Former AL MVP Josh Donaldson retires after 13-year career - ESPN

Josh Donaldson, who won the American League MVP during a 13-year career, announced his retirement Monday.

Donaldson, 38, made the announcement on the podcast of former player Sean Casey.

Donaldson finishes his career with 279 home runs, 1,310 hits and a long-earned reputation as a someone who competed with an edge, unafraid of offending opponents. He had his best season in 2015 with Toronto, when he hit 41 homers and drove in a league-high 123 runs, while scoring an MLB-high 122 runs. Donaldson received 23 of 30 first-place votes for the MVP, finishing ahead of Mike Trout for the award.

Donaldson finished in the Top 10 for his league's MVP four times.

Donaldson broke into pro ball as a catcher after the Cubs took him with the 48th pick in the 2007 draft out of Auburn. The following summer, Donaldson was among the players that the Athletics received in a deal for starting pitcher Rich Harden, and for a few seasons, Donaldson languished in the farm system.

In 2010, at age 24, he hit .238 in Triple-A. He reached the big leagues for the first time late that season. But Donaldson switched to third base as his primary position in 2012, playing 71 games there in the big leagues, and with his combination of a plate discipline and power, Donaldson began to emerge.

In 158 games for the A's in 2013, he had an OPS of .883. The perception of a lot of teams at the time was that the A's wouldn't consider trading him, but after the 2014 season, Oakland swapped Donaldson — who was becoming more expensive by the year — to the Blue Jays for four players, including pitcher Kendall Graveman. It was among the first trades that began to cement the reputation of then-Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos as a savvy deal-maker, because the next year,