After back-to-back injury-limited seasons divided between Toronto and Cleveland, former AL MVP Josh Donaldson settled for a short-term contract in free agency last winter. Donaldson accepted the Braves’ one-year, $23MM offer in hopes of a bounce-back campaign that would propel him to a larger deal this offseason. That’ll likely come to fruition in a couple months for Donaldson, who has enjoyed a healthy and excellent year for an Atlanta team that’s close to locking up the National League East.
The playoff-bound Braves will vie for a championship in October, but no matter how their season ends, it stands to reason they’ll attempt to re-sign Donaldson. General manager Alex Anthopoulos suggested last month the Braves would gladly welcome him back, while Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote Wednesday they “would love” to keep Donaldson in the fold. Donaldson, meanwhile, seems to have a similar affinity for the Braves.
“I’ve enjoyed playing here every day,” Donaldson told Burns of his time in Atlanta. “And I look forward to playing in this uniform as long as I can.”
Based on the comments Anthopoulos and Donaldson have made, it’s fair to say the two sides have mutual interest in continuing their partnership. However, it’ll likely take a much greater financial commitment from the team in order to bring Donaldson back. Even though Donaldson doesn’t have youth on his side (he’ll turn 34 in December), he should still be able to land at least a two- to three-year contract worth upward of $20MM per annum in the offseason. After all, Donaldson has reestablished himself as a force this season with a .258/.378/.526 line, 37 home runs and 5.7 bWAR/4.7 fWAR in 632 plate appearances.
Thanks to his 2019 production, Donaldson may well end up as the game’s second-best position player on the open market, trailing only Nationals MVP candidate Anthony Rendon. Teams that need help at third base but can’t or don’t want to pay Rendon nine figures (perhaps around $150MM or more) could look to Donaldson as an appealing and much less costly alternative. If Donaldson cashes in elsewhere, the Braves will have a ready-made replacement in third baseman/outfielder Austin Riley. They still figure to be among the most ardent bidders for Donaldson, though, and it should help their cause that he seems more than willing to stay put.
Stay in ATL Josh. We love you Bringer of Rain!!
The Bringer Of Rain this has been the most fun i had as a Braves fan and i go back to Milwaukee.Donaldson pay the MAN the MONEY man look how it help Freeman having him bat behind him.Change is coming next year its time for the other young kids come up.I feel a AMERICAN League team benefit trading fot OF-Duvall,and P-Techran he gone for a young starter,RP-Minter is gone and a couple at the most trade for a 1st class catcher,keep MCCANN he good with young pitchers.Trade C-Flowers a good team player but lack defense and batting average.Bring up OF-PATCH,i would trade OF-Ender if need be for a class A catcher
McCann at the most he might have one or 2 years left.I predict McCann will become a coach with thr Braves or in the minor lesgue system.OF-HAMILTON has speed but his bat is weak he need to learn to hit down on the ball and use his speed.OF-Acunta permanent position should be right field keep base runners going from 1st base to 3rd base.Either you trade ENDER or HAMILTON,I Enjoy watching the pitchers sweat when HAMILTOMN om first he track speed.Man big decisions coming next years i think GENERAL MANAGER up for the job
Everything about this raises so many questions.
That was…interesting.
Even more interesting, their application for the MLBTR writing gig was not accepted.
LOL
Lol.
I think Donaldson is only interested at this point in his career about winning and why shouldn’t he be he has had a great career and deserves to go out on top
The only teams looking to bring a 34 year old Donaldson at this point in his career are winning teams. So he’s in a pretty good spot there even if he didn’t care.
At this point in his career, Donaldson is solely concerned with the big payday The biggest payday he can get with whoever offers it to him.
I think Donaldson’s statement was code for “I want to be a Brave for as long as possible”!
@EddieNiceGuy yea, I think you’re wrong there.
and why shouldn’t he be he?
Donaldson has 37 home runs
They will sign him for 60 at 3 and he will be on the IL for 4 months and never come back and be the player he was this year. History teaches clubs nothing.
Can you say that again, except in English this time?
