Atlanta Braves offseason should not hinge on Josh Donaldson
Josh Donaldson had a great year with the Atlanta Braves, so they will try to bring him back but does that mean the offseason is a failure if they don’t?
The Atlanta Braves had another good season, as they reached the postseason again in 2019 and a big part of that was because of Josh Donaldson, who bet on himself and took a one year deal.
Well, the Braves are going to try and give him more than one year this offseason but they shouldn’t make him their #1 priority.
The Braves have been the most active team in the early part of free agency, as they have already added to their bullpen and signed the second-best free-agent catcher, Travis d’Arnaud.
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Perhaps GM Alex Anthopolous should do exactly what he did at the catching position: go with plan B. Yasmani Grandal was the Plan A at catcher, but Atlanta was not going to give him $74 million as the Chicago White Sox did, so they just saved some money and paid d’Arnaud only $16 million.
So, Josh Donaldson is probably going to command more money than Mike Moustakas, and the Braves might not be so inclined to pay Donaldson as much money as, for example, the Texas Rangers would. Texas is opening up a new ballpark so they will have more money to spend in order to fill the seats.
If this scenario occurs, then the Braves could give Mike Moustakas a cheaper deal for the same amount of years, and it wouldn’t be that much of a downgrade.
In fact, the Braves might benefit from saving money for an equally talented player that has the ability to play more positions other than third base.
In 2018, Donaldson hit .259 with 37 home runs while Moustakas hit .254 with 35 homers.
Braves not done spending. dark. Next
So, with that said the Atlanta Braves offseason success should not hinge on whether they get Josh Donaldson, especially when they can save money to allocate to other vital areas of needs like starting pitching while adding a very talented player to replace Donaldson at third base.