The Brewers have signed third baseman Josh Donaldson to a minor-league contract, the team announced Thursday. Donaldson was recently released by the Yankees and, as such, the Brewers will only be required to play him a pro-rated -- for the rest of the season -- league minimum salary. That's peanuts, even for a team operating in the smallest market in Major League Baseball.
The postseason roster-eligibility deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, and because Donaldson was signed prior to the deadline, he will be able to play in the postseason for the first place Brewers. He is not currently on their 40-man roster, but can be added in September.
Donaldson, 37, is a three-time All-Star and won AL MVP in 2015. He has two other top-five finishes in MVP voting in his career and got down-ballot votes as recently as 2019, when he finished 11th. He was a productive hitter for the Twins in 2021, but the bat has gone away. He hit .222/.308/.374 (94 OPS+) for the Yankees last year and in 120 plate appearances for the Bombers this season, he hit .142/.225/.434 with 10 homers. He was basically home run or bust, striking out in nearly a third of his at-bats but homering in nearly 10% of them. He only had four singles and a double compared to his 10 bombs.
All this is to say we can consider Donaldson a bit of a lottery ticket for the NL Central-leading Brewers.
On the plus side, Donaldson can still play great defense at third and that's been one of the Brewers' calling cards this season. They lead the majors in defensive efficiency.
Rookie Andruw Monasterio has been holding down third base for the Brewers, but he's struggled at the plate for a bit, hitting .206/.277/.284 in his last 28 games.
The Brewers head to the weekend holding a three-game lead over the Cubs in the Central.
