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OAKLAND, Calif. — For most teams around baseball, the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline coming and going Tuesday afternoon puts an end to many of the storylines that have been swirling for weeks.

Will he stay? Will he go? Who’s a buyer? Who’s a seller?

In 29 cities, most of those questions have been answered.

The Toronto Blue Jays, however, remain in sell mode, and there’s more than just fringe pieces on hand for GM Ross Atkins to offer contenders at a discounted price.

It’s the first day of August and Josh Donaldson is still the property of the Blue Jays.

If someone would’ve told you that five-plus months ago when contract negotiations were put to a halt on a February day in Florida, the logical explanation would have been it’s because the reboot was a success and Donaldson & Co. were in the thick of a wild-card race.

Quite the opposite.

The Jays have been sellers for weeks, peddling Steve Pearce, J.A. Happ, Seunghwan Oh, Roberto Osuna, and, on deadline day Tuesday, adding John Axford and Aaron Loup to that list.

Six players out, 10 players and prospects of varying pedigrees in.

Meanwhile, Donaldson is in Dunedin where he’s simply trying to reach the point of being able to run.

It’s been a nightmare scenario for both player and team in 2018, and the trade deadline provided a slap-in-the-face reminder of that.

At a time when Donaldson’s name should have been front and centre as a legitimate star and impact bat for contenders to fawn over, it was instead just a footnote.

Apparently, though, inquiries were made and conversations were had.

In the end, a day after the Houston Astros took on a player with a dark legal cloud hanging over his head, no team was willing to risk trading for one who is hurt.

“Josh is a great player and I think any GM would be excited about thinking about Josh in their lineup and playing third base down the stretch,” Atkins said Tuesday, shortly after the deadline had passed. “There was a lot of discussions. The challenge is with any player that is not playing is understanding that risk and that timeline, with not the same access to information that we have. That tolerance for that risk was the hard part to try and bridge. We had a lot of discussions about JD. We stayed in touch with Josh, obviously, but it didn’t end up becoming a deal.”

Donaldson hasn’t been seen on a big-league field since coming up lame with a left calf strain on the basepaths in Boston on May 28.

More than two months and 50 games later, the 2015 American League MVP still can’t get past the stage of running the bases full bore, leaving him in limbo at the worst possible time.

Once again, the Jays feel like Donaldson is closing in on a rehab assignment, one that Atkins says won’t be lengthy.

“I think this week will be very telling and we’ll have a much better update for you in the upcoming days,” Atkins said. “He had his best week, last week. A lot of explosive exercises and really, really encouraged by the progress he has made. I think he is nearing 100 per cent in strength. The thing with JD, just because of where he is, and how he has matured in his career, he’s not going to need a long a rehab assignment. He’s not going to need, or want, or desire, many minor-league at-bats. I think once he gets up to 100 per cent of that strength, and nearing that, things will move quickly.”

Considering how things have gone up to this point, there has to be a lot of finger-crossing involved, and there’s something at stake for everyone involved as the calendar flips to August.

Atkins wants Donaldson on the field rebuilding what little trade value is left.

Donaldson wants to be on the field rebuilding his stock as he heads into free agency this winter.

Contenders want him on the field so they can get a real look at his ability to contribute to a pennant race, and there’s little doubt that when Donaldson is right health-wise, he can put a team on his back like he did around this time last year when he slashed .302/.410/.698 with 22 home runs from Aug. 1 through the end of the season.

Teams in the hunt will have to assess what a late buy-low opportunity on a potential impact bat is worth, at the same time Atkins is trying to weigh offers against a tricky November qualifying offer and the compensation pick that would be attached to that when/if Donaldson signs elsewhere.

The Jays will have to send Donaldson through August waivers in order to trade him, a process they cannot start until he’s activated from the disabled list.

Donaldson being claimed could throw a wrench into things, but none of that matters until he can get back on the field and prove he’s able to play baseball without his body breaking down.

A year ago, peddling Donaldson was seen as a way for the Jays to accelerate a rebuild and add a high-end talent or two to the system.

These days, the question is whether he’ll be seen at all.​