Blue Jays trade McDonald to Detroit
07/22/2005 3:20 PM ET
By Spencer Fordin / MLB.com

The Blue Jays and Tigers agreed on a minor trade Friday, when Toronto sent backup infielder John McDonald to Detroit in exchange for a player to be named later.
For his career, McDonald has been billed as an all-field, no-hit infielder -- evidenced largely by his .239 lifetime batting average in 322 big league games.

Primarily a shortstop, McDonald spent most of his career in the American League Central. The former 12th-round draft pick started off in Cleveland, playing behind nine-time Gold Glove winner Omar Vizquel. He joined the Jays last December in another trade for a player to be named later -- eventually, pitching prospect Thomas Mastny went to Cleveland in that deal.

"Obviously, [Russ] Adams is our shortstop. He's going to play all the time," said J.P. Ricciardi, Toronto's general manager. "We brought Johnny over here for some support, but he wasn't going to play a lot the rest of the way. He was happy here and we liked the job he was doing.

"With the trade, he gets to stay in the big leagues and we get to open a roster spot. We needed one for our starting pitcher on Saturday."

In Toronto, McDonald split time at shortstop with Adams, posting a .290 batting average in 37 games. He had played mostly against left-handed pitchers, notching a .339 mark (21-for-62) against southpaws. He played five games at second base and 32 at shortstop, handling 145 total chances while making only three errors.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.