers or sellers at the July 31 deadline, but let’s be real.
“The way that we’re thinking about it is: Where are we today?” Atkins said. “We can reflect on how we got here, but right now we’re just thinking about where we are today and we can consider all of our alternatives. One of those alternatives will be having to consider the potential of acquiring talent (as a buyer), but at the same time at this point in the game we’re just seeing what the market is suggesting.”
The safe bet if you’re in a gambling mood is “sellers.”