TORONTO – Some four hours before gametime Tuesday, Josh Donaldson locked in for some extra defensive work, charging left or darting right to pick grounders from coaches Luis Rivera and Tim Leiper, focusing on each step from securing the ball to delivering a laser across the diamond. By his own admission, the sure-handed third baseman “hasn’t felt great” in the field since returning from the all-star break, and the Toronto Blue Jays’ first homestand since offered him a chance to work on “a little bit of everything.”
The front office may be looking toward 2018, but the 2015 American League MVP sure isn’t.
“We still have to go out there and prepare to play each and every day as if we were winning,” Donaldson said in a brief interview afterwards. “The fact of the matter is nothing’s changing, minus the fact that if there are areas people are struggling in, work on that.”
Donaldson’s outlook certainly ties in with general manager Ross Atkins’ stated goal from a day earlier of a Blue Jays team that’s “competitive and relevant” for the remainder of what’s become a lost season. Sixty-two games remain after Tuesday’s 4-1 win over trade deadline prize Sonny Gray and the Oakland Athletics, and they’ll be hard to watch if the players’ focus drifts away from the next two months and onto 2018.
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“For us, we need to stay day to day, you can’t look to see what’s going to be beneficial for us next year, or the year after that,” said Donaldson. “We have to stay in the moment, we have to stay in what we do day to day.”
For Atkins and the rest of the front office, however, the priority through Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline must be solely on next year and beyond. Dialogue continues between the Blue Jays and multiple teams as the market continues to set, with the Milwaukee Brewers reportedly set to acquire reliever Anthony Swarzak from the Chicago White Sox for 25-year-old triple-A outfielder Ryan Cordell, a deal that provides an interesting comp in establishing a value for setup man Joe Smith.
Like Swarzak, Smith would be an experienced and cost-effective rental capable of handling innings for a contender. Before the bevy of scouts in to watch Gray make what may have been his last start for Oakland, the right-handed reliever took over after Cesar Valdez allowed a leadoff double in the seventh and recorded three quick outs to strand Khris Davis at second.
That’s the kind of relief work that plays.
“The ball is moving like it’s supposed to, so that’s good, I don’t really have to worry about that now,” said Smith, who made his second appearance since returning from the disabled list with shoulder soreness. “It’s just sharpening things up, being able to locate the ball down and away, down and in. I did a better job of that tonight than the last outing. I felt more normal.”
That should further increase the interest in for Smith, who has been through this before, getting traded to the Chicago Cubs from the Los Angeles Angels at the deadline last year.
“You try not to let it enter your mind. If it happens, it happens,” said Smith. “Being on the DL for the last few weeks, right now I’m fully concentrating on getting myself back to where I was before I went on the DL. I’ve got enough to worry about, I’m just trying to get better every time out and whatever happens here in the next however-many days, go with it.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The Blue Jays might be able to maximize the return on Smith by packaging him with a starter like Francisco Liriano or Marco Estrada, two possible alternatives for teams who miss out on or are unwilling to pay the steep price for Gray.
The right-hander allowed the game to unravel on him in the second when after a Justin Smoak leadoff single, he threw away a weak infield chopper by Kendrys Morales to leave men on the corners. A Troy Tulowitzki groundout scored the first run before Ryan Goins ripped a two-run double and Jose Bautista brought him home with a ground-rule double that made it 4-0.
None of the runs were earned and Gray allowed just two hits and a walk over the next four frames, striking out nine in six innings of work.
Donaldson was one of those victims but also worked both the walks Gray issued. He was later caught looking on a borderline breaking ball by former Blue Jays reliever Liam Hendriks to cap a 12-pitch duel in the seventh, once again being left with nothing to show for a high-quality at-bat.
Since play resumed after the all-star break, Donaldson is in a 7-for-44 rut with four RBI and nine walks, but has reached base in five of his past six games, continuing to grind away as things play out around him. On the final play of the game, he made an outstanding backhanded pick off a Ryon Healy smash and made a perfect throw to first.
“We have to go out there and play hard every day and if we win, we win, if we lose, we lose,” he said. “Try to learn from when we lose. That’s it.”