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Toronto Blue Jays: The Josh Donaldson Trade Tree

By David Corcoran

TORONTO, ON - MAY 30: Josh Donaldson #20 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates as he circles the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning during MLB game action against the Cincinnati Reds at Rogers Centre on May 30, 2017 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MAY 30: Josh Donaldson #20 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates as he circles the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning during MLB game action against the Cincinnati Reds at Rogers Centre on May 30, 2017 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /
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CLEVELAND, OH – MAY 3: Josh Donaldson #20 of the Toronto Blue Jays tosses his bat after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning against the Cleveland Indians in game two of a doubleheader at Progressive Field on May 3, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

The Trade Tree

As the trade tree goes for Merryweather, he is but a small branch right now as he is still unknown.  Merryweather was acquired when he was coming off of Tommy John surgery and was only able to make two minor league appearances in 2019.  This season was going to be a big year for Merryweather as the now 28-year old is basically at a make or break time.

So who did the Blue Jays give up for Donaldson when they acquired him back in 2014?  Initially, Anthopoulos wanted to do an all prospects deal for the “Bringer of Rain”, however, Oakland GM Billy Beane told the Blue Jays GM that he still wanted the Athletics to compete in 2015, so he couldn’t move Donaldson without getting a MLB player back in return.  Canadian kid Brett Lawrie would be the player that had to be included in the deal, although Anthopoulos tried to keep him too, as he wanted him to shift over to second base.  Joining Lawrie were a couple of pitching prospects in Sean Nolin and Kendall Graveman, along with an 18-year old middle infielder by the name of Franklin Barreto.

Lawrie went on to have a productive season with the Athletics playing both second and third base, and at the plate he hit .260 with 29 doubles and 16 home runs. After just one season in Oakland Lawrie was traded again, this time to the Chicago White Sox.  Chicago decided to move Lawrie to be a full-time second basemen and leading up to the trade deadline he was having arguably his best power hitting season as he had 22 doubles and 12 home runs.  However, on July 21, 2016 he left a game midway through with a hamstring injury, which was later revealed to also include his hip, knee and quad.

Lawrie would end up trying to come back from the injury, but in Spring Training of 2017 the White Sox released him of his contract.  He sat out all of 2017 and 2018 before trying to make a comeback in 2019 with the team that first drafted him the Milwaukee Brewers, however, before getting into any minor league games he was released and he has hung up his cleats since.

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