Former AL MVP may retire after 2023 season
New York Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson said Sunday that he may be in the final few months of his career.
The 2007 first-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs was traded from the Minnesota Twins to the Yankees in March 2022 in a deal that also included slugging catcher Gary Sanchez going to the Twins.
Donaldson's stay in New York has been largely unsuccessful and marred by injuries, specifically this season.
He finished the 2022 campaign with career lows in batting average (.222), slugging percentage (.374) and OPS (.682), while recording just 15 home runs and 62 RBI across 478 at-bats in 132 games. Donaldson missed nearly two months at the start of this season and has been limited to 53 at-bats covering 17 games this spring due to a strained right hamstring.
When asked if he'll continue playing next season, the three-time All-Star and 2015 AL MVP told Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, "I don't know."
"It kind of just depends on how I feel going through this year and this season and all of that and talking to my family. But that’s really — I get asked that from not just you, but from other people," Donaldson added.
With reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge still on the injured list with a toe issue, more pressure has been put on veteran Yankee sluggers like Donaldson, Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton. Thus far, the trio and other members of New York's lineup haven't stepped up enough.
After Sunday's doubleheader pair of losses against the rival Boston Red Sox, the Yankees are now 9-14 without Judge in the lineup, while they're 30-19 with him in play.
New York has lost three of its four series since Judge went down, with a two-game split against the New York Mets as well. Overall, the Yankees have lost four in a row and eight of their last 11 to fall to 39-33, good for third in the AL East at 10.5 games behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays (51-24).
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