Josh Donaldson to start at third base Tuesday

Breath a deep sigh of relief.

Josh Donaldson will be back on the field at third base Tuesday, the first time he’ll start at the position since his disastrous Opening Day game on Thursday. After throwing before and after some of the Toronto Blue Jays games since, Donaldson appears to have mostly recovered from dead arm.

Donaldson, per Mike Wilner, looked much better when he was fielding balls before Monday’s game against the Chicago White Sox. He had a “shuffle-shuffle-throw thing happening” when he threw, but it seems like he’s almost back to normal.

Some other infield notes: With Donaldson close to returning, John Gibbons is unsure where he’ll find at-bats for Yangervis Solarte.

“[It] wasn’t the way we planned it, but if we can keep him out there somehow, I think he’ll have a big year,” Gibbons said, per Wilner. “We could put Solarte in the outfield if we had to; [we] really could put him anywhere. You might see him at shortstop when [Marco] Estrada is pitching.”

Solarte will probably see a few more games at third base within the next week while the Blue Jays continue to ease Donaldson back into playing everyday. Past that, it seems as if Gibbons is leaning towards playing Diaz everyday at shortstop and having Solarte as a utility infielder when needed. Or Diaz and Solarte could split time at shortstop.

Troy Tulowitzki also had surgery on both his feet yesterday to remove bone spurs. It went well, per Ross Atkins. If you need a humorous breakdown of what bone spurs are, this FanPost from DangYouToHeck has you covered. As always, you can contribute your own FanPost from the button on this page.

Minor league rosters were announced Monday, and if you missed any, here’s a list of the posts:

• Buffalo Bisons
• New Hampshire Fisher Cats
• Dunedin Blue Jays
• Lansing Lugnuts

Praise be to Tom for having the patience to post all of that.

The most interesting news from the rosters, to me, is the fact that Nick Tepesch and Craig Breslow will be starting the season in double-A. I guess it makes sense, but it’s still surprising.

In some similar minor league news, if you were looking to get a MiLB.TV subscription, you can use the promo code FISHERCATS to get $10 off. (I’m not making any money off of this — it’s something from the Fisher Cats themselves.)

Some other news:

• Justin Smoak was named the AL Player of the Week with seven hits, eight RBI and a go-ahead grand-slam. Let’s hope it continues.
• The Baltimore Orioles signed former Blue Jay — and Canadian! — Michael Saunders to a minor-league deal. He was released by the Kansas City Royals earlier this spring.