Josh Donaldson was relaxing in his “man cave” — “playing old-school Mortal Kombat and watching the Golf Channel at the same time” — late Friday night when his phone started blowing up.

He looked down and saw that his agent had texted him two words and a question mark: “Blue Jays?”

Donaldson was shocked. The all-star third baseman figured changes were coming to his Oakland A’s team after their disappointing second half and early post-season exit, but coming off two career years in which he twice finished in the top 10 in MVP voting, Donaldson hardly expected he would be the one to go.

“This was a little ahead of schedule I was thinking, as far as being traded-wise,” the nearly 29-year-old told reporters in a conference call Saturday morning. “But then you start moving past that and you start looking at the capability of this lineup and the potential that it brings. I’d venture to say there’s probably not going to be another lineup as potent as this in Major League Baseball.”

Donaldson, who has arguably been the top third baseman in the majors the last two seasons, was acquired by the Jays late Friday night for 24-year-old infielder Brett Lawrie and a trio of prospects: pitchers Sean Nolin and Kendall Graveman, as well as 18-year-old shortstop Franklin Barreto.

With the free-agent addition of catcher Russell Martin, the 2015 Jays could now make a case for having the best first five hitters in baseball — and the club is still trying to re-sign outfielder Melky Cabrera.

“I feel like it’s going to be a pretty fun year,” Donaldson said.

The Florida native, an above-average defender and middle-of-the-order bat, certainly makes the Jays better in the short term. Who wins the deal in the end will depend on whether Lawrie develops the superstar potential he has flashed and what eventually becomes of Nolin, Graveman and Barreto. Nolin and Graveman are both considered near major-league ready, but had become somewhat expendable with the Jays’ relative glut of young starting pitching: Drew Hutchison, Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez and Daniel Norris are all 24 or younger and all rank ahead of the outgoing arms.

Barreto, who was signed as a 17-year-old out of Venezuela, is a wild card. Scouts rave about his raw skills, but he remains several years away from making a big-league impact.

A major factor in the deal is also the injury history of the two key players. Lawrie has struggled to stay healthy throughout his young career, missing nearly 40 per cent of games the last three seasons. Donaldson, meanwhile, has missed just eight games since establishing himself as an Oakland regular partway through the 2012 season.

It was at the beginning of that 2012 season that Donaldson says he set out to remake his swing, identifying Jays slugger Jose Bautista as a model to emulate.

“I probably watched thousands of hours of Bautista swinging,” says Donaldson, whose uses a similar leg kick to Bautista to generate power. “We don’t do everything exactly the same, but what I try to do is I try to see what he was successful with, and a couple other guys in the big leagues who were very successful, and try to (recreate) it into something of my own.”

Donaldson also saw something of a kindred career in Bautista, also a late-blooming star. “He was somewhat of a journeyman major leaguer until he landed in Toronto and I was kind of almost being labeled as a 4-A/Triple-A guy and then kind of breaking out a little bit in 2012 towards the end of the season, and then in 2013 kind of putting it together.”

Because of his late-blooming stardom, Donaldson is not scheduled to become a free agent until 2019 and is under four more seasons of team control. He is expected to earn about $4.5 million this year — his first of arbitration eligibility — according to projections by MLBTradeRumors.com.

Donaldson, who coincidentally made his major-league debut in Toronto in 2010 and hit his first home run at the Rogers Centre, said it would take time to adjust to playing half his games on artificial turf. But he was definitely looking forward to moving into a more hitter-friendly ballpark. Oakland’s O.co Coliseum is known as more advantageous to pitchers, though Donaldson has racked up 53 home runs over the last two seasons.

Beyond the benefits at the plate, Donaldson said he always enjoyed Toronto as a visiting player, calling it “a great city.”

“It’s just one of those melting pots. You have a little bit of everything in Toronto. Every time I’ve been there it’s been very beautiful.”

Donaldson admitted the reality of the trade is still sinking in. “I’m still a little shocked,” he said. “But I tell you what: I seen on Twitter somebody put me in one of those Toronto Blue Jays uniforms — the all-white one. I tell you what: those uniforms are pretty sexy.”

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GETTING TO KNOW JOSH DONALDSON

Born Dec. 8, 1985 in Pensacola, Fla.

Donaldson grew up in Mobile, Ala. and lives in nearby Daphne.

He was raised primarily by his mother, Lisa French, while his father served a 15-year prison sentence for drug offences and domestic violence. His father saw him play baseball for the first time just last year.

When he was 18 months old, Donaldson starred on local TV as he showed off a “picture-perfect” golf swing.

He attended Auburn University, where he played for the Auburn Tigers.

He was a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs (sandwich round, 48th overall) in 2007 as a catcher and was traded to Oakland a year later as part of a package for Chad Gaudin and Rich Harden.

He transitioned to third base, where he played half the time in college, with Oakland.

His first major-league hit was a two-run homer against the Blue Jays in Toronto off Dana Eveland on May 1, 2010.

He finished fourth in American League MVP voting in 2013 and eighth in 2014.

He was elected the AL’s starting third baseman in the 2014 all-star game, his first appearance.

He won the 2014 Fielding Bible Award as MLB’s top defensive third baseman.

Since 2013, he ranks first among third basemen in Wins Above Replacement, fourth in home runs, third in on-base plus slugging percentage and third in defensive runs saved.

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