DONE DEAL: BUCHANAN ALUM DONALD TRADED TO INDIANS

The Phillies prospect is headed to Cleveland in the Cliff Lee deal.

By George Takata
VSP Senior Writer:

It will be the weirdest couple of days in Jason Donald’s life.

The former Buchanan High star was traded to the Cleveland Indians organization today, along with three fellow Phillies farmhands in exchange for Cleveland ace Cliff Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco.

Donald, 24, is batting .236 with a homer, 15 doubles, one triple, 16 RBIs and a .629 OPS in 51 games for the Triple ‘A’ Lehigh Valley Ironpigs. He just recently returned to action after surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee.

“I didn’t expect this,” said Donald, who was drafted in the third round by the Phillies in 2006. “Just because I didn’t know how serious the Phillies were about Cliff Lee and making this trade. I thought if anything they would make a deal for (Roy) Halladay and going to the Blue Jays, but this certainly is a blessing, and I really am looking forward to this opportunity to be in the Indians organization.”

Here’s where it gets weird for Donald: Lehigh Valley is right in the middle of a four game series with the Columbus Clippers, the Triple ‘A’ affiliate of the Indians, in Lehigh Valley. So, all Donald has to do is switch dugouts in his now former home stadium.

“It’s strange,” Donald said. Certainly something I never expected in my playing career, but baseball’s a funny game. It’s kind of a neat experience… I’ll be playing in Lehigh for the next two days then I’ll move on to Columbus and that’s when it’ll feel like I’ve really been traded. But I think it’ll take a few days to get adjusted. It’s definitely going to be odd.”

Donald has two of his college teammates on the Clippers roster: outfielders Trevor Crowe and Jordan Brown. All three went to the University of Arizona.

Lee is 7-9 with a 3.14 earned run average this season with 107 strikeouts and just 33 walks in 152 innings of work. He went 22-3 and won the American League Cy Young Award last year.

TRADE BREAKDOWN

PHILLIES GET:
LHP Cliff Lee
OF Ben Francisco

INDIANS GET:
SS Jason Donald
RHP Carlos Carrasco
RHP Jason Knapp
C Lou Marson

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