Toronto Blue Jays: Josh Donaldson Acquisition Revisited

Brett Lawrie

The era of Brett Lawrie being a face of the Blue Jays was an interesting one. While I was finishing grade school and learning how to throw a curveball, Lawrie was becoming an electric factory in his home country. He flashed the leather with the best of them at third base. This is backed up both by the eye test and his cumulative 5.7  defensive WAR throughout his four years as a Jay. For reference, Nolan Arenado’s dWAR throughout his first four years was 8.2.

Sadly, Lawrie was anything but consistent. Prolonged slumps at the plate and persistent injury issues saw his lustre fade. Towards the end of 2014, Lawrie wasn’t quite viewed as that phenom Canadian and fan favourite anymore. After his rookie season in 2011, he averaged only 101 games a year. There still existed some potential, but he became more than expendable in trade talks. He slotted as the perfect fill-in for Donaldson’s vacancy in Oakland, and played out one whole season with the Athletics. What followed was an injury plagued season with the Chicago White Sox in 2016. This was the last Major League team he appeared with.

Since 2016, Lawrie has been dealing with nagging injuries. These have kept him from getting into any minor league games or international competition. His uninspiring 94.5 WRC+ between 2015 and 2016 goes to show there wasn’t much success post Blue Jays for Lawrie. The most recent baseball related action for him was his contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. They hooked him up with a minor league deal in February of 2019 in the hopes of him rehabbing and possibly contributing to them down the line. However, Lawrie’s physical health stood in the way and he never saw an inning on the field. I’ll keep my biases to myself, as people view Jays Journal for educated and impartial literature. Despite this, I wish the best for Lawrie and his post career endeavours.