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Friday, November 28, 2014

Jays Trade Brett Lawrie To Oakland

The Oakland Athletics have traded All-Star third baseman Josh Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The A's will receive third baseman Brett Lawrie, right-hander Kendall Graveman, left-hander Sean Nolin and minor league shortstop Franklin Barreto.

Oakland GM Billy Beane said on a conference call that Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos was reluctant to give up four players for Donaldson, but the A's wouldn't have proceeded otherwise.

"We wouldn't have done the deal unless it addressed now and the future, and they were able to do that. This deal in our minds addresses a little bit of everything," Beane said. "It got pretty serious the last 48 hours. They were reluctant to give up all four players, and we weren't going to do it without those four players in the deal."

Donaldson, 28, a sure-handed, athletic defender, batted .255 with 29 home runs and 98 RBIs in 158 games this past season, and was named to his first All-Star team. In four seasons in the majors, all with Oakland, he has a .268 average with 63 home runs and 228 RBIs in 405 games.

In his only two years as a regular, he finished fourth (2013) and eighth (2014) in AL MVP voting.

Lawrie batted .247 with 12 home runs and 38 RBIs in 70 games for Toronto this past season. He missed most of the final three months because of a broken finger and an oblique strain.

Barreto, 18, is a .296 hitter in 132 minor league games. He is "exciting, but a ways away," a scout told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a STEAL for the Blue Jays, Donaldson was 2nd best 3B last season. Lawrie was injury prone just like Chicago Bulls Rose, or Oilers Taylor Hall, or NFL's RG3.

Anonymous said...

Edwin, Jose and Donaldson as your 3-4-5 hitters. Get an ace and a closer now.

Anonymous said...

Anyone bemoaning the loss of Lawrie on this deal has to take a serious look at it. Great move!