Blue Jays: The Josh Donaldson trade finally comes full circle

Nearly two years later, it appears the Toronto Blue Jays may finally make good on the Josh Donaldson trade.

On August 31st, 2018 the Toronto Blue Jays shipped former MVP, Josh Donaldson, to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for little known and oft-injured pitching prospect Julian Merryweather.

The brain trust took a beating publicly for the deal as many prognosticators felt the Jays were selling low on the third baseman in a year where he was hampered with injuries. Nonetheless, Donaldson was sent packing back south of the border and fans have been waiting patiently ever since to see fruits of the trade come to fruition.

Well, guess what Blue Jays fans? It is officially Julian Merryweather time. The 28-year old was added to the active roster earlier this week and will more than likely be leaned upon to eat up multiple innings out of the bullpen.

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Since the conclusion of the 2017 minor league campaign, the right-hander has only thrown six innings over the past two seasons. Full disclosure, Merryweather also threw six innings in the Arizona Fall League at the conclusion of last season so if you count that, he has tossed 12 innings.

While we wait for the MLB debut of Merryweather, Donaldson has slugged a combined 41 homers since the trade with the Indians, Braves, and the Twins. The young hurler has some catching up to do if the Jays are going to turn this transaction into a positive.

Regardless of what has transpired to this point, it is nice to finally see the trade come full circle and Merryweather get his opportunity at the major league level. This is a pitcher that Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro were familiar with from their tenure in Cleveland and gave glowing reviews about following the consummation of the deal.

Now, we finally get to see what all the hype was actually about.