It appears the St. Louis Cardinals are preparing to move veteran infielder Brendan Donovan as part of the next phase of their rebuilding process.
Donovan would likely bring back a strong return in a trade, and interest in him should be widespread. Clubs such as the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants have already surfaced as possible landing spots for the popular Cardinals standout.
ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle reveal the Cardinals will ultimately send Donovan to the Giants this offseason, a move that could benefit both organizations moving forward.
“The Giants need a second baseman and the Cardinals are trading any hitter within sniffing distance of age 30,” Doolittle wrote. “It’s a perfect match, albeit less enthralling than when the Cardinals and Giants swapped Rogers Hornsby and Frankie Frisch.
“The Giants are even a good team to paper over Donovan’s career platoon weakness against lefties. You pair his career .812 OPS against righties with Tyler Fitzgerald’s .841 OPS against lefties and you’ve got a strong keystone combination. The Cardinals could then turn the position over to Thomas Saggese and clear a little runway for JJ Wetherholt’s imminent arrival.”
Trading Donovan makes a lot of sense for the Cardinals. He’s likely heading to a new team in free agency next offseason, so it would make sense for the Cardinals to extract some value from him now.
The Giants would benefit in a huge way by adding the versatile veteran. Donovan could play corner outfield or anywhere across the infield dirt. He’s not an incredible defender, but his versatility makes him more valuable.
