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Just heard the news now. No word on how that breaks down.

Including next year, does he have three arb years left? So after this deal he'll have one year left before FA?

If so, I think this bodes poorly for JD being a Blue Jay past that.

distracted wrote:Including next year, does he have three arb years left? So after this deal he'll have one year left before FA?

If so, I think this bodes poorly for JD being a Blue Jay past that.

It doesn't change too much in the grand scheme of things if he stays healthy and continues to produce.
Jays don't have to worry about a player being unhappy being taken to arb (still overblown in my mind since he went to arb last season and then won MVP) and Donaldson gets short-term security in case he gets injured this season.

He's projected to get $11.5 million this year and $17 million next year. This would guarantee him a half million increase (the $450K everyone was saying to just give him) on top of that. So they're buying out one arb year as if he continues to produce at a great level.

He would still have one more arb year after that (won't be a UFA till 2019) but that doesn't mean they can't extend him to a longer deal next offseason.

In the end I think this deal is good for both sides as the Jays know more about their payroll next year and Donaldson gets security against injury this year. But if he continues to produce at an MVP level you gotta sort out a long term deal next year once you know what's happening with all your long term contracts.

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Seems like the reports that Shapiro had somehow bungled the arbitration process with Josh were a little premature. Donaldson is a very happy Blue Jay and now the focus turns to Jose and Edwin.

Yay Rogers!

Was he going to make >18M next year in arbitration?

wait, so media tools like seixeiro, mccown and blundell were wrong about making a big **** stink about taking donaldson to arb for 450k?!

s e n s i wrote:wait, so media tools like seixeiro, mccown and blundell were wrong about making a big **** stink about taking donaldson to arb for 450k?!

Add Ken Rosenthal and JP Morosi to that list too.

This is just a loophole to get around the team's file and trial rule, except they're giving him another $7M+ raise for 2016, which assumes he's going to have another MVP calibre year. So goofy. How often does an arb eligible player sign a multi-year contract without being signed through his last year of arbitration?

Not exactly a big deal (Donaldson gets some security in case of injury/under-performance, the Jays get some cost certainty/potential savings). If it prevents some mindless bitching over the next week about Shapiro/the arbitration process, though, it's probably worth it.

Solid deal. They get him for a bit cheaper this season than they would of if they went to arb. and pay a bit of a premium next year when they have more cap space. This probably opens up a bit of money that they can use with whatever they have left for mid-season transactions or if a decent deal comes up before the start of the season.

Good deal for both sides. I'm wondering how the casual fans will react to this and wonder if public opinion over the new regime has started to shift.

LBJSeizedMyID wrote:Good deal for both sides. I'm wondering how the casual fans will react to this and wonder if public opinion over the new regime has started to shift.

It hasn't. The sentiment will be:

Ok what about Jose now?

People legit believe that Shapiro and co are completely incompetent still. Nothing less than a playoff berth will change that.

Does he still have arbitration years after next season? Or does he become a FA?

0 - 100 wrote:Does he still have arbitration years after next season? Or does he become a FA?

He's not a UFA until 2019.

Donaldson is still under team control for this season, next season and the year after (2018). This deal doesn't change that.

Think of it this way...instead of going to arb again with Donaldson next season, this deal takes care of that "problem". As for the salary he'll make in 2018 there are essentially two things that can happen:

1) The Jays and Donaldson agree, at any point in time between now and then, on a long-term deal.

OR

2) The Jays and Donaldson don't agree on a long-term deal and his 2018 salary is determined in the 2017 offseason (much like this year's salary was almost determined by arbitration).

Either way, he will be a Jay for at least the next 3 seasons unless something drastic happens.

Paying nearly 18M for his 2017 arbitration year is no discount.

Perhaps they projected a 2017 number of 16 going into his 2018 arbitration year, and thought it better to have him with an AAV of 14.5 going into his final year of arbitration... (that matters right? the arbitrator factors in previous year's salary??)

Or maybe it helps us buy out his final year and beyond at a slightly better number.

Either way, seems to me these arb years aren't saving us too many millions.

SharoneWright wrote:Paying nearly 18M for his 2017 arbitration year is no discount.

Perhaps they projected a 2017 number of 16 going into his 2018 arbitration year, and thought it better to have him with an AAV of 14.5 going into his final year of arbitration... (that matters right? the arbitrator factors in previous year's salary??)

Or maybe it helps us buy out his final year and beyond at a slightly better number.

Either way, seems to me these arb years aren't saving us too many millions.

If he kept up the same performance, his arbitration number for next year could've been $20-22 million apparently.
Basically, if he kept up his performance, the Jays save about $3-4 million, but take the risk that if he does decline, they'll be paying more. It's pretty win-win for both sides as I don't see Donaldson's production dropping off (and not by much if they do)

His majors career started late, so you can't really judge him by his age.

The bigger win for the Jays is that Donaldson is very happy with the outcome.

Remember, many media types and posters here were convinced Shapiro had bungled the arbitration process, that the Jays were being petty and Donaldson was super upset. Turns out the worst fears never materialized - not that I expected them to.

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