Indians Officially Announce the Deal to Acquire Former AL MVP Josh Donaldson

Many Indians fans were clamoring for the team to make a big splash at the waiver deadline.

Friday night they came through in a big way.

The Tribe in the final hours before the deadline added 2015 AL MVP Josh Donaldson, making a deal with former GM Mark Shaprio’s team the Toronto Blue Jays, sending nothing more than a ‘player to be named later’ for Donaldson.

The Indians also got ‘cash considerations’ from the Jays, meaning they are paying the rest of his 2018 salary ($4 million) just to get him off their roster.

“Obviously this is one of the most dynamic players in the game on both sides of the ball when he’s healthy, and we think there’s an opportunity for him to get to a point this month where he will be playing in games regularly, and has a chance to impact us in the postseason,” Indians President Chris Antonetti said on Friday night.

The 32-year-old Donaldson owns a career .275 (892-for-3243) Major League batting average with 190 doubles, 12 triples, 179 home runs and 544 RBI in 867 games with the Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics (.366/.507/.873).

He is a three-time American League All-Star (2014-16), a two-time Silver Slugger Award recipient (2015-16) and was named American League Most Valuable Player in 2015 with Toronto.

In 2015, he batted .297 (184-for-620) with 41 2B, 41 HR and 123 RBI in 158 games, leading the A.L. in runs (122), RBI (123) and total bases (352), while finishing third in the league in home runs. Josh hit at least 29 home runs and finished in the top five in the A.L. in Wins Above Replacement over four straight seasons (2013-16).

2018 has been a rough season for Donaldson, as he’s appeared in just 36 games due to a calf injury, batting .234 (32-for-137) with 11 doubles, 5 home runs and 16 RBI for the Blue Jays.

He was on the Disabled List from April 11-May 2 (right shoulder inflammation) and has been sidelined since May 29 due to a left calf strain.

He began a rehab assignment in Class-A Dunedin on August 28, appearing in 2 games to date. So far this season, he has batted .279 (12-for-43) vs. left-handed pitching with an OPS of .809. He is eligible for free agency following the season.

“He’s on our 40-man roster today, he’ll be active tomorrow, he will travel here tomorrow, and we will work through what a plan will look like for him to help continue to build his volume, and get him back to a point where he can play regularly, and impact us,” Antonetti said.

What the team does with Donaldson is going to be interesting, as all along manager Terry Francona has stated that Jose Ramirez would not move from third base, making it anyone’s guess where the team will play Donaldson, though Friday night it seemed that answer came quick from Antonetti.

“When he’s ready to play regularly, he will play third base,” Antonetti said.

If Ramirez is willing to move to second, it would mean less playing time for Jason Kipnis, who has been hitting the ball better as of late, but Antonetti said that there’s still conversations that need to happen before the team gives more on what their plans are for playing time.

“We’ve not yet had the chance to talk to Jose, or Kip, and those are conversations we would like to have tomorrow before we elaborate too much on that,” Antonetti said.