Blue Jays: How much will Josh Donaldson cost?

One way or another Josh Donaldson is going to get paid, the only question is how much are the Toronto Blue Jays willing to invest to keep their import north of the border. Would you do $30 million a season for the next century?

The Toronto Blue Jays temporarily delayed hashing out money when they dismissed the arbitration process at the conclusion of Josh Donaldson’s MVP season in 2015 locking up the slugger on a two year/$28.65 million deal.

The mini-deal was an olive branch of sort guaranteeing Donaldson $11.65 million in 2016 and $17 million in 2017 without either side having to endure a heated arbitration hearing. The third baseman will be eligible for arbitration for the final time in 2018 before potentially hitting free agency in 2019.

After an offseason in which Donaldson’s free agent teammates Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista failed to cash in on the lucrative riches they initially anticipated, perhaps now is the time for the Blue Jays to hit up Donaldson on a long-term extension.

The notion that Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro are going to tear this team down after this season makes zero sense. The roster is stacked with young talents like Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, Roberto Osuna, Devon Travis and Kevin Pillar with the likes of Rowdy Tellez and Sean Reid-Foley waiting in the wings.

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The long-term commitment to Donaldson would also prove to Blue Jays nation that this leadership group is in it to win it. The fabric and talent level that Donaldson possesses is not something you squander when presented with the opportunity to sign. It is not very often you have a player who can be mentioned in the same conversation as Mike Trout.

So what will it take when Rogers opens up the purse strings to sign JD on the dotted line. Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera signed a guaranteed  8 year/ $240 million dollar pact that also included two additional vesting option years or an $8 million buyout. Miggy signed the deal when he was 30 years of age.

So would you be content paying Donaldson $30 million dollars for the next eight seasons to man the hot corner? Like it or not that is is the going rate for a player who has accumulated a combined WAR of over 26 for the past four seasons.

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Regardless, if the Blue Jays pony up the money or not, some World Series hungry general manager surely will and Donaldson will ride out of town just like Eddie and his beloved parrot did months earlier.

For the love of Canada, sign the man, he deserves it.