But they would lose draft position due to winning more meaningless games, meaning both worse picks up front, and less money to play with as a draft pool in 2020. It would also mean worse waiver position and Rule 5 draft position.
Again, at this stage, unless Harper flat out is telling this franchise I will sign with you if you sign Josh Donaldson, it is a waste to sign Josh Donaldson. Blowing $25 million on the small chance it might get you Harper seems like a giant waste of resources. I would rather see the team bring on a Robinson Cano/Zach Grienke and get assets to do it if we were going to spend money for the sake of spending money. If there isn't a deal like that out there, move on with the rebuild as scheduled. The whole point of this time period is to spend this time being awful to accumulate as many assets as possible for the future to create a pipeline of talent stretching from now into the next 5 to 7 years that won't be as possible when this team is winning a lot more games.
How many draft positions are you willing to give up in 2020 for the rights to watch Josh Donaldson play for a bad baseball team? I would much rather have the extras from winning fewer games in 2019 than paying Josh Donaldson for Josh Donaldson's contribution to this team in 2019.