I was watching the MLB channel last night when they interrupted their programming with breaking news that the Boston Red Sox and manager Alex Cora had mutually agreed to part ways after the previous days bombshell of the “caught stealing” penalties dropped on the Houston Astros by MLB. Then just a few minutes into that, they had more breaking news, this time the report was that a source (turned out to be MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand) had reported that third baseman Josh Donaldson had agreed to accept a four-year deal with Minnesota for $92 million guaranteed, including an $8 million buyout of a $16 million club option for a fifth year.
The 34-year-old Donaldson is an interesting addition to the Twins line-up. Donaldson’s right-handed bat certainly makes the already powerful Twins line-up even more potent and his work in the field is top notch. What I like about Josh Donaldson is that he wants to win. If someone asked me to compare Donaldson to any former Twins player I would say he is like A.J. Pierzynski on steroids and in the field he reminds you of Nick Punto as he attacks the balls hit to him, you will seldom see him wearing a clean uniform.
The Twins already have Miguel Sano to play third base and they just signed him to a three year $30 million extension. Are the Sano extension and Donaldson related in some way? Not sure we will get an answer to that any time soon. The Twins were without a first baseman since C.J. Cron moved on and eventually signed with the Detroit Tigers so the logical move is to slide Sano to first base.
To say that the Twins 2019 infield defense was below average would be stating the obvious. Having Donaldson play third will help that situation but the big elephant in the room is can Miguel Sano play first base. Sano is a big man and pretty athletic for his size but will he learn how to scoop those throws from the other infielders and save some possible errors?
Sano started as a shortstop and out grew that position and moved to third base where his strength was his arm, his arm is not that much of a benefit to him at first base. History has shown us a lot of big men have played first base in the past so hopefully Sano can join that group and develop into at least an average first baseman. Sano already has one failed position move on his resume when the Twins tried to turn him into a right fielder in 2016 but that was such a rushed experiment that I blame the Twins management more than I blame Sano. First base should be a safer position for Sano then third base is assuming of course that Sano plays first base better than Tsuyoshi Nishioka played second base back in 2011.
Let’s get back to Josh Donaldson who will be playing for his fifth big league team in ten seasons. Donaldson has had a reputation for sometimes being hard to get along with in the clubhouse and wearing out his welcome because of his intense desire to win which sometimes rubs his teammates the wrong way. He will be an interesting dynamic in the Twins clubhouse that is kind of loose and doesn’t really seem to have a true leader unless you consider Nelson Cruz that guy, but I am not sure that a DH that is only starting his second season qualifies for that role. It will also be interesting to see how the free and easy managing style of second year manager Rocco Baldelli and the hard-charging Donaldson mesh together too. Donaldson wants to play day in and day out, Baldelli liles to see his players get their rest, we will have to wait and see how this plays out.
Donaldson was selected by the Chicago Cubs as a catcher in the first round (48th pick overall) of the 2007 June Amateur draft out of Auburn where he was a catcher/third baseman. Donaldson started his pro career in 2007 in Rookie League ball and in 2008 moved up to the class A Midwest League with Peoria. On July 8th he was traded to the Oakland A’s with with Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson and Matt Murton in the deal that brought Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Cubs. It was the Oakland organization in 2008 that started playing Donaldson at the corner infield positions but he was still primarily a catcher. In 2009 Donaldson played in AA Midland and was still used primarily behind the plate but still found time to get 15 games in at third and 4 games in at first. Donaldson went on to play in the Arizona Fall League in 2009 and spend his time there playing first base.
In 2010 he started the season in AAA ball with Sacramento but after just 18 games was called up by the A’s when they placed Kurt Suzuki on the disabled list on April 30, 2010. He made his major league debut that same day, striking out against the Toronto Blue Jays’ Jason Frasor. The next day, he got his first MLB hit, a homer off Dana Eveland. He played 14 games for the A’s, hitting .156 with that only homer, with most of his playing time coming as a catcher. He then spent all of 2011 in AAA splitting his time between catcher and third base. In spring training 2012, Oakland lost their starting third baseman for the season due to injury and tried Donaldson but Donaldson struggled with the bat and spent 2012 shuffling between Oakland and AAA ball playing primarily third base but in mid-August things clicked for Josh and his big league career was off and running. One of his 2012 highlights took place on August 21st when he started the A’s first triple play since 2000 in the 5th inning of a game against the Minnesota Twins taking Trevor Plouffe‘s grounder near the bag at third base, and stepping on it to start the 5-4-3 triple killing. The A’s traded Donaldson to the Blue Jays after the 2014 season and they sent him to Cleveland in late 2018. Donaldson played with the Braves in 2019.
Donaldson wants to play ball, between 2013-2016 he played in 158, 158, 158 and 155 games. In 2017 he played in 113 and in 2018 he played just 52 games but this past season he was back to his old self playing 155 games. Donaldson has a pretty nice resume with an MVP award, two Silver Sluggers, TSN Player of the Year award and has been a three-time All-Star.
Although he has not caught since 2012 he could possibly be used as an emergency catcher and though his big league experience at first base is limited, he has some experience in the minors playing that position and I would not be at all shocked to see him playing some first base. And for you conspiracy buffs, maybe we don’t know the whole story on how Nelson Cruz is doing with his post-surgery rehab, after all, he is skipping TwinsFest, just saying.