Josh Donaldson, as expected, declines the Braves’ qualifying offer

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY SportsThere were a few players that had some reasonably tough decisions with their qualifying offers. Most of us would have bet that former Giants reliever Will Smith was the guy that was going to be the most likely to accept, but then the Braves went ahead and signed him to multi-year deal so who the hell knows anymore.

However, the guy that had one of the easier decisions to make was Josh Donaldson. Aside from the rumors that Donaldson already has half a dozen teams that want him including the Braves (and that was BEFORE he made his decision official), Donaldson’s gambit of betting on himself with a one year deal paid off and he was widely considered to be looking to…