Josh Donaldson: “I Would Love to End My Career in Toronto”

One year in Toronto might’ve been all it took to convince Josh Donaldson to stick around for a very long time.

Late last week, Josh Donaldson spoke to TSN about his MVP-winning season. When Kate Beirness broached the subject of his looming arbitration case, Donaldson expressed his desire to stay with the Blue Jays long term.

Although the direct link to the video at TSN doesn’t seem to work anymore, hat tip to @atedaryl for this alternate link to the video.)

“I would love to end my career in Toronto. I love playing there; I would love to be able to do something, but I’m not the one calling the shots. Obviously, it’s a business too, but I love playing in Toronto and I really feel blessed to in the situation of where I’m at right now.”

Donaldson also echoed the same sentiment earlier this morning on Jeff Blair’s show as well.

“I really love the city of Toronto and could see myself spending my entire career here.

I feel like this is a great environment for me. It really sets up well for what I’m capable of doing and I think it’s a great place to be, and I’d like to be here for a while.”

So Josh Donaldson skipped completely past his upcoming arbitration case and went not only to a long-term contract, but one that would see him end his career with the Toronto Blue Jays.

To me, it was very surprising to hear Donaldson say this because he’s spent just one year Toronto, and even if he doesn’t get a contract extension from the Blue Jays, he’s going to get paid handsomely through salary arbitration.

If there was only one player for the Blue Jays to invest in long-term, without question it would be Josh Donaldson. We may have only witnessed the tip of the iceberg in terms of Donaldson’s production, and thus he’d be the building block for this franchise for many years going forward.

It still may seem a little early to ink Josh Donaldson to a contract extension, but Jeff Blair went into it on his piece at Sportsnet.

Why the rush to lock up a guy who isn’t even 30 years old yet and just barely more than three years of service time under his belt? If Josh Donaldson factors into the Blue Jays’ long-term plans whatsoever, now would be the ideal time to get a deal done before his asking price becomes way too prohibitive.

Now that Donaldson has already collected one MVP award, it would be in the best interest of the Blue Jays to get a deal done sooner rather than later.

Image via Yahoo Sports