Yankees' failed Josh Donaldson gamble another big strike against GM

The New York Yankees officially released veteran third baseman Josh Donaldson on Tuesday, ending a miserable two-year run with the team that did not work out as anybody in the Bronx had planned.

It is also another major strike against general manager Brian Cashman who has had a brutal good run in building the team over the past couple of years. 

The Yankees acquired Donaldson, along with utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa and catcher Ben Rortvedt from the Minnesota Twins prior to the 2022 season, in a deal that sent Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela the other way. 

It is a trade that hasn't really worked out for either team, but it was especially damaging to the Yankees given how much money they took on with Donaldson and how little they actually received from him on the field. 

On paper, there was a lot to like about what Donaldson could have done for the Yankees. He was a former league MVP, and even though he was entering his age 36 season at the time of the trade he was still a productive hitter, even if his career was starting to noticeably decline. The Yankees were not only willing to take the gamble, it was also an opportunity for them to dump Sanchez's contract in the process. 

Things immediately unraveled, however, as the Yankees ended up paying Donaldson $56M over the two years and received almost no production from him. 

He was limited to only 33 games this season due to injury, but in his nearly two years with the club he hit just .207 with a .678 OPS. That is a terrible return on investment, even when considering how little Sanchez and Urshela have done since then. 

The Donaldson situation is just one of the many blunders in recent years that have added up to produce one of the most disappointing seasons in the modern era of Yankees baseball. Pretty much every major move the team has made recently has backfired in some way, and by Cashman's own admission the season has been a disaster.

Entering play on Tuesday the Yankees were in last place in the American League East with a 64-68 record. That puts them on track for their first losing season in over 30 years. 

If that happens it seems possible, if not likely, that some sort of major changes could be coming to the organization this offseason. Manager Aaron Boone seems like the most likely fall guy, but as the general manager and main architect of the team nobody has more responsibility for the results than Cashman. 

He has been a mainstay in New York for decades and helped build some truly great teams, but he has clearly lost some of his touch recently.