St. Louis Cardinals: Cards dodged a bullet in Josh Donaldson

The St. Louis Cardinals were linked to the Blue Jay’s third baseman during the offseason and have been rumored as a landing spot for this season but it appears they have dodged a bullet by not taking him (yet).

The St. Louis Cardinals may have considered Josh Donaldson as a potential pick-up during the offseason before the start of 2018. Likewise, the Cardinals might have considered picking up Donaldson before or at the trade deadline of 2018. These are simply rumors that have circulated.

News was released today- Tuesday, June 26- that Donaldson has experienced yet another setback to yet another injury in his plagued career. According to today’s news, Donaldson, who is on a rehab assignment in Florida, has re-injured (is that even a word?) his left calf. For more on this, see the tweet below.

Have the St. Louis Cardinals dodged a bullet?

Let’s take a little journey through the injury past of this career .275/.366/.507 slugger.

Josh Donaldson was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the first round of the 2007 amateur draft. He came from Auburn University in Alabama and made his MLB debut on April 30, 2010 facing off against his now-team, the Toronto Blue Jays. He was playing then in the Oakland A’s organization.

• August 4, 2010: 7-day DL with sore left knee while with the Sacramento River Cats
• April 14, 2017: 10-day DL (undisclosed reason) while with the Toronto Blue Jays
• April 13, 2018: 10-day DL with right shoulder inflammation while with the Toronto Blue Jays
• June 1, 2018: 10-day DL with left calf tightness while with the Toronto Blue Jays

…and now the setback with him to be reevaluated in three weeks. That’s a terrible amount of time to be out while making $23M this season.

If we compare him 1-to-1 with the St. Louis Cardinals’ third baseman, Matt Carpenter (who, by the way, has struggled with injuries), we can see just how the Cardinals may have come out on the plus side of things.

These are Carpenter’s injuries:

• May 23, 2012: 15-day DL with right oblique strain while with the St. Louis Cardinals
• July 7, 2016: 15-day DL with right oblique strain while with the St. Louis Cardinals

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…the end. In the same time that Donaldson has visited the disabled list four times, Matt Carpenter has visited only twice. In the health race, it would seem that the St. Louis Cardinals have backed the right horse in Carpenter.

Offensively speaking, Carpenter- who has come alive of late- is carrying a 2018 slash of .275/.375/.461 in 72 games. Donaldson is carrying a 2018 slash of .234/.333/.423 in only 36 games.

So, while the St. Louis Cardinals are paying Carpenter $13.75M it appears that they are getting a royal bonus in the up category and that Carp- if compared to Donaldson only- is working for mere pennies on the dollar.

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The St. Louis Cardinals should take note of this and avoid Donaldson as though he has leprosy in 2018 (and beyond). Let us hope that Matt Carpenter continues games like tonight in which he is batting 5-for-5 with two home runs