Sitting at 38-45 on the season, the Toronto Blue Jays find themselves in last place in the AL East and 10.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox.
A season that started with World Series expectations has quickly morphed into one where the team might very well look to sell off veteran assets between now and the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
If that’s the case, we can expect former AL MVP Josh Donaldson to be among the names teams call Toronto up about. In keeping with this theme, it’s being reported that the St. Louis Cardinals are in fact interested in the third baseman.
Sources: #Cardinals interested in Josh Donaldson, but they have had no formal trade discussions with the #BlueJays. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 5, 2017
It’s not yet known whether Toronto would even entertain the idea of dealing Donaldson away. But there has been chatter that the team could be a big-time seller on the trade block.
Donaldson, 31, missed six weeks earlier in the season with a calf injury. He’s also struggling to the tune of a .238 average with a .350 on-base percentage. Despite this, the Jays would likely receive a huge bounty in return for the three-time All-Star should they decide to move him.
The veteran is playing under a $17 million salary in 2017 and is set for arbitration once again this upcoming winter. After that, he’s slated to become a free agent following the 2018 campaign.
St. Louis has struggled to a 40-43 start to the season, but it is just 4.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. It could surely use a bat of Donaldson’s ilk down the stretch.