Blue Jays: An opportunity for closure with Josh Donaldson

Fresh off the controversial trade of Josh Donaldson to the Cleveland Indians, the Blue Jays will face off against his new team starting on Thursday.

The Blue Jays finished up their series with the Marlins on Sunday with a 6-1 win, and head back to Toronto for a nine game home stand.

The problem? After three games with the Tampa Bay Rays to start the week, they welcome the Cleveland Indians to town on Thursday.

If you somehow missed it over the last few days, the Blue Jays traded Josh Donaldson to Cleveland for a player to be named later, getting the deal done with just a few hours to spare before the August trade deadline. The move came with plenty of discussion and controversy, and even though what’s done is done, it feels like Blue Jays writers and fans will be talking about how this all went down for a while.

Since the trade was announced on Friday, social media hasn’t been the most pleasant of places to read about the Blue Jays, with many fans expressing sadness, frustration, and even downright outrage that the “Bringer of Rain” was traded. For those that don’t follow the team religiously, it’s difficult to understand how someone can go from being the AL MVP in 2015, to being worth just a PTBNL just a couple years later. I mean, even for those of us that watch and write about them nearly every day, it’s hard to wrap your head around.

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And yet here we are, and the wounds are still very fresh for Blue Jays fans, likely for Donaldson, and also for his former teammates. A situation like this is generally best solved for the players and coaches by trying to move on as quickly as you can, focusing on the performance on the diamond and ignoring the distractions to the best of your ability. For fans, a nice win streak or some solid play from a budding young star helps a bit, but it’s mostly time that is the biggest healer.

Unfortunately it’s possible that the animosity even ramps up a little more this week, especially when Donaldson returns to the Rogers Centre in another uniform. Fortunately he has mostly taken the high road thus far, choosing not to speak out too much about his frustrations with the Blue Jays and/or their training staff, even though it’s pretty clear there are things being left unsaid. That’s a definite plus for both parties for the immediate future, not only for general professionalism, but also because of the upcoming meeting later this week.

If Donaldson had chosen to run his former employer’s through the mud during any interviews this weekend, and he had the opportunity with Sportnet’s Shi Davidhi, it would have completely changed the dynamic of his return. As it was, the fans really didn’t get to say goodbye to their beloved star, and if things go as I hope they will, they’ll get that chance sometime between Thursday and Saturday. In an ideal case he’ll get the standing ovation he deserves from a fan base who genuinely loves him, and then maybe the situation can start to dissolve a bit.

Like I said above, I have a feeling that there will be much more to this story, even if it doesn’t come out until the offseason. I hope that the hard feelings are more a result of the shock of being traded rather than an ugly divorce, but that remains to be seen. Regardless, it’s a tough thing to lose one of the best players of a franchise’s generation no matter the circumstances.

For the immediate future, I’m hopeful that the series against Cleveland will be a positive thing for all parties involved, mostly importantly being the fans. It’s probably too fresh to put together a tribute from the organization at all, but an honest ovation from the fans could be therapeutic, and maybe even help to soften the blow of a difficult trade.

It wasn’t easy watching Edwin Encarnacion or Jose Bautista leave as free agents, and it’s probably even more difficult to see Donaldson traded, especially to Cleveland. That said, hopefully fans can put aside their frustrations and hurt feelings for a few days, and enjoy watching Donaldson back on the field at the Rogers Centre.

We’ve been waiting for that visual since the end of May, and it’s a shame that it has to come in the opposing team’s uniform. However, as imperfect as it is, it’s an opportunity for some closure, or at least a step in the right direction. Like it or not, it’s coming soon.