It seems Josh Donaldson may have brought the same toxic and egotistical attitude to Milwaukee as he did to the Yankees.
In a recent Foul Territory episode, Rowdy Tellez was discussing trash talking Donaldson. Rowdy was asked about his first conversation with Donaldson when he joined the Brewers.
"Your first piece of trash talk that you put on JD, when you saw him or when you felt comfortable, that he wasn't gonna beat you up."
Rowdy responded to that comment, "I wasn't scared of him to start with," but according to the interview, Rowdy said, "He walked into the clubhouse, and walked straight by, and I was like, 'Hey,' with a couple of other words after that."
Rowdy then explained the clubhouse dynamics about how players introduce themselves to each other, and according to him, Donaldson said, "Everyone knows who I am."
Brewers: Josh Donaldson isn't new to toxic clubhouses
While this might have been banter, Donaldson has a troubling past of being a toxic player in the clubhouse. Before getting traded to the New York Yankees, Donaldson and Gerrit Cole were always beefing with each other.
Before getting traded to the Yankees, Donaldson said, "Is it a coincidence that Gerrit Cole's spin rate numbers went down after four minor leaguers got suspended for 10 games?" about Gerrit Cole, according to ESPN's Marly Rivera.
"At the end of the day, both of us are competitors. And I respect Gerrit Cole for being a competitor," Donaldson said. "When you watch him pitch, he competes and he wants to learn. And I think him and I are similar in that scenario. Any other further things about that, I think the league has addressed and that's not up for me to talk about it anymore. If I thought that it was still an issue, I would still talk about it. But I don't."
The two seemingly mended fences in New York, but Donaldson is always willing to create conflict, for better or worse.
Since joining the Brewers, Donaldson has played in 12 games and is hitting .205 with three home runs and 10 RBIs. While holding a 108 OPS+ means he is finally again a better hitter than league average, that's still less than ideal. In those 12 games, the Brewers hold a record of 7-5.