60 years at 3 mil per. Makes the Bonilla contract look prudent.
3yrs at 20M per season for a guy who can put up 6WAR? Sign me up.
Seriously, it’s worth the risk bringing him back and they could probably get him for less seeing as Donaldson is guaranteed to get a qualifying offer this offseason which will limit his market like every other mid 30s slugger.
Thanks for not doing that Jays!
Toronto (Rogers) Sports Media: “BUT WHAT IF DONALDSON ACCEPTS THE QUALUFYING OFFER?!”
Everyone with a brain: “Uhh you get a 6win player for trade bait at the deadline?”
Ridiculous!
Most mid 30s sluggers dont have his defensive value. He is Beltre esq if anything, and should age well if healthy.
Go back to July/Aug 2018 on this website and you will see a couple Jays fans hoping for a QO. Jays would have been better off dealing Smoak at last year’s deadline, cutting Morales, keeping Donaldson and giving him the QO to DH/3B.
Very few fans wanted Donaldson back. It’s a shame Blue Jays fans don’t pay attention.
The media completely influenced that decision. They acted like he had to go no matter what.
It was the most infuriating thought process in the world.
I’ll start by saying I was in the camp last year saying they should have kept Donaldson and offered the QO but only because they had the money added to the fact that everyone intelligent knew Vlad wouldn’t be up until May. Plus his value was so low it wasn’t worth dealing him at that point. And sense the jays were tanking they could afford the gamble.
Now with that said acting as if he would have put up similar numbers in TO on the concrete is misleading. Whether you like or not the jays are at a giant disadvantage playing on their home games on concrete and Donaldson probably would have dealt with those calf issues again this year had he been playing everyday in Toronto.
And for those of you who don’t think playing on that surface is a bod deal. Go get a job where you walk around on concrete all day long. Let me know how your back and knees are. Or watch how Vlad sr walks or Andre Dawson. And yes I know the infield is dirt now.
The guy had one injury at the end of the year that carried over into the next year. He came back too soon and was out longer than expected but came back and performed at about the same clip as before his injuries. Other than that, all he’s done in his career is play 158 games a year on average. This isn’t an injury prone player.
Still not worth $20M per.
Your right. At 5.7 bWAR, he’s worth quite a bit more……
Nobody is worth that much money. Nobody.
Mike Trout says hi.
Huh, I didnt know supply and demand relied solely on your tastes and preferences.
You are making a value judgement that has nothing to do with how the baseball market values production. Thankyou for contributing nothing to this topic.
I say maybe two years with a club option for a third. I would be weary of signing him for too many years given his history of injuries and age.
.260 hitter…pass! The guy wants money but his only production comes from home runs, which is league-wide inflated.
Sign Rendon for a bit more and get a guy who can do everything JD can except also hit 300 plus.
Imagine caring about BA in the year of our lord 2019
Imagine being dumb enough to not care about Batting Average in the sport of baseball!?
Seriously!? What’s wrong with you modern day tools!?
Imagine thinking any GM cares about batting average?
You batting average lost the battle years ago take your L’s and stfu.
Like even the guys who are moderately successful at fantasy baseball figured out batting average is meaningless.
Guys who have high batting average, high obp, and high slugging are more productive than guys who just have high obp and high slugging. You can’t get past first with a walk and can’t drive anyone in unless the bases are loaded. A high batting average is still a positive, regardless of what the nerds want you to believe.
Well yea, a guy who had a high AVG/OBP/SLG is better than a guy who is only good in OBP and SLG. But I’d rather have the guy with the low BA and high OBP/SLG than the high AVG and low OBP/SLG guy.
Batting average doesn’t know the difference between a single and a home run. You can have a high average, and be an unproductive hitter. Would you rather have Hanser Alberto or Marcus Semien?
@Jeffrey B
I think that GDrank was more just taking a shot at the original poster…the guy thinks Acuna is overrated because he strikes out a lot at the age of 21…he is against Donaldson because he bats .260… I believe he also doesn’t like Soroka because he doesn’t strikeout 10 guys every game…
“But I’d rather have the guy with the low BA and high OBP/SLG than the high AVG and low OBP/SLG guy.”
