Who Will Step Up for A's to Replace Josh Donaldson's All-Star Production?

It will be difficult for anyone on the Oakland A's to adequately replace Josh Donaldson's production, but it can be done—in a few ways as a matter of fact.

The 28-year-old third baseman will be sorely missed.

Since truly taking off in Major League Baseball, Donaldson has finished in the top 10 of MVP voting twice. Offensively, he's averaged 91 runs, 26 home runs, 96 RBI and a .363 on-base percentage between 2013 and 2014. He played in 158 games both seasons.

Just last year, Donaldson led the team in games played, runs, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, walks and extra-base hits.

Though he never won a Gold Glove—and strictly looking at his errors and fielding percentage won't convince non-A's fans—Donaldson played high-caliber defense. Compare him to Evan Longoria (randomly pulled) for example. Donaldson made 10 more errors but had nearly 100 more chances. He also turned 43 double plays, most in MLB.

Check this play out. Or this one.

So how can anyone possibly replace a guy MLB Network recently ranked the 18th-best player in all of baseball?

Here are two ways the A's could do it—call it a conventional way and an unconventional way.

The Conventional Way to Replace Josh Donaldson's Production

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Spoiler alert: It'll take more than one player.

It's going to be extremely difficult for one guy to replace all of Donaldson's production solo. But that said, let's take a look at two players who can definitely do it.

You have to look to Brett Lawrie first, strictly because Lawrie is the direct replacement.

Between Steamer and ZiPS projections over at Fangraphs, Donaldson is projected to hit 26 or 27 home runs and knock in about 90 runs. Let's round it up to be safe and project Donaldson would have hit 30 home runs and 100 RBI in Oakland this coming season.

Over the course of four injury-shortened seasons, Lawrie averaged one home run per 30 at-bats. If he can stay healthy for a minimum of 140 at-bats, that puts him at around 17 home runs. Doing the math on RBI per game, Lawrie could knock in about 64 runs in 140 games.

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Now bring in the second guy.

The A's brought in Ben Zobrist to upgrade second base. Last season, Eric Sogard spent the most time at second and hit one home run with 22 RBI. Zobrist, conversely, hit 10 home runs with 52 RBI.

The 2015 projections at Fangraphs have Zobrist hitting about 12 home runs with 65 RBI. It's fair to assume Sogard would perform similar in 2015 as he did in 2014.

Donaldson and Sogard make up for about 31 home runs and 120 RBI. Lawrie and Zobrist could produce 29 homers and 129 RBI.

Note: Alberto Callaspo spent time at second base but also at DH. So an argument including Callaspo's production as a counter to Zobrist not adequately "outdoing" just Sogard could be met then with the addition of Billy Butler's production.

The Unconventional Way

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Unconventional is defined as an idea not based on what is generally believed.

Would you believe me if I said Josh Reddick could replace Donaldson's production by himself?

In Donaldson's best season with the Athletics (2014), he hit 29 home runs and 98 RBI. In Reddick's best season (2012), he hit 32 home runs and 85 RBI. So right off the bat, Reddick is capable of putting up similar numbers. You can't argue with that; he's done it before.

Donaldson came to be one of the best third basemen in the game at 27 years old. Brandon Moss didn't bud until 2012, his first year with the A's. He was 28. Jed Lowrie had a career year at 29. John Jaso's came at 28. The list can go on.

Reddick enters this season having just turned 28.

That season Reddick produced monster numbers? He stayed healthy for 156 games. Since then, he played in 114 (2013) and 109 (2014). Perhaps it's simply a health issue.

Looking at his game logs in 2014, Reddick didn't hit well for the first two months of the season. He missed 20 games, came back and started hitting better. Then he missed another 18 games, came back and once again continued to increase his batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS.

In just the second half, Reddick hit eight home runs and 30 RBI in 55 games. That pace lays out to 22 home runs and 82 RBI in 150 games. And the A's most commonly used Reddick out of the seventh spot in the lineup. Moving up means more at-bats, which means the potential for more production.

Maybe it's a new number, new Reddick, new year kind of season.

After all, his team isn't rebuilding (which should mean he's happy), and there hasn't been a better opportunity for Reddick to take the reins of this team and become the face of the Athletics.

Or heck, after a 3-for-3 performance with two home runs and four RBI to open spring training, maybe Marcus Semien can do it by himself.