Atlanta Braves Rumored To Added 4th Year For Josh Donaldson

With less than two days left in 2019, the Atlanta Braves still await a decision from Josh Donaldson. Reportedly, the Braves stepped up their offer by adding the fourth year Donaldson has been seeking.

The wait for Josh Donaldson continues while the bidding war between the Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins, and Atlanta Braves gets dragged out into the new year. With the Nationals and Twins both offering four-year deals, reportedly, Donaldson was keeping the Braves alive in hope of returning to Atlanta with a four-year deal from the Braves. Reportedly, the Braves have added that extra year for the star free agent.

Jim Bowden, a former GM and now of The Athletic, is reporting that the Braves have stepped up their offer by adding the fourth year onto the deal. While this isn’t confirmed by anyone else in the baseball universe, don’t be shocked to learn that this could be true. It was being speculated that the holdup for Donaldson has been him giving time to the Braves to sweeten their offers. If the news from Bowden is true today, the Donaldson saga could be ending sooner than later.

Even with the report today, I remain skeptical of what the Atlanta Braves are doing. For that matter, Josh Donaldson, too. The longer this saga gets dragged out, the more I think Donaldson will be returning to Atlanta. That rationale comes from assuming if Donaldson wasn’t happy with the money or years that Atlanta is offering, he would just take the Nationals deal. With this dragging out into 2020, it makes me think the Braves are trying their hardest to make this work.

Regardless of the validity of this report from Bowden, I do expect Josh Donaldson to make up his mind sooner than later. Donaldson’s free agency has maxamized his full earning potential in years and money. Now, Donaldson just has to decide where he wants to go. With all that said, I still doubt we find anything out until after the New Year.