If the Twins want to trade Josh Donaldson, where does he go?

[Minny505]

The Rangers make sense as Donaldson is an upgrade at 3B and DH. Bringing back Kiner-Falefa (3 arb years left) to play SS would be a decent stop-gap in return. 

Not straight up, but a starting point.

[nicholas Anderson]

Of the teams Bonnes listed, there are very few overpriced pitchers.  The only two I saw, not including pitchers who signed this year (I wouldn't touch Verlander's contract with a ten foot pole), are Yu Darvish and Jacob deGrom. You can only count deGrom as overpriced, if you think his injury and age are significant.  But there is no way the twins pay $36,000,000 for anyone, even the best pitcher in baseball. That leaves Darvish.

It appears the Padres didn't have to give up too much to get Darvish, so a trade is a possibility.

While this is a much closer call, I don't see a Darvish for Donaldson trade.

[Linus]

The only reason to trade Donaldson is to free up money to sign starting pitching. Since they apparently are not going to do that you might as well keep him. 

[Major League Ready]

On 12/15/2021 at 4:17 PM, nicholas Anderson said:

Of the teams Bonnes listed, there are very few overpriced pitchers.  The only two I saw, not including pitchers who signed this year (I wouldn't touch Verlander's contract with a ten foot pole), are Yu Darvish and Jacob deGrom. You can only count deGrom as overpriced, if you think his injury and age are significant.  But there is no way the twins pay $36,000,000 for anyone, even the best pitcher in baseball. That leaves Darvish.

It appears the Padres didn't have to give up too much to get Darvish, so a trade is a possibility.

While this is a much closer call, I don't see a Darvish for Donaldson trade.

I would be very leery of Darvish.  He was really bad the last half of 2021.  So bad you almost have to believe he has arm or shoulder issues.  He also turns 36 next year.

I also would not say the Padres did not give up much.  They players they traded were very young but a couple of them looked very promising last year.  Cassie had an OPS of 1.074 in rookie ball last year at 18 years of age.  Preciado was also 18.  He is a SS/3B and his OPS was .894.  Both prospects have an FV of 50.
 

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

The only reason to trade Donaldson is to free up money to sign starting pitching. Since they apparently are not going to do that you might as well keep him. 

At the end of the day, this is the correct answer. 

[Kipp35]

I don't see the Twins being able to trade him without eating a lot of his contract, which would then, not make a lot of sense to deal him.

That being said; of the the teams listed, SD could make sense if they are still looking for a power hitting 3B... then possibly a Yu Darvish in return...?

Darvish had an unremarkable year in 2021 with SD posting 8-11 with a 4.22 ERA. But, his strikeouts were still up there vs. innings pitched and he averaged 5.6 inning per outing in the NL. He had signed a 6yr $126mm deal (two years left) and is set to make $19mm in 2022, and is under contract through 2023 ($18mm). Donaldson is due $21mm in 2022, $21mm in 2023 and $16mm in 2024. 

We could get a solid rotation guy under control for a couple of years in order to get other talent around him. SD may being willing to part with a 35 year old pitcher that was underwhelming last season. Bring back to the AL where he does not have to worry about hitting. 2017 was is only losing season in the AL. That was the year he was traded to the Dodgers and his last in the AL.

We could then look to support him with Rodon and even bring back Pineda.

[mnfireman]

1 hour ago, Kipp35 said:

That being said; of the the teams listed, SD could make sense if they are still looking for a power hitting 3B... .

They already have a power hitting 3B with a big contract (Machado).

[Kipp35]

1 hour ago, mnfireman said:

They already have a power hitting 3B with a big contract (Machado).

Right, it only makes sense, to us. The other teams listed in the article don't have high priced pitching worth swapping. Who knows what SD's plan is for Bryant (if they are inquiring about him), maybe a swap to 1B...?

[mnfireman]

45 minutes ago, Kipp35 said:

Right, it only makes sense, to us. The other teams listed in the article don't have high priced pitching worth swapping. Who knows what SD's plan is for Bryant (if they are inquiring about him), maybe a swap to 1B...?

Probably LF, unless they can move Hosmer (his contract goes through '25, but falls to $13MM a year from $21MM a year after this year). Otherwise they could rotate guys through the DH spot and he could play OF, 3B and 1B. 

[Twinsrtheworst]

Why are so many fans on here down on JD?  He's been and will continue to be a valuable player.  Look at his numbers from last year.  Why trade him and have the owners pocket the savings?  I really wish we wouldn't be so adamant about trading our stars.  We would be very lucky if Mirnda ever puts up anywhere close to Josh's numbers at any point in his career, and definitelywill not as a rookie.  I respect others opinions, but completely don't understand the.."let's trade our star" opinions.