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This headline is clickbait, there a ton of reasons to covet Manny Machado<\/a> over virtually everyone else, but those are obvious, and less interesting to write about. Machado is awesome, he fits the Mets very well, and they should absolutely try to sign him. Alas, all 29 other teams are also aware of this guy, and the Mets could seriously pursue him and still not get him. <\/span><\/p>\n So what other infield help is there? Well, there\u2019s Josh Donaldson<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n The big risk with Donaldson is that he\u2019ll be 33 and had a bad and injured season. You could read into that as the end of the line for him as a useful player, it wouldn\u2019t be the most surprising thing. You definitely have to give him his physical, look at the underlying numbers, do your due diligence. If you find a red flag, balk, but if you don\u2019t, he could be a huge addition.<\/span><\/p>\n Donaldson was a late bloomer, and floundered a bit his rookie year at age 26 in 2012, but after that he\u2019s been among the best in baseball. Last season was hampered by injury, but he was traded to Cleveland and mashed much like he\u2019s mashed in the past. It was a small 60 plate appearance sample, but all the peripheral stats seem to support him being much like himself. <\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s a great hitter, he\u2019s got power, he walks a bunch, he makes a lot of solid contact. He\u2019s not fast, but he\u2019s not a base-clogger. He plays good defense. He\u2019s not exclusively a pull-hitter, shifts don\u2019t seem to hurt him too much. He\u2019s a righty, which plays nicely with the Mets having a lot of lefties providing their power right now. <\/span><\/p>\n MLB Trade Rumors is predicting the Cardinals will sign him for $20 million, one year. That seems like a steal. Crowd-sourced predictions at Fangraphs have him signing for 3\/58, which could still be a steal if Donaldson puts up even something less than his career line. If he\u2019d simply stayed healthy and had an average year, he\u2019d be getting mentioned with Manny Machado and Bryce Harper<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n Steamer projections have him just a tick off his average, at 4.6 fWAR for 2019. Even if he continued to decline from there, getting 10 or so WAR from Donaldson over three years would be worth 60 million, easy.<\/span><\/p>\n Donaldson might want to try to have a healthy season and jump back into the fray, but Nolan Arenado<\/a> will be a free agent next year and Donaldson would be a year older too. Perhaps Donaldson could be the right target while other teams are focused on Machado, and maybe Donaldson takes one option off the board for teams looking for shorter term 3B options, raising possible demand for a Todd Frazier<\/a> trade.<\/span><\/p>\n Oh, and Donaldson\u2019s twitter handle is BringerOfRain, which is cool.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n