Mariners get: INF Brendan Donovan

Cardinals get: OF Tai Peete, OF Colton Ledbetter, R/LHP Jurrangelo Cijntje, two competitive balance Round B draft picks

Rays get: 3B Ben Williamson

Andy McCullough

Mariners: A
Cardinals: B
Rays: A (for effort!)

Quiet for much of the winter, prolific trader Jerry Dipoto has finally made a major addition to the most successful Mariners team of his tenure. Brendan Donovan brings a level of versatility that could improve any competitive roster, and he could aid Seattle in several ways. He could handle second base if former first-round pick Cole Young is not ready for an everyday role. He could take over at third base, a position vacated by the departure of Eugenio Suárez and further emptied with Ben Williamson going to Tampa Bay in this trade. Or he could bounce around the diamond, providing off days or DH days for outfielder Randy Arozarena or first baseman Josh Naylor.

Donovan could also offset the loss of designated hitter Jorge Polanco, who took a two-year, $40 million deal with the New York Mets. Polanco out-performed Donovan at the plate last season, but across the past three years, Donovan posted a 116 OPS+ while Polanco produced a 114 OPS+. Donovan controls the strike zone and tends to make hard contact, which should help him handle the adjustment to T-Mobile Park.

Dipoto made his spending splash back in November when he jumped the market to re-sign Naylor on a five-year, $92.5 million contract. From there, he displayed the patience necessary to land Donovan two weeks before the opening of spring training. The team has built a window to win through assembling an excellent starting rotation and building an offense around star catcher Cal Raleigh and outfielder Julio Rodríguez. Donovan strengthens the current group and the return won’t drain one of baseball’s best farm systems.

Also: kudos to the Rays for their willingness to facilitate deals. As Jon Becker of FanGraphs noted, Tampa Bay has been involved in six of the seven three-team trades that have gone down since the 2023 season ended. As always, relationships matter; Dipoto and Tampa Bay head honcho Erik Neander love to do business together, and Chaim Bloom ran the Rays for years alongside Neander. When trying to bring a deal together, it helps to know which team just happens to have a competitive-balance pick on hand.

Sam Blum

Mariners: A
Cardinals: B+
Rays: A+

On paper, it makes some sense why the Cardinals are tearing it all down and starting over. Retirements of franchise cornerstones, a few years of failure and no obvious path forward made it necessary. But still, it’s kind of sad to see that franchise, which had a stretch of 22 winning seasons in 23 years, go the route of punting away a season.

That being said, this is a good return for St. Louis. It got three legit prospects, including the prize of the lot, Jurrangelo Cijntje, who is a switch pitcher. Fun! Two of the three prospects are former first-rounders, and one is a second-rounder. None of them have had a ton of success in the lower levels of the minor leagues yet, and none are among Keith Law’s Top 100 prospects. So their development will ultimately be the true measurement of this trade’s success.

The most dangerous thing a team can do is not have a lane or a plan, and rely on brand name and past success alone. Keeping Donovan would have been the easy choice. He’s coming off an All-Star season and still has two years of club control. So in that sense, kudos to the Cardinals and Bloom for making the tough choices — knowing they’re more than two years away from rebuilding what was once the sport’s most sustainable operation.

It’s just weird to watch it play out in real time.