Hits > Walk
Your guy better hit for ridiculous power. Otherwise take the high batting average every single day of the week. Good hitters are good to have. Walkers get you nowhere.
.378 OBP. No one is Tony Gwynn anymore. You have to compare BA to league averages, not the 90’s.
So you’d rather have Hanser Alberto over Mike Moustakas, or Max Kepler? Just because they get hits doesn’t mean their hits are valuable. I’d rather have a guy who hits for power than a guy who hits just singles. The only time when batting average may matter is with guys like Billy Hamilton or Adalberto Mondesi. Guys who are never going to hit for power, so their ability to get base hits and get on base is where their offensive value is going to be.
You’re dumb
Literally left that comment because I knew someone will say “imagine caring about..”
Most of these people who defend advanced metrics probably don’t know anything about them. They just google ranges and pretend they know what they mean. It is equal to googling the healthy range of blood sugar but not understanding how the numbers are derived or what they mean.
JD is not a great hitter and not worth the investment because I can guarantee you his homerun numbers will go down due to the combination of age and MLB reverting back to the old baseballs. Pretty evident they changed the baseballs to increase the excitement of the homerun. Anyways, once his power drops, he is a pretty average hitter. Not worth the investment when the team has big pitching flaws. Might as well start Riley. JD does not hustle, probably because of injury risk.
I never mentioned the advanced metrics you seem to be so threatened by. And it’s really quite ironic that you would dismiss a player for having a BA below a certain range then attack the proponents of these advanced metrics as simpletons who merely relate to acceptable ranges. Sadly, that irony is likely lost on you
If the ball changes, HRs will be down across the board. It’ll affect Rendon and JD. Whoever signs either will wind up committing to a top-line player who’ll be 36 or 37 when the contract ends. I don’t see the Braves locking up Rendon for the next 6-7 years. I can see them going 2-3 (perhaps 3rd year as an option) with JD. The AAV of Donaldson’s contract should be lower.
Top 5 in average exit velocity. Your advanced numbers suggest you’re 100% wrong. He’s a product of exit angle and swinging hard, not a juiced ball.
I’d be willing to sacrifice a bit of batting average for 30-35 home runs, great third base defense, a .370+ OBP, and a 5-6 WAR player.
Don’t like his batting average? That’s fine. The .900+ OPS and quality D should do the trick.
Did somebody say quality D?
A bit more? Rendon is going to be looking in the neighborhood of $30m a year for six years or so. Maybe a tad less, but not much. Thats a ton of money for an extra hit every seventh or eight game.
And yes, that’s the approximate difference between .260 and .300 in a 150 game, 500 AB season.
While I would LOVE to bring in Rendon and possibly move Riley for a different piece or to the OF permanently (or DH in the near future from what rumors say), I would also love to save the $10 million a year to put into a true front of the rotation starter. Sure, the Braves probably wouldn’t do it even if they saved the money, but it’s nice to think about.
He walks a ton and plays excellent defense. In addition, there is no one out there who can provide the kind of protection for Freddie Freeman that he does. Who bats clean-up next year? Riley? Markakis? If they signed him for 3 years and 75 million, just to see him get hurt, I am not mad, because you can’t win without taking chances. Riley is not ready to take over on a daily basis.
If markakis went back to cleanup this team is taking a giant leap backwards, not gonna happen. Donaldson will be back, no doubt about it. Riley needs to work with chipper and Freddie this offseason before he sniffs the top half of the lineup.
You’re the same guy chastising Acuna for hitting 41 HR’s with almost 200k’s. You clearly are either A. Delusional or B. A complete novice at sports.
Braves just aren’t gonna do what it takes to keep him. He’ll likely want just a tad more than he’s really worth, and the braves will likely want to pay him a lot less than he’s worth. Lol
Absolutely spot on and I see no problem with that from either side.
I will bet dimes to dollars that all those fans that whined about overpaying for Donaldson last off-season will be whining this year about the Braves not willing to give him the big bucks.
