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The St. Louis Cardinals won’t be deterred in their pursuit of Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson even though the Jays are apparently not interested in exporting the former MVP out of the country.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Cardinals are reportedly more interested in the services of Josh Donaldson than that of Manny Machado who is in the same contractual boat as Donaldson at season’s end.
Thus far the Blue Jays have balked at the idea of trading their third baseman, however, this could also be a playing hard to get bargaining ploy to increase the return. Apparently, the Jays keep answering the phone so who knows where this will end up.
Donaldson is in the final year of arbitration eligibility after earning $17 million last season and appears poised to test free agency especially seeing as it does not appear the Blue Jays and his camp have engaged in extension talks thus far.
The #STLCards have been pursuing #Bluejays 3B Josh Donaldson much stronger than #Orioles Manny Machado, perhaps in part because they'd have a much better chance to lock up Donaldson to long-term extension.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 18, 2017
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The Cardinals definitely have the prospect capital to get a deal done if the Jays brain trust decides the return outweighs the backlash from the fanbase. The Cards have the #10 overall prospect in pitcher Alex Reyes who is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Complimenting Reyes is catcher Carson Kelly who is ranked 51st and right-handed pitchers Jack Flaherty #57th and Luke Weaver #65th who make the cut on the Baseball America updated Top 100 prospects.
From their big club, the likes of Randal Grichuk, Jedd Gyorko, Harrison Bader and Jose Martinez could work their way into a potential deal. As of right now, it appears the courting is one-sided as the Cardinals don’t seem content with taking no for an answer. The Cards have already added outfielder Marcell Ozuna from the Marlins fire sale after getting big leagued by Giancarlo Stanton.
A report surfaced the other day that the Philadelphia Phillies had contacted the Jays in regards to the availability of pitcher Marcus Stroman. Ya, no thanks. Why does everyone want to take your stuff when you have nice things. Move along Philly, nothing to see here.
Next: Blue Jays’ Aaron Sanchez appears poised to rebound
If the Jays are serious about retaining Donaldson for 2018 they may need to get a restraining order or change their phone number otherwise the J.D. stalking looks like it will continue. We get it you really like Donaldson, so do we.