Gibbons: Donaldson to DH while dealing with 'dead, not injured' arm

The Toronto Blue Jays will give Josh Donaldson the next few days off defensively as he tries to strengthen his right shoulder.

Manager John Gibbons said Friday that Donaldson will serve as the club's designated hitter for the next few games, and until his throwing shoulder improves. Yangervis Solarte will slide in at third base, while Kendrys Morales will move to the bench. Gibbons acknowledged that Morales could also play some first base in order to get his bat in the lineup.

"What we're probably going to do, we'll have to DH him (Donaldson) until he's ready to go, but structurally, they think everything is fine," Gibbons told MLB Network Radio on Friday. "Hopefully Josh gets back on track quickly."

Donaldson struggled throwing the ball across the diamond to first base on numerous occasions during Thursday's opener, but said after he wasn't dealing with any pain.

"Some days (the shoulder) would feel really good and the next day, maybe I'm overworking it sometimes," Donaldson said, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. "So it's a thing I'm trying to be cautious with - knowing when to push it and when not to."

Gibbons caused a bit of a panic Thursday with his postgame comments, saying that Donaldson has been dealing with shoulder issues since the spring.

"His arm just feels dead, not injured," Gibbons said, according to Gregor Chisolm of MLB.com.

The skipper added Friday that he doesn't believe there are any structural issues with Donaldson's shoulder.

"He's been checked out, everything is good in there," Gibbons said. "The last couple weeks of spring training, he started to experience that, and he never really had to cut the ball loose. He didn't have to. But last night, it showed up pretty good. Everybody could see that."