Josh Donaldson out of lineup again, meets with Yankees manager Aaron Boone

NEW YORK – About two hours before the Yankees played their series finale against the Texas Rangers Sunday afternoon, a group of reporters approached Josh Donaldson’s locker, hoping to get the third baseman’s thoughts about not being in the lineup for a third straight day.

But Donaldson, holding a bat, said he didn’t have time to talk, then headed toward the direction of manager Aaron Boone’s Yankee Stadium office.

When Boone was subsequently 30 minutes late for pre-game press conference, speculation started to swirl.

Were the Yankees finally moving on from Donaldson? Had his struggles at the plate finally become too much to overlook?

Well, any fans hoping for that outcome were left disappointed.

“JD and I were talking,” Boone said before the Yankees' 5-3 series-clinching win over Texas. “Just spilled into a long conversation. That’s all.”

So, no, the Yankees weren’t prepared, not yet at least, to eat what’s left of the 37-year-old Donaldson’s $21 million salary this season and designate him for assignment.

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Boone’s club has largely scuffled at the plate lately – exacerbated by having Aaron Judge on the injured list with a toe injury and no clear idea of when he’ll back in the lineup – and Donaldson’s struggles have been a considerable culprit.

The Yankees' offense showed signs of life Sunday with DJ LeMahieu and Harrison Bader each hitting two-run doubles − Bader's put the Yanks up by a run in the eighth − and Giancarlo Stanton coming through for the Yanks with an RBI single.

Whether Donaldson can show signs of life at the plate anytime soon remains to be seen.

In 21 games entering Sunday since he returned from the IL after missing about two months with a hamstring strain, Donaldson had just eight hits in 64 at-bats (.125). Six of those hits were home runs. He had an on-base percentage of just .197 and an OPS of .603. He had six walks and 20 strikeouts.

Yet Boone has remained adamant that the numbers don’t tell the full story. He believes there's still "a ton in there offensively."

“If you sat there and watched each individual at-bat, I feel like in a lot of ways he’s better at-bats than at different points where he was scuffling a little bit last year,” Boone said. “He’s getting his swing off a lot, the impact’s there, he’s hit a lot of hard balls right at people. When you’re going through it and not getting a lot of hits, it adds up.”

Donaldson’s issues at the plate aren’t new. They’ve been an issue since he joined the Yankees in a trade with the Minnesota Twins prior to last season. The 2015 American League MVP while with the Blue Jays, Donaldson hit just .222 in 2022. He struck out 148 times.

He hasn’t come anywhere close to replicating the success he had in previous seasons, though Boone has frequently talked about the quality defense Donaldson has played at third base.

As far as Donaldson’s playing time?

Boone again said Sunday that he considers Donaldson an everyday player, that keeping him out of the lineup for a third consecutive day was a decision he “wrestled with,” but chose to do so with the team off on Monday before starting a series at Oakland on Tuesday.

“I felt like this was the way I wanted to go,” Boone said.

Donaldson has a $16 million team option for next season with an $8 million buyout.

But the Yankees have to figure out how to navigate Donaldson’s struggles in the meantime.

The team for now is sticking by him, believing, and hoping, that at some point soon Donaldson can get going at the plate.

“I just want to get him going because I know he could be a key figure for us,” Boone said, “and just trying to do our part in unlocking that as best we can.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Struggling Josh Donaldson out of Yankees lineup again