Atlanta Braves running out of options as Josh Donaldson signs with Twins

The Atlanta Braves have lost out on their chance to bring J.D. back to Atlanta. The Bringer of Rain will now be the Bringer of Snow in Minneapolis.

The Atlanta Braves made their offer. The Braves were the favorites. We were waiting anxiously. What happened? Why did Josh Donaldson leave us for the Minnesota Twins!?

Josh Donaldson has signed a four-year deal with the Minnesota Twins. This sucks.

And on the same day we announced our stadium will now be named Truist Park… which I believe is French for “Stupid.”

We will reach out to sources more closely involved to attempt to find out if Donaldson chose the Twins just so he didn’t have to play his home games at TRUIST PARK.

A few weeks ago the teams most closely linked within talks with Josh Donaldson were the Atlanta Braves, the Washington Nationals, the Minnesota Twins, and the Texas Rangers.

Since then the Nationals have exercised their Plan B options by signing Asdrubal Cabrera and Starlin Castro. The team has said their offer to Donaldson is still on the table and the additional acquisitions do not take them out of the hunt.

The Texas Rangers claimed they were out when the bidding got too high. They are now linked to trade talks with Nolan Arenado and recently signed veteran third baseman, Todd Frazier, from the free-agent market.

Reports have the Twins and Braves as the last two teams standing in the race for Donaldson.

Why the TWINS?

The argument for the Twins is that they are surrounded by weak pitching in the AL Central, as opposed to the deeply talented pool of starting pitching in the NL East.

The Rain Dance

Outside of Anthony Rendon and Josh Donaldson, the third base market was very thin this year. With Frazier going to the Rangers, it just got thinner.

Pablo Sandoval may be the best option at this point.

With the Nationals currently viewing third base as a strength (without Donaldson), and the Twins coming off a record season for hitting long-balls, plus having just signed Miguel Sano to an extension, the Braves had the greatest need for the Bringer of Rain.

Austin Riley got us excited but showed he wasn’t ready. As if it wasn’t bad enough that the name of the ballpark has been changed to Truist Park, as it stands now we are looking at Nick Markakis or Travis d’Arnaud hitting cleanup behind Freddie Freeman.

They are fine players, but it’s not what you want to compete for a World Series.

Now that Donaldson has signed with the Twins, the Braves’ are running out of options. Things are getting scarce now that Frazier has signed with the Rangers.

A trade will cost valuable prospects that Donaldson wouldn’t have. The best bet for the Braves was Donaldson.

The Twins would have been fine if they didn’t land Donaldson. The Braves can’t say the same.

What do you think? Will we be okay without JD in 2020?