Josh Donaldson remerges in another nightmarish way for Yankees and it must stop

Adding Josh Donaldson will go down as one of the worst trades in New York Yankees history. A major factor in the chronic issues at third base since Alex Rodriguez's retirement, Donaldson was the most offensive of that inept group in more ways than one.

Not only did he hit a putrid .207/.293/.385 during his pinstriped tenure, but his bloated salary prevented the Yankees from making other necessary moves. The club was even stuck paying him $6 million in 2024, despite releasing him the previous August.

Then there's the controversy he wrapped himself up in thanks to his over-the-line comments directed at former Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson during a May 2022 matchup that were a stain on the organization.

With the exception of when he put some too-big-for-their-britches Orioles fans in their place, most Yankees fans would like to forget Donaldson ever existed and move on with our lives in ignorant bliss. Unfortunately, you can't stop Donaldson from making asinine comments.

This time, his target was Jimmy O'Brien, better known as Jomboy, co-founder of Jomboy Media and one of the hosts of the Talkin' Yanks podcast.

What bee got in Donaldson's bonnet? Well, he has two main gripes with the content creator. First, he's upset that Aaron Boone regularly appears on the show, and second, he laughably accused Jomboy of having undue influence over Boone's lineup card and playing time decisions. In a way, he took a shot at Yankees fans in general, too, claiming that the vocal nature of the fan base sways the choices the club makes, for better or for worse.

Former Yankees trade bust Josh Donaldson's lack of media literacy and Jomboy conspiracy theory are astounding

Donaldson recalls questioning Boone about doing regular weekly appearances back in 2023, when the third baseman was still employed by the Yankees. Per his recollection, Boone said it was so that he could speak directly to fans and control the narrative coming out. We've long wished that Boone (and the team as a whole) would be more transparent, but we'll clearly take what we can get.

Jomboy deftly squashed the validity of Donaldson's claim that the wheel had been reinvented by pointing out that managers and other prominent baseball figures have long made regular radio appearances, even playing clips of George Steinbrenner going on WFAN's defunct flagship Mike & The Mad Dog at the height of his unpopularity in the early 90s.

Regular terrestrial radio is all but extinct in this space thanks to the rise of podcasts, so Jomboy is completely correct when he points out that Boone coming on his show is no different than him appearing weekly on a sports talk radio program, as hundreds of managers have done before him.

Donaldson's next complaint was the fact that Jomboy debated Boone over whether or not Trent Grisham should cede playing time to Spencer Jones. For those who actually watched the exchange, the discussion centered on Grisham's poor defensive performance, and Boone was pretty defiant, while Jomboy brought out stats to support the assertion (and he was right).

Donaldson insinuated that it shouldn't sit well in the locker room that Boone lets a podcast host influence his lineup decisions, while Jomboy aptly pointed out that it wasn't his opinion and rather the stats, cold hard evidence, which proved Grisham had been one of the worst defensive center fielders in the league this season.

Frankly, Donaldson's gatekeeping is exactly what fans hate about former players, who dismiss objective stats and deny that anyone who didn't play in MLB has valid knowledge about the game.

What Yankees fans need is more people like Jomboy holding Boone accountable for his decisions and pressing the organization for transparency. Oh, and also for Josh Donaldson to go away.

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