Bringer of rumours could still be traded
Now that the Blue Jays’ task of identifying the best return for J.A. Happ has been resolved, five days before the trade deadline, it seems clear the next major item on GM Ross Atkins’ to-do list is to find a landing spot for third baseman Josh Donaldson.
Sure, there are other players that will likely be moved before Donaldson, like Curtis Granderson, Yangervis Solarte and any number of useful relief pitchers, but the major coup for Atkins will be if he is able to trade the remaining months of Donaldson’s contract that, on Aug. 1, will have about $7.5 million remaining.
This has been a potential plan for the Jays since the off-season. With the arrival of infielder Brandon Drury and with the looming shadow of Vlad Guerrero Jr., a worst-case scenario for Atkins with regard to Donaldson would be to end the season with the pending free agent still in a Jays uniform. That would force them to issue the slugging third baseman a qualifying offer, around $18 million for one year, simply to ensure the return of a draft pick next June. Atkins would rather deal Donaldson now, or even in the waiver period in August, if he can get the equivalent in value of that 2019 pick.
The Jays rolled the dice last winter by not trading Donaldson, hanging on to him for one more season while believing they could compete with the big boys in the AL East in 2018. If they did that, they might be able to sign Donaldson to an extension.
A multi-year offer was made in January but clearly Donaldson wanted to explore the free-agent market in November before doubling back to the Jays if that looked like his best deal. Both sides had agreed to put negotiations on hold until after the season. The Jays were not going to make the same mistake they did with Edwin Encarnacion.
But for fans to think that Atkins and Mark Shapiro should have seen this coming last winter is a bit of hindsight.
How difficult will the process of moving Donaldson be given the fact that he remains on the DL with calf issues and has managed to play just 36 games, producing five homers, 16 RBIs, a .234 average and a .757 OPS?
Those statistics are dismal, but they are not the product of aging or slowing down. When he is healthy, Donaldson can still bring rain. The fact is he was playing hurt. That being said, the injuries might be a product of aging and that’s what must be of concern to opposing GMs.
The most likely destination for Donaldson would be Atlanta, as the Braves make an unexpected run to the post-season. Don’t think that Braves firstyear GM Alex Anthopoulos is willing to roll the dice and take chances at the deadline? Just recall what he did at the deadline with the Jays in 2015 when he sniffed an October run as being possible. Third base is a position Anthopoulos would love to bolster.
There has been loose talk of Adrian Beltre from the Rangers and Nick Castellanos from the Tigers. But if Donaldson can prove he’s healthy, he’d be the player the Braves would aim for, given Anthopoulos’s history. After dealing Happ, on Thursday, Atkins made it abundantly clear that, with the number of position players he had been gathering, it was time to focus on young pitching. And 19 of the Braves’ top 30 prospects, according to MLB.com, are pitchers.
But with all the question marks surrounding Donaldson right now, it defies logic that any team would give up a top-30 prospect for two months of a player they don’t know will be able to play. That being said, they’ll always have August.
Here’s how it has to work for the Jays to move Donaldson during the trade waiver period. Most players in MLB go on waivers on Aug. 1 and, if they are not claimed by anyone, they can be traded to any team during the month and be eligible for the post-season.
But a player on the DL cannot be placed on these waivers, so the Jays would have to wait until Donaldson is activated. If they then put him on waivers and if he is claimed, they will have three choices: pull him back; allow the claiming club to take him, in which case they lose any compensation; or trade him within 48 hours to that team.
If more than one team claims Donaldson, Atkins would have to deal with the lowest-ranked AL team. If the teams were from the NL only, it would be the lowest-ranked NL team. If that process were to happen today, the Braves would have 24 teams ahead of them.
A source with knowledge of the Jays’ plans has indicated that if Donaldson were to be claimed on waivers in August, the club would not let him go. Instead, they would attempt to negotiate a trade and, if that didn’t work, would keep him.
Donaldson still has time to show that, when healthy, he can produce numbers. That is the best-case scenario for Donaldson and the Jays, because if they were forced to play Donaldson for two months and he was the MVPtype Bringer of Rain, that increased production would help the Jays win games, making it more likely a qualifying offer would be turned down in favour of multi-year deals.