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Yankees Rumors: Three Possible Waiver Wire Candidates

By Paul Ashley

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JULY 29: Andrew McCutchen #22 of the San Francisco Giants bats against the Milwaukee Brewers in the bottom of the six inning at AT&T Park on July 29, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JULY 29: Andrew McCutchen #22 of the San Francisco Giants bats against the Milwaukee Brewers in the bottom of the six inning at AT&T Park on July 29, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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Yankees rumors
TORONTO, ON – May 24 In the first inning, Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson (20) looks to the pitch.  The Toronto Blue Jays took on the Los Angeles Angels at the Rogers Centre in American League baseball action. This was the rubber match of their 3 game series.May 24, 2018 (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images) /

The Yankees were active in the Manny Machado sweepstakes despite having a very talented third baseman in Miguel Andujar already in the mix.  Andujar is very solid on the offensive side, but there are question marks about his defensive ability.  Due to this, I would expect the team to have interest in a former American League MVP that plays both sides of the field very well.

Josh Donaldson is currently on the disabled list with left calf tightness, but he is expected to return to the Toronto Blue Jays lineup soon.  If he is able to remain healthy, he could be a great addition to the Yankees lineup.

In 2015, Donaldson won the American League Most Valuable Player award after he hit 41 home runs to go along with 123 runs batted in as a member of the Blue Jays.  He held a .371 on-base percentage and a .568 slugging percentage in that season as well.

Normally, a player with this amount of potential on offense would not make it to a team with the second best record in the MLB in the waiver process.  However, he may pass through due to his salary combined with his poor performance to this point.

A team that places a claim on Donaldson would have to weigh the risk of taking on the remaining prorated portion of his $23 million salary for this season.  As the former MVP has only totaled 5 home runs and 16 runs batted in on the season, teams may not want to take the monetary risk which would could him to reach the Yankees in the waiver process.

Despite his injury troubles limiting him to 36 games on the season, Donaldson has still put up a .333 on-base percentage and a .423 slugging percentage.  When healthy, he has compiled a career .366 OBP and a career .507 SLG.

Although Andujar provides a great .324 OBP and a .497 SLG as a rookie, he does not perform well on the defensive side.  To this point in the season, he has given the Yankees a 2.5 offensive WAR and a -1.1 defensive WAR.  As a comparison, Donaldson provided a 4.5 offensive WAR and a 0.5 defensive WAR in 2017.

A healthy Donaldson would give the Yankees a very formidable left side of the infield on defense without losing anything on offense.

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