josh donaldson yankees
Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees did what many thought was impossible earlier this week: they released third baseman Josh Donaldson. This was met with elation and relief from Yankee fans. First of all, because it was a long time coming. Second of all, because news started to leak of a possible September return to the field for him.

Now they don’t have to see him at Yankee Stadium again this year, right? Not so fast.

Donaldson signed a minor-league deal on Thursday with the Milwaukee Brewers:


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It was also reported that Donaldson would be heading to Milwaukee’s Triple-A club in Nashville. But according to USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale, Donaldson could be back in the big leagues within the next week:

Obviously, we have to consider the source and take it with a grain of salt. It’s most certainly within the range of possible outcomes, though. If the 2015 AL MVP does get back to the bigs on that timeline, he’ll be with the Brewers at Yankee Stadium. No, I’m not kidding:

If you want to see this proof for yourself, you can do so here. If you’re feeling like this is déjà vu all over again, that’s because you’d be correct. Just over a month after the Yankees finally gave up on outfielder Aaron Hicks, he returned to Yankee Stadium at the beginning of July as a member of the Orioles. Hicks started all three games and collected three hits in 13 plate appearances. One of those knocks was a solo home run.

So, should we start placing bets on whether the Yankees will do a tribute video or not for Donaldson? I’m going to go with no. If there’s even a thought about it, they hopefully learn from what happened earlier this week at Citi Field.

You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.

Matt Musico is an editor for ESNY. He’s been writing about baseball and the Mets for the past decade. His work has been featured on numberFire, MetsMerized Online, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo! Sports.