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Texas Rangers thankful Josh Donaldson is out of the AL West

By David Cash

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The Texas Rangers have at least something to be thankful for during Thanksgiving.  Over the holiday the Oakland Athletics traded Josh Donaldson in a multi-player deal.

MLB’s Jane Lee broke the news on Friday.

Also, she Tweeted

This trade was about as stunning as when they traded their amazing left-fielder Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox last season.  For the Texas Rangers this has to be a bit of good news.  Last year Donaldson was one of the best Rangers killers they have seen in years.  Last year they were tortured by Kyle Seager and years before it was by Vladimir Guerrero.

More from Texas Rangers News

While playing against the Texas Rangers Josh Donaldson had several amazing plays and one that has been replayed all season long as one of the best catches.

Video: 07/06/14 Donaldson’s two tarp catches
Josh Donaldson repeated his September magic from last season in July with two more sensational diving catches on the tarp in Oakland

Over the season he made several amazing plays like that…too many were against the Texas Rangers.  For the 2014 season he had a batting line of .255/.342/.456/.798 with 31 doubles, 2 triples, 29 home runs and 98 RBI over 158 games/695 plate- appearances.  He had a 5.0 offensive WAR and a 2.7 defensive WAR.

To put that in prospective with the Texas Rangers, Adrian Beltre lead the team in RBI with 77, he also lead the team in home runs with 19, and Elvis Andrus lead in doubles with 35.  It’s easy to see that Toronto has upgraded their team with Donaldson, it’s hard to tell where the Oakland Athletics will be now without Donaldson and Cespedes, but as far as the Texas Rangers are concerned they are probably happy to have him out of the division.

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