Blue Jays: Besides St. Louis, who else is after Donaldson?

Rumours circulated that as many as five teams have called the Blue Jays about Josh Donaldson. Other than St. Louis, who else could it be?

Much to the chagrin of Blue Jays’ fans everywhere, the Josh Donaldson trade rumours just don’t want to go away. We shouldn’t be surprised by this of course, not with the former MVP having just one year remaining on his contract, and the Blue Jays coming off a 76 win season. From the outside looking in, that situation screams that it’s time to sell on Donaldson.

So far it sounds like Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro are holding their ground on trading the “Bringer of Rain”, but according to Jon Heyman of FanRagSports, as many as five teams have been calling to ask about his availability, with three clubs being pretty persistent about the idea.

We already know the St. Louis Cardinals are interested, but there haven’t been a lot of hard reports on who else may be calling to try and drum up a trade. This is mostly speculation on my part here, but let’s take a guess at who could have Ross Atkins on speed dial right now.

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St. Louis Cardinals

This one we know for sure, as it’s been widely reported for months that the Cardinals would like to make Josh Donaldson the centre piece of their offence. I could go on, but google “Josh Donaldson St. Louis Cardinals”, and you’ll be up for a few hours of reading if you’re so inclined.

San Francisco Giants

The Giants make sense, mostly because they’ve been in desperate search of an impact bat this winter, and they’ve fallen short in their pursuits thus far. They were in on Giancarlo Stanton, even reportedly working out a trade that was done if Stanton would have approved it, and they also were a finalist for Shohei Ohtani.

Some have speculated the Giants could be serious players for guys like J.D. Martinez, but Donaldson would fit well in San Fran, as they’ve got Pablo Sandoval listed at the top of their depth chart right now, and nobody wants that, not even the Giants.

Los Angeles Angels

The Angels have arguably moved the needle more than anyone this offseason, even if Stanton went to the Yankees. They’ve re-signed Justin Upton (in-season), won the Ohtani sweepstakes, and traded for Ian Kinsler earlier this week. Their lineup is starting to come together, and the Angels could be for real, sooner than later.

As far as third base goes though, Luis Valbuena would be the incumbent, and while he’s not a bad player, Donaldson would be a massive upgrade. If you paired him with the likes of Mike Trout, Ohtani, Kinsler, Andrelton Simmons, Kole Calhoun and more, suddenly you’re talking about a pretty deep, and scary lineup.

The Angels probably don’t have the prospects to entice the Blue Jays, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they called to ask anyway.

Atlanta Braves

We know how much Alex Anthopoulos loves his former Blue Jays, and the Josh Donaldson acquisition was arguably the best decision he made in Toronto’s front office. Donaldson won an MVP for the Blue Jays in his first season after Anthopoulos brought him in, and at 32 years old he could have enough years left to help Atlanta with their current rebuild.

Anthopoulos would probably want assurances that Donaldson would stick around beyond 2018, but it’s hard to imagine that he’s not interested. The Braves have all kinds of talent in their minor league pipeline as well, so this is a fit that could get interesting in a hurry, if trade talks actually start to heat up.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies are a lot like the Braves in that they’ve got a strong minor league system, not much in the way of financial commitments, and a seemingly strong future ahead. Of course, the immediate term is a little bleak, so Donaldson’s fit would be likely need assurances beyond 2018 as well in order for them to give up the prospect capital it would take.

The Phillies have been a popular team when it comes to the big name free agents and trade candidates this offseason, and it sounds like they’re ready to make a splash and start turning the corner toward relevancy again. There are far worse pieces than Donaldson to build on, so this one makes a little sense, even if it’s a year or two early for the franchise.

New York Yankees

This one is a big long shot, but with the Yankees reportedly asking about Manny Machado of the Orioles, it would make sense if they asked about Donaldson as well. He would chew up most of their available remaining payroll, but adding another MVP calibre bat to that lineup would make things borderline unfair.

Of course, the Blue Jays would have to be willing to deal him in division, and that would be a PR nightmare. Unless the Yankees offer a ridiculous package, this one likely doesn’t go beyond a phone call to check in.

Arizona Diamondbacks??

I threw one more in here, mostly because I’m just assuming I haven’t nailed down all five teams in six guesses, even with St. Louis as a gimme. There is always a surprise after all. I would count the Diamondbacks as a surprise, only because they have a pretty solid third baseman in Jake Lamb already, who is under club control and much cheaper than Donaldson.

The only reason is makes any sense at all is because the Diamondbacks will need a bat to replace J.D. Martinez’s if he signs elsewhere, and Donaldson would be of a similar calibre. If they acquired him, they could potentially flip Lamb, who hit 30 home runs last year at third base, has three years of club control remaining, and made less than $600,000 last year. He could probably fetch quite a haul.

That said, it’s hard to imagine them playing this kind of game without knowing Donaldson would stick around beyond next year, and he could be too pricey for them at that time anyway.

Note- I suppose we could add the Chicago White Sox to this list, although I have a hard time picturing them trading for Donaldson in the same way they’re reportedly interested in Manny Machado. 

Next: Blue Jays select three players in MiLB Rule 5 draft

What do you think? Did I miss a potential landing spot? Let me know in the comments, and if he does get traded then we can all come back to this and have a good laugh at how wrong I was.