Yea, I mean it’s fine from both sides. My point is more the braves will be super cheap more so than Donaldson will be ultra greedy. Idk what he’s really worth, multi year deal 2-3 for somewhere around $15-20 mil each year? I just don’t see the braves even pulling the trigger if it’s 2 years $15 mil. And that’s insanely good (cheap) value for Donaldson I’m my opinion.
@bravesfan
So you think the Braves will pay Donaldson 1 year at 23 mil, but wouldn’t pay him 2 years at 15 mil? That makes absolutely no sense! Get him for 1 more year at an extra 7 mil…
I think the Braves may even be willing to go 2 years at 25 mil each. They are willing to spend money as long as the value is there. They (like most teams now) are trying to be smarter with their money.
Just make sure you give Freddie that chedder too.
All that us Braves fans should be concerned with for the offseason is signing Freddie to that huge extension he’s going to get. I just hope he doesn’t ask for Bryce numbers ughh
Lol why? Freddie is signed through 2021 and he isn’t going anywhere. No need to rush an extension.
I hope freeman makes 300+ million. As a Mets fan Freddy fu****g freeman is a beast pay the man. You can’t always get deals…. and is it me or when we play the braves ff bats in every inning?
Players always say they wanna stay somewhere until another GM drives a dump truck full of money to their house.
You’re right. But sometimes late in players careers they prefer winning over the money because they already made a ton and lets face it…. sure 20 mil vs 30 mil is a big different, but ain’t no one gonna starve over 20 mil
I believe I read somewhere that Donaldson will have made 100 million in his career thusfar after this season. I know to us normal people that’s a truck full of money, but in baseball standards for a guy who puts up 5+ war a season when healthy that’s fairly low. This will be his last big payday so he’ll probably shoot for the moon. With the limited supply and strong demand at 3B I could see a bidding war escalate beyond the Braves comfort zone pretty quickly. He may also ask for a no trade clause, which is something the Braves have never given out. Still you do make a fair point that winning is important to older players and ATL has an advantage there with all the young talent.
AA probably would have extended him in Toronto had he stayed. A 5-year deal taking him to 2020. It never happened and the rest is history.
We say he’s not going anywhere but look what happened with Harper. Commitment only goes so far when someone else is offering you 100mil more than the Braves
For the record, I’d be shocked if he gets 100 mil contract. Just my opinion. Depending on the length of the contract, I’d estimate somewhere between 15-20 mil a year.
And a player would have to be an absolute moron to say anything else. It’s always good to have multiple bidders to drive up the contract.
There will be a few teams that will be looking for a 3B this Off season including ALL 4 teams in the NL EAST & Maybe The Brewers if they don’t pick up Moustakis option.
And the Rangers
I would rather discuss this after the season
I hope JD and ATL win it all this year. I wish Shapkins had kept him. Vladdy considers himself a natural outfielder and i fell like he would have done well in RF. He has the arm and bat to fit there, that would have given them an amazing top 5 in the lineup. Bo, Biggio, JD, Vlad, Gurriel, Grichuk would be a pretty formidable start to a lineup. Grichuk isn’t amazing but 30 bombs for 10 mil isn’t all that bad, if he was better in center would could deal with his sub .300 obp
I was just at the Rogers center 1 st time ever last weekend for the Yankees game. What a beautiful place that is the roof was open it’s just gorgeous. Brett Gardner got 2 bombs near me they landed about 5 seats to my left. The only issue there were more yankee fan then blue jays fans
Murphy – Vlad should be considered for RF if he drops a few pounds. Clearly the arm is there. Unfortunately Grichuk is a LF with big power and little else. The Jays would not miss him if he were to be traded. If not, LF isn’t a bad spot. Then Gurriel would be moved and that’s (most likely) not happening.
Donaldson, Freeman, Acuna, & crew are super fun to watch and if he will stay in ATL the Braves should do that in a heartbeat.
2 years 45M with an option year at 20M or 5M buyout.
F the Braves
no u
You belong in Hotlanta Bringer of Rain, it’s a perfect match, come on back , let’s continue the fun and the winning!