I think that many would agree that St. Louis Cardinals President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom has already accomplished most of his goals for this offseason, but the question of what to do about Brendan Donovan remains. The latest rumors that I can find point to a trade to the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox or perhaps even the St. Louis Cardinals keeping him.
As I have said before, I don’t like sharing rumors that have very little basis in fact connected to teams really talking to the Cardinals. Every team could use a player like Brendan Donovan and nearly every beat writer has tossed out hypothetical scenarios for their team obtaining him. As of right now, there really only seem to be three teams that are in serious talks with the Cardinals about Brendan Donovan. I’ll start with some interesting comments on the MLB Network just shared today by former GM Steve Phillips. He believes that the Boston Red Sox are now focusing on Brendan Donovan after signing Ranger Suarez. His belief is based on the fact that this free agent signing means they are out of the Bo Bichette market and will look to fix their infield needs by trading for Brendan Donovan. He even adds that pitcher Brayan Bello would be part of that offer along with an outfield bat.
MLB.com reported this week that real discussions are happening between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants. They say that the Giants are targeting Brendan Donovan unless the Chicago Cubs are willing to trade Nico Hoerner. Now that Katel Marte has been taken off the market by Nolan Arenado’s new team the Arizona Diamondbacks, Brendan Donovan is the most readily available solution.
MLB Trade Rumors says that the Seattle Mariners are still very much involved in talks with the Cardinals about Donovan, too. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat says the Mariners don’t just want Brendan, but also are very much interested in JoJo Romero. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times says that Brendan Donovan is “the Mariners’ top target”. When you consider a possible package that includes Brendan Donovan and JoJo Romero and the many exciting prospects that the Mariners have in their system, this could be a knockout return for St. Louis.
Let’s add one more wrinkle to the baseball offseason soap opera that has been the Brendan Donovan sweepstakes. Katie Woo appeared on MLB Network a couple days ago and said that the St. Louis Cardinals have still not decided if they will hold onto Brendan Donovan or trade him.
This is obviously the disposition that Chaim Bloom and the Cardinals must maintain publicly even if they have made the internal decision to trade him, but Katie is reporting that there is a real discussion happening about possibly having Brendan Donovan remain on the roster. I’d be shocked if that happens considering all of the interest, but you have to at least understand there’s a chance.
There are some outlier reports that the Los Angeles Dodgers might swoop in and make a significant offer for Brendan Donovan, but I haven’t seen any evidence of real conversations happening. I really do think that we’re down to three teams that will end up making the offer that causes Chaim Bloom to give his stamp of approval. I am of the opinion that the Seattle Mariners trading for Brendan and JoJo together is the most exciting, but I’d love to be proven wrong by a better one. There’s a better than average chance we’re going to learn which team wins the bidding war soon.