As negotiations for Josh Donaldson pick up, it’s time for the Atlanta Braves to draw a line and either make a deal or move on.
According to reports Monday morning, the Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, and Minnesota Twins all have four-year offers on the table for Josh Donaldson.
I’ve said previously that if Atlanta had a four-year offer for Donaldson he would have already signed.
But it seems like I’ve overestimated his love for Atlanta. I’m not saying he doesn’t love the Braves and doesn’t want to play for them, but it sounds like he’s enjoying the bidding war that has started.
And who can blame him, this is his last big contract and he wants to get every dollar he can.
However, if I’m the Braves I’m not going to get in a bidding war with the Twins and Nats.
If all three teams are at four years then it’s just a matter of who is going to give him the most money, or possibly another year.
We know the Nationals have deep pockets, but they’ll likely have to defer a lot of that money and Donaldson will have to decide if that’s something he wants or not.
The Twins appear to be going for it, trying to take advantage of a down division. And they have the advantage of having a DH so giving Donaldson that extra year isn’t as big of a deal.
What makes those two teams more desperate than the Braves is that they don’t have any other great options.
Washington has a terrible farm system and can’t trade for a player like Kris Bryant or Nolan Arenado.
Minnesota does have the prospects and the money to make a big trade, but there’s been no indication that they’d pivot to the trade route if the missed out on Donaldson. It sounds like they’re JD or bust at this point.
That’s not the case for the Braves.
If they miss out on Donaldson they have several different routes they can go to replace his production in the lineup.
They can either trade for Bryant or Arenado, sign Marcell Ozuna or Nicholas Castellanos, or they could even make two trades to upgrade the outfield and third base for the same price (Starling Marte and Bryant would cost just about as much as what it looks like JD will get in 2020).
I was good with them going four years on Donaldson, but if this gets into a fifth or sixth year, or if the AAV for him goes above $25 million, I’d gladly bow out.
It’s time for the Braves to make their final offer to Donaldson, and if he doesn’t accept it then let’s move on because there are other ways to replace his production in 2020 and beyond.