Blue Jays acquire Josh Donaldson in five-player deal with A's

Put away the Thanksgiving leftovers and finish wrapping those Black Friday gifts you bought for yourself, we have a blockbuster trade in Major League Baseball.

According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland A's were closing in a major deal Friday evening. When the dust settled a short time later, Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan confirmed the A's were shipping All-Star third baseman Josh Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for infielder Brett Lawrie, along with minor league pitchers Kendall Graveman and Sean Nolin, and shortstop Franklin Barreto.

It's a surprising deal in that Donaldson has become, in many ways, the face of the A's franchise and the backbone of what the organization seeks to be. A late bloomer, Donaldson has continued honing his craft to become an MVP contender in each of the past two seasons. Over those years, Donaldson has hit .277/.363/.477 with 53 home runs and 13 stolen bases over 1,262 plate appearances. He's also a strong defender at the hot corner, winning a Fielding Bible award in 2014.

With that said, this is Billy Beane we're talking about. It's been said he's looking to rework his roster after the A's fizzled out down the stretch in 2014, and when Beane gets in that mode no player is seemingly off limits. It's the type of deal the A's mastermind has been known to pull off, and it almost always comes out of nowhere. This one fits that description, and it also fits his M.O. of selling high and buying low, in this case meaning Donaldson and Lawrie.

The Blue Jays are obviously looking at this from a completely different perspective. After missing out on the postseason in 2014, they're going all in this winter. The signing of Russell Martin to a five-year, $80 million was just the beginning.

In the combination of Martin and Donaldson, they've landed what many would say were the heart and soul of the Pittsburgh Pirates and A's respectively. Two hard-working veterans whose careers are reaching their peaks.

Lawrie, 24, is the biggest name going to Oakland. He hit .247/.301/.421 with 12 home runs and 38 RBI in 282 plate appearances last season, and has never been able to put it together for an extended stretch, Injuries have hampered his efforts, but there's still reason to believe he too could fall into the late bloomer category, just like Donaldson.