Former AL MVP Josh Donaldson is expected to miss “at least a few more days” before getting a chance to return to the Blue Jays’ lineup. A report from Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com indicates that Donaldson still hasn’t felt comfortable running at full speed, or as manager John Gibbons puts it, “he still couldn’t cut it loose,” during a series of running drills on Thursday. The third baseman has been out since May 28th with a sore calf muscle. Coupled with the shoulder injury he dealt with earlier this season, one has to wonder just how much these injury concerns will impact the 32-year-old Donaldson’s free agent stock headed into the 2018-2019 offseason. It’s not as though he’s produced while on the field, either: his .234/.333/.423 slash line (despite a .303 BABIP) is a far cry from his typical production, while his strikeout rate sits at a career-high 27.7%.
As for the Blue Jays, they’re at least likely to get Marcus Stroman and Steve Pearce back in the near future, as both are currently embarking on rehab assignments in the minor leagues.
Let’s take a look at some other injury situations around baseball…
- Nate Rowan, beat reporter for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate, tweets that Trevor May is headed to the DL with shoulder inflammation. The move is retroactive to June 14th. May’s only recently made his way back from Tommy John surgery, a recovery he wrote about for MLBTR; he was optioned to Triple-A immediately following his activation. There’s no word yet on the severity of the shoulder situation or how long May is expected to be out. In his most recent major league action, May pitched to a 5.27 ERA across 44 relief appearances for the Twins.
- Another AL Central reliever received unfortunate news today as well. Nick Goody of the Indians visited Dr. James Andrews after feeling soreness during his throwing program. The diagnosis remains elbow hyperextension and posterior elbow inflammation, and though that’s far from the worst-case scenario, he’ll be shut down for at least three weeks after receiving a PRP injection. It’s bad news for an Indians club that has seen its bullpen go from the upper echelon in the league in 2017 to a bottom-dweller in 2018.
- Braves reliever Josh Ravin (currently pitching for Triple-A Gwinnett) experienced a scare yesterday when he was struck in the face by a line drive. Ravin’s stable, however (at least enough so to tweet), and is set to be further evaluated on Sunday in Atlanta when the swelling goes down. The current diagnosis is five facial fractures and a concussion. Ravin has yet to allow a run in Gwinnett across 18 innings, during which time he’s struck out 30 batters and walked nine.
Its getting likelier that the Jays keep Donaldson, QO him at year end and he accepts and tries to rebuild his value.
If he goes into free agency like this with a QO attached, I’m not sure he’ll get much interest
Nice thinking, but this is Josh Donaldson. QO attached or not he will still get serious attention in free agency so I wouldn’t necessarily compare this to situations in the past that had guys getting looked over because of the QO.
Sure but given his age and how free agency has been the last 2 off seasons, I can’t see many teams lining up for him on a 4-5 year deal.
Hard to see him signing a one year offer he’d be 34 before getting back on the market this is his last chance at a big multi year contract.
It will be tough to re-sign Donaldson when the Jays still have Morales and Smoak. He’d have to move to 1B and DH from now on. Plus next year the Jays need to sign about 3 starting pitchers and they do not come cheap.
A solution would be to deal Smoak at the deadline, then offer Donaldson an extension (which he’d probably turn down if it’s not at least 3 years at $25 per year). Problem is, the contenders don’t have 1B issues so there’s probably no chance of dealing Smoak.
If Donaldson is back by July 1 it gives him 4 weeks. Otherwise it’s QO and a big blunder for the Jays front office not pulling the trigger a year ago (on many guys).
Trim, totally agree. Donaldson is going to take a big hit on AAV and Term on his “longterm” deal. He is a game changer when he is not hurt. There are very few like him in the game.
The Jays cannot afford to sign him either. They have little starting pitching for next year.
I know that this Jay’s executive can scout the minors but are terrible in professional MLB scouting [Morales, Urshela, Maile, Grichuk, Pearce, Swisher, Bourne]. The ONLY way this executive can be successful is to blow it up completely and trade for kids.
The Jays are at least 3 more years from another playoff game. Add the 2 years of frutility Atkins and Shaprio have already demonstrated and it’s a sad situation for Toronto baseball fans. #Scoutseyes