Blue Jays not currently in trade talks involving Josh Donaldson

The Toronto Blue Jays are not currently in trade talks involving Josh Donaldson, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported Thursday morning.

Despite an apparent lack of action this offseason by the Blue Jays regarding extension talks with Donaldson, it appears that the Blue Jays are content on keeping the 32-year-old third baseman, 2015 AL MVP and three-time All-Star.

Just yesterday, however, Morosi tweeted that the St. Louis Cardinals, who have shown interest in Donaldson since the beginning of July, continued to pursue Donaldson, among other possibilities to upgrade their lineup, including Eric Hosmer.

Morosi also mentioned that the versatility of Matt Carpenter meant that the Cardinals could easily add either a first baseman or third baseman, leaving the possibility of acquiring Donaldson or Hosmer open.

“If we’re thinking about making this organization better every day, it’s really hard to imagine making it better without Josh,” Blue Jay general manager Ross Atkins told Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com on the last day of the Winter Meetings. “Certainly, the team as it stands, it would be extremely difficult to make the team better. He’s one of the best players in the game.”

And, as has become all to familiar this offseason, the Blue Jays are set on competing in 2018.

On October 1st, before the final Blue Jay game of the season against the New York Yankees, Donaldson told reporters that he had approached Toronto’s management about the possibility of an extension.

“I feel like I’ve proven what I need to prove on the field,” Donaldson told the media. “I’ve made it known to our front office that I enjoy being a Toronto Blue Jay, that I enjoy my time here. If it’s a possibility, I would definitely enjoy being a Blue Jay for a long time.”

“If it’s able to work out, I’d be tickled pink, but at the end of the day, I don’t make those decisions and can’t control that.”

On November 20th, Morosi reported that the Blue Jays had yet to make a formal extension offer to Donaldson.

Donaldson has one year remaining on his contract.

In 2017, Donaldson appeared in 113 games, batting .270 and hitting 33 home runs. Although Donaldson missed considerable time due to a sore calf muscle, he heated up at the tail end of the summer and salvaged what could have been a disappointing season.

Despite his injury, he still posted an on-base percentage of .385, higher than his .371 OBP in his MVP season, and received one MVP vote. He was worth 4.8 WAR, one of the worst totals of his career and his lowest since 2012 with the Oakland Athletics.

That being said, a 4.8 WAR is pretty darn good.

Follow Mark Colley on Twitter @MarkColley. Mark can be reached at markarcolley@gmail.com.