ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Josh Donaldson knows what has to happen before he can return to the Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup. He has to be able to run without worrying about what might happen and know that his injured right calf muscle will feel comfortable on days after he runs.
That’s the easy part. The hard part’s establishing a timeline for the return of the Blue Jays’ best player.
“When? I don’t know,” Donaldson said after the Blue Jays fell to 10-20 Saturday. “That’s the answer I would love to know. I’m happy with how it’s progressing.”
Manager John Gibbons and team president Mark Shapiro have both suggested that Donaldson could return at some point during the Blue Jays’ upcoming homestand. Donaldson’s not ruling anything out, but he would need to make substantial progress to return by the time the Blue Jays leave town on May 16.
“I don’t even know how long the homestand is,” Donaldson said. “Three series? I would love to (return). That’s my answer. I would love to be there. The fact is, I have to continue to listen to what my body’s telling me and ultimately what our training staff is doing.”
These days, progress for Donaldson means running on an anti-gravity treadmill at 60 per cent of his body weight. It means accelerated agility work, taking ground balls and playing catch. Stops and starts on the bases? Not before he’s at game speed on the treadmill.
“If I go out there at 70 or 80 per cent with this, in a week or two it’ll be at 50 per cent,” Donaldson said. “Once you start getting to those lower percentages, that’s when you start putting your body at risk. That’s not something that the team and our staff wants to do, and that’s not something I want to do.”
When the Blue Jays leave for Toronto following Sunday’s series finale against the Rays, Donaldson will stay back in Florida, where he can work out at the team’s Dunedin facility. He expects to stay there until he’s ready to pass some final tests, at which point he’ll return to Toronto.
Donaldson strained his calf early in spring training, prompting the Blue Jays to ease him into Grapefruit League games. That approach appeared to work, and he appeared in nine regular season games before aggravating his calf on April 13. He was placed on the 10-day disabled list the following day.
Since then, J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez and Troy Tulowitzki have joined Donaldson on the DL, and the Blue Jays have remained at the bottom of the AL East standings.
“It’s frustrating for sure,” Donaldson said. “It’s not something that I wanted. It’s not something that I saw coming by any manner. But you’ve got to play the cards that you’re dealt. These are the cards that I’ve been dealt.”
Without Donaldson, the Blue Jays’ offence has faltered. Opposing pitchers, in Donaldson’s view, are challenging the Toronto lineup with lots of off-speed pitches.
At the same time, the third baseman sees signs of progress from his teammates. If Justin Smoak, Kevin Pillar, Ryan Goins and Devon Travis continue making solid contact, more hits should fall in with each passing week.
“They’re putting in the work, they’re putting in the time,” Donaldson said. “They’re getting good results as far as how the ball’s coming off of the bat, just not in terms of the hits.
“I do believe from my time in the big-leagues and from personal experience that that will change and fortunes will begin to start turning for some of the guys in here. It’s just a matter of time.”
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While Donaldson has been physically limited for the last few weeks, he has been able to take batting practice. As a result, he’s not concerned about regaining his timing when he does return.
“When that time comes,” he said, “when my body’s ready to get on the field, I’m not too concerned about hitting at the plate.”
Right, this is a player who has a .948 OPS since joining the Blue Jays in 2015. Timing’s the least of his worries right now. More pressing are the questions about his calf, and the Blue Jays’ record. Now that the team’s well below .500, there’s building speculation that the front office could trade prominent players with an eye toward the future.
What does Josh Donaldson think about the possibility that the Blue Jays might re-tool?
“I don’t think about it,” he said. “I think about the team that we have in the locker room and the guys that we have here. I do believe that a lot of people are quick to say ‘in with the team or out with the team,’ but at the end of the day, these are the players that we have in this clubhouse.”
“We can’t sit here and worry about if people are wanting to trade our guys, or if they’re wanting to keep our guys.”
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