Toronto Blue Jays: Josh Donaldson set to begin rehab assignment

Josh Donaldson intends to start a rehab assignment for the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday, but where will he end up finishing his season?

As first reported by Bob Nightengale, the Toronto Blue Jays have sent Josh Donaldson on a rehab assignment with the Dunedin Blue Jays, the Blue Jays high-A affiliate.

Donaldson has been on the disabled list since June 1 and joins the Class-A team for what will be his first in-game action since he suffered left calf tightness on May 28. Donaldson initially injured his calf running the bases at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.

It has been a long road to recovery for Donaldson. When he was first placed on the 10-day DL it was believed he would return when first eligible, but that has been far from the case as the Bringer of Rain suffered a setback in June and as a result has spent three months rehabbing his calf. The last we’ve seen of Donaldson was a video of him jogging around first base two weeks ago at the Toronto Blue Jays spring training facility.

The timing of Donaldson’s rehab assignment is intriguing as it’s taking place just days before the August 31st trade deadline, which would be the last opportunity for the Toronto Blue Jays to move the former AL MVP. It is worth wondering, however, if the Blue Jays will even trade him at all — and if so, how much will they get for him.

Prior to JD’s injury, many thought the Blue Jays would trade him away mid-season if the team’s 2018 campaign went awry. Needless to say, it did, but largely as a result of Donaldson getting hurt causing his value to plummet. The Blue Jays waited and waited for Donaldson to be healthy once again, but the time he’s missed further delayed the opportunity for Toronto to trade him as his value diminishes with every additional day he’s spent on the DL.

Recent actions suggest that a Donaldson trade could happen. A few days ago Toronto media had a field day upon learning JD’s locker at the Rogers Centre had been wiped clean, causing rumors to swirl that the Blue Jays would move him between then and the waiver deadline this upcoming Friday. Donaldson and the Blue Jays were quick to address the locker clean-out, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see Donaldson’s response as a potential cover-up.

When Donaldson wasn’t near a return, there was little reason to believe a trade would occur. But now that he’s finally healthy, the notion that the Blue Jays are going to trade him becomes increasingly realistic. It makes one think the Blue Jays have been discussing a trade revolving Donaldson with contending teams, waiting for him to show he’s healthy in a rehab assignment before putting him on waivers.

It’s worth wondering what value Donaldson has at this point. Not only does three months on the DL seem like the longest time an athlete has ever spent nursing calf tightness, but he’s played merely 36 games this season and has a .234 average with a 32% K rate in 137 at-bats.

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Sure, one could argue its a small sample size, but isn’t that the point? Donaldson hasn’t been on the field in forever, and when he was playing he looked like a shell of the player Blue Jays fans saw in Donaldson’s first three years with Toronto. Just days into the season he was experiencing dead arm and couldn’t make a throw across the diamond, and I wasn’t convinced that his arm issues were even solved by the time his calf landed him on the shelf.

If the Toronto Blue Jays want to trade Josh Donaldson before August 31st, they’ll need to act fast. For this to happen, they would first place Donaldson on waivers, giving teams a two-day window to claim him and negotiate a deal for the Jays’ third baseman. Even if the Blue Jays place Donaldson on waivers it isn’t a guarantee he gets traded, or even claimed — teams might not want to foot the remainder of Donaldson’s $23 million dollar salary, especially if there’s little evidence that JD has bounced back to his MVP form, or anything remotely close to it.

The actions of the past week, however, make it seem as if the Blue Jays are moving off of Donaldson. As Stephen Brunt of Sportsnet explains, the Blue Jays have been very suspicious in dealing with Donaldson, making it seem like a divorce between the two sides is bound to happen.

I agree with Brunt. Having followed the Blue Jays closely all season, little has been spoken about Donaldson until recently, when the timing of the locker clean-out and a rehab assignment days before the deadline seems to be a sign rather than a simple coincidence. Perhaps the Mark Shapiro/Ross Atkins committee has decided it’s best to move on from Josh Donaldson altogether, preferring to get a return for him in a trade —however little it may be— rather than trying to bring him back on a qualifying offer this winter.

It won’t be known how Donaldson bounces back from his latest injury until he takes the field, but the Toronto Blue Jays might not want to wait and see with the 32-year old as the team is turning over a new leaf and bringing in younger faces. Needless to say, this storyline will be worth following for the next week.