Josh Donaldson played 75 games for the 2012 Oakland A&#8217;s, Over that half a season he managed only to slash .241/.289/.398 &#8212; stunningly pitiful numbers for a player who would but up 7.6 WAR the following year, and be an 8.8 WAR AL MVP just three years later.
More importantly &#8212; at least as far as this little slice of internet detritus is concerned &#8212; it was also in that season that Donaldson was teammates with prolific tweeter and current Atlanta Barves pitcher (having come over from the Dodgers in December&#8217;s big deal involving Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir, and others). And it&#8217;s through that lens as former teammates that I think we nee to view the series of tweets between the two that popped up on Tuesday night.
I mean, it would be extremely funny if they were actually seriously trash talking each other here &#8212; and having watched Donaldson up close these last three years, seeing how otherworldly competitive he is, I might not even put it past him! &#8212; but I&#8217;m pretty sure they&#8217;re just taking the piss.
Still good though!
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
It doesn’t get much better than this. We know <a href="https://twitter.com/BringerOfRain20?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BringerOfRain20</a> is ready for some baseball ??<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarucciTakeover?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarucciTakeover</a> <a href="https://t.co/sQ4avGqYTj">pic.twitter.com/sQ4avGqYTj</a>
&mdash; Marucci (@MarucciSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarucciSports/status/960617395659464715?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-width="550" data-lang="en" data-dnt="true" data-partner="jetpack">that’ll look great broken in half above my mantel&mdash; Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) <a href="https://twitter.com/BMcCarthy32/status/960618896368676864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-width="550" data-lang="en" data-dnt="true" data-partner="jetpack">I’m just glad you didn’t say when you break it. We both know how that matchup ends. My guess the manager just tell the ump to put me on first. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/yougotjammed?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#yougotjammed</a>&mdash; Josh Donaldson (@BringerOfRain20) <a href="https://twitter.com/BringerOfRain20/status/961053724994129920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-width="550" data-lang="en" data-dnt="true" data-partner="jetpack">if we face off you&#39;ll be &quot;bringing rain&quot; with a high F3 in foul territory and a bat in three pieces&mdash; Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) <a href="https://twitter.com/BMcCarthy32/status/961071736161628161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-width="550" data-lang="en" data-dnt="true" data-partner="jetpack">I know you don’t believe that.&mdash; Josh Donaldson (@BringerOfRain20) <a href="https://twitter.com/BringerOfRain20/status/961073521555369984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-width="550" data-lang="en" data-dnt="true" data-partner="jetpack">nah. You&#39;ll get all antsy in your pantsy and swing at a first pitch sinker and ground out firmly to short probably&mdash; Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) <a href="https://twitter.com/BMcCarthy32/status/961074633972699136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-width="550" data-lang="en" data-dnt="true" data-partner="jetpack">Hey guys... <a href="https://t.co/xC66GBJj8g">pic.twitter.com/xC66GBJj8g</a>&mdash; Marucci (@MarucciSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarucciSports/status/961078418182942720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
Maybe even better than all this was how I found out about the thread &#8212; this riff on <a href="https://twitter.com/lebeargirdle/status/898280833299230722?lang=en">one of the greatest tweets</a> of all time:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
[offseason baseball Twitter]
Me: [chanting] tweets, tweets- 
Other Jays and Atlanta fans: tweets, TWEETS
Brandon and Josh: [pounding their phones] TWEETS, TWEETS, TWEETS! <a href="https://t.co/lClWjezBxJ">https://t.co/lClWjezBxJ</a>
&mdash; Sleeve Fierce (@Lesley_NOPE) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lesley_NOPE/status/961079529891684352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Fun!
NOW FRIGGIN&#8217; SIGN SOMEONE ALREADY!!! JOSH DONALDSON, EVEN!!! JOSH DONALDSON ESPECIALLY!!!!

Josh Donaldson played 75 games for the 2012 Oakland A's, Over that half a season he managed only to slash .241/.289/.398 -- stunningly pitiful numbers for a player who would but up 7.6 WAR the following year, and be an 8.8 WAR AL MVP just three years later.

More importantly -- at least as far as this little slice of internet detritus is concerned -- it was also in that season that Donaldson was teammates with prolific tweeter and current Atlanta Barves pitcher (having come over from the Dodgers in December's big deal involving Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir, and others). And it's through that lens as former teammates that I think we nee to view the series of tweets between the two that popped up on Tuesday night.

I mean, it would be extremely funny if they were actually seriously trash talking each other here -- and having watched Donaldson up close these last three years, seeing how otherworldly competitive he is, I might not even put it past him! -- but I'm pretty sure they're just taking the piss.

Still good though!

https://twitter.com/MarucciSports/status/960617395659464715

[tweet https://twitter.com/BMcCarthy32/status/960618896368676864 hide_thread="true"]

[tweet https://twitter.com/BringerOfRain20/status/961053724994129920 hide_thread="true"]

[tweet https://twitter.com/BMcCarthy32/status/961071736161628161 hide_thread="true"]

[tweet https://twitter.com/BringerOfRain20/status/961073521555369984 hide_thread="true"]

[tweet https://twitter.com/BMcCarthy32/status/961074633972699136 hide_thread="true"]

[tweet https://twitter.com/MarucciSports/status/961078418182942720 hide_thread="true"]

Maybe even better than all this was how I found out about the thread -- this riff on <a href="https://twitter.com/lebeargirdle/status/898280833299230722?lang=en">one of the greatest tweets</a> of all time:

https://twitter.com/Lesley_NOPE/status/961079529891684352

Fun!

NOW FRIGGIN' SIGN SOMEONE ALREADY!!! JOSH DONALDSON, EVEN!!! JOSH DONALDSON ESPECIALLY!!!!

Josh Donaldson and Brandon McCarthy Having A Friendly War of Words on Twitter Is Pretty Outstanding

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