Braves Lose Josh Donaldson to Minnesota

You just can't even make it up anymore. There is never a level of incompetence which the Atlanta Braves will fail to achieve.

This is a significant blow to the Braves' 2020 season. So when I saw that Donaldson had left, I hoped it was because Minnesota had given him some unreal offer that he had no choice to accept — the consensus was his ask was around four years and $110 million. So maybe the Twins just got super trigger happy and gave him $120 million to get the deal done.

NOPE! ONLY $92 MILLION! How poor are we? I know for a fact the Braves are getting a ton of money to play in "Truist Park," so where the hell is all that money going?

The most infuriating thing about the Braves is their refusal to do anything outside the absolutely perfect scenario. Is paying a 34-year-old Josh Donaldson $25 million per year ideal? Of course not. But you have two superstars in Ronald Acuña and Ozzie Albies making a combined $17 million per year and you have a roster that — with Donaldson — was a World Series contender. So let's say whatever analytical model the Braves were looking at said not to pay a dime more than $85 million. Are you really willing to potentially lose out on All-Star-level production from a corner infield spot over $2 million a year?

But now we're sitting here in the middle of January with nobody to play third base and seemingly no plan. All I keep saying is there better be some sort of secret plan behind closed doors to go get Nolan Arenado or Kris Bryant, because if not, this is a special kind of organizational failure, even for the Braves.

Go get a damn third baseman.