Blue Jays: If Cards want Donaldson, they’ll have to pay big

According to Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic, the St. Louis Cardinals haven’t given up asking the Blue Jays to trade Josh Donaldson this offseason. The longer this goes on, the more the Blue Jays’  front office can ask for.

It seems there are several GM’s across baseball that simply don’t believe the Blue Jays when they say they want to compete in 2018. You can’t blame others for asking about veteran pieces on the Blue Jays’ roster, especially at this point in the calendar, but some of these news reports are starting to feel like a broken record.

Case in point, according to Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic, the St. Louis Cardinals haven’t given up hope that the Blue Jays will consider trading Josh Donaldson to the National League, and conceding the AL East now that the Yankees and Red Sox look poised for another superpower battle in the division. If it feels like we’ve been hearing this rumour for months, it’s because we have, as the Cardinals have been reportedly interested dating back to midseason of last year.

The fit certainly makes sense for the Cards, especially after they missed out on acquiring Giancarlo Stanton because he wouldn’t approve a trade to St. Louis. The Cards have badly wanted to add to the offence this offseason, and even though they acquired Marcell Ozuna from the Marlins earlier this week as well, it sounds like they’ve intent on beefing up the lineup even further.

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For the Blue Jays’ front office, they can take comfort in knowing they’ve in the power position for now when it comes to Donaldson. That won’t last long of course, with his contract set to expire at the end of the 2018 season, but he’s an asset that has value in a number of different ways. The team still has designs on being a contender in 2018 at the moment, so jettisoning their best player wouldn’t help that cause, and they could always pursue a trade at the deadline if things don’t go as planned.

Whatever your stance is on what the Blue Jays should do with the 2015 former MVP, it’s important to note that patience has been, and will continue to be key with whatever they do. They’ll have to make a decision at some point, whether that means trading him or extending him if he’s willing to accept, but for now allowing the market to develop has only driven up the Blue Jays’ asking price. At some point all the potential suitors will move on, but if the Cards are coming back again and again, Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro are in an position to hold their ground on their asking price (if they’ve stated one), or potentially even increase it.

Not really wanting to trade the player gives them the leverage in any trade negotiations, because a worst case scenario is he’s back with the Blue Jays in 2018, and the front office pursues another playoff run for the fan base that deserves it. If the Cardinals end up offering a king’s ransom for the slugging third baseman, then at some point maybe the front office actually considers dealing him.

Until then, they can just keep saying no.

Next: What would it take to trade Bo? A lot.