Report: Minnesota Twins “out of the bidding” for Josh Donaldson

The Minnesota Twins reportedly offered a big contract, but the former American League MVP is not interested in signing with the team.

The Minnesota Twins offseason has gone so poorly, one might think they’re negotiating with the New York Yankees pitching staff to sign a free agent. After multiple swings and misses to acquire a pitcher, the Twins turned their attention to Josh Donaldson, offering a four-year offer around $100 million earlier this week, but that effort appears to be another whiff.

According to Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Twins did make an offer worth more than $20 million per season annually, but Donaldson is not interested in signing with the team. Another wrinkle was Donaldson’s demands, which according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, have reached a total of $110 million and the 34-year old is “waiting for someone to hit his number.”

While Miller does caution that the Twins are not completely out of the running for Donaldson, the team is pessimistic about their chances of getting a signature on the dotted line. Such a development signals another failure in the Twins’ offseason that has been a disaster so far, but understandable that the team would balk in committing that much money to a player that would be 37 by the end of the deal.

In addition, the Twins were not the only team to bail on Donaldson as the Washington Nationals, who also made Donaldson a four-year offer, signed fellow third baseman Asdrubal Cabrera to a one-year deal on Saturday.

In the wake of the Donaldson news, it is expected that the Twins will shift their attention to the trade market. According to Miller, the pursuit of Donaldson may have been slowing some of those talks, but with the Twins apparently out of the running, those talks should pick up in the coming days.

In any regard, the Twins need to do something to keep this offseason from becoming a total dumpster fire. With two months remaining until spring training, there’s still time to make upgrades, but the lack of action that has come with these rumors has resulted in a frustrating winter.