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TORONTO — Since the Mark Shapiro regime was put in place three years ago, the Toronto Blue Jays have been no stranger to the unceremonious exit.

It started immediately with Alex Anthopoulos.

It continued the following off-season with Edwin Encarnacion’s botched contract negotiations.

Now, Josh Donaldson is the latest integral piece of the franchise’s return to the post-season in 2015 to be sent packing in perfunctory fashion.

Treated more like a role player than a former MVP whose prime was wrestled away from the Oakland A’s by Anthopoulos, Donaldson was traded to the Cleveland Indians on Friday night, just ahead of the 11:59 p.m. deadline to complete deals.

Thanks to circumstances and a desire to compete this season, the Jays were forced to sell Donaldson at a discount, a strategy hatched due to their hesitancy to give the 32-year-old third baseman a qualifying offer this November, scared he might accept and the Jays would be on the hook for another year at about $18 million.

Rather than risk him accepting, GM Ross Atkins & Co. decided Friday’s waiver deadline day deal was the way to go, potentially foregoing a compensation pick and opting instead to move forward immediately.

It’s a curious strategy when it comes to asset management and it clearly shows how eager the Jays were to move on from Donaldson and his broken-down body.

With the Indians coming to town Thursday for a four-game series at Rogers Centre — the timing Gods win this round — there’s a chance this doesn’t end amicably.

Donaldson has previously hinted at issues with the team’s high-performance department, but his 2018 injury issues also open up questions about how forthcoming both he and the team have been about his health.

There’s been a clear disconnect between Donaldson and front office since the two sides agreed to shelve contract talks back in February.

Donaldson didn’t like the framework he was hearing.

The Jays weren’t willing to budge.

Right now, it looks as though the Jays are lucky he didn’t take it.

Donaldson, meanwhile, is left wondering what his value will be heading into free agency.

It was once thought he’d break the bank. Instead, he just broke.

From here, he’s left to pick up the pieces and try to rebuild his value in a different city as the open market looms in a little more than two months.

His peak was as good as it gets, but there’s a sour taste after two injury-riddled, playoff-less seasons.

Donaldson’s tenure in Toronto ends after four years, and while he’s struggled to a .234/.333/.423 slash line with just five home runs in 36 games this season, he’s been one of the premier performers in baseball during his time with the Jays.

Over 462 games, he slashed .281/.383/.548 with 116 homers, accumulating 21.8 WAR in the process, good for eighth in all of baseball from 2015 through this season.

It was Donaldson’s MVP season that propelled the Jays to a post-season berth for the first time in more than two decades, and there’s no way to describe him as anything other than sensational.

Thanks to a plus-plus bat, plus defence, and solid base-running, Donaldson put up an 8.7 WAR season, hitting 41 home runs in 158 games.

From 2013 through 2016, Donaldson would play in no less than 155 games.

It’s a fair question as to whether that workload took a toll.

In 2017, Donaldson was able to suit up in just 113 games thanks to a right calf injury, and those injury issues have continued this season, as he dealt with a shoulder injury early and now the left calf strain that has cost him more than three months.

From here, there are two ways things can go.

Maybe Donaldson’s body will never be able to stand up to the rigours of 162 games again.

But there’s also the chance Donaldson, heading into his age-33 season in 2019, rebounds and continues to hit at an elite level for a couple more seasons, leaving the Jays with little to nothing in return for a player once considered to be its best asset.

Not to mention another unceremonious exit for one of the key figures of country-captivating post-season runs that already seem like eons ago.​