<\/p>\n
Cardinals infielder\/outfielder Brendan Donovan<\/a><\/strong> figures to be one of the most sought after trade candidates this offseason. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch<\/a> reports that the Royals and Guardians are two of the clubs interested in acquiring him. Goold also mentions that the Yankees and Dodgers had interest prior to the deadline<\/a>, which perhaps indicates they would be interested again.<\/p>\n Donovan, 29 in January, has a strong major league track record. He has appeared in 492 games and stepped to the plate 2,006 times. His 9.1% walk rate is solid while his 13.5% strikeout rate is much better than par. He has slashed .282\/.361\/.411 for a 119 wRC+, indicating he\u2019s been 19% better than league average overall. He has also bounced around the diamond, having played all four infield positions as well as the outfield corners.<\/p>\n He is now two years from free agency. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz<\/a> projects him for a $5.4MM salary in 2026. He\u2019ll be due a raise in 2027 before hitting the open market. The Cards are reportedly<\/a> planning to engage in a multi-year rebuild and likely won\u2019t be competitive in Donovan\u2019s window of control.<\/p>\n Today, a report from Ken Rosenthal, Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic<\/a> says the Cards are willing to entertain offers on many of their players but would prefer to hold Alec Burleson<\/a><\/strong> and Iv\u00e1n Herrera<\/strong><\/a>. Burleson is controlled for three more seasons and Herrera four. That perhaps gives some insight into what the Cards are envisioning as their rebuilding timeline.<\/p>\n That situation alone makes Donovan a trade candidate but there\u2019s also the club\u2019s broader infield picture to consider. Infielder JJ Wetherholt<\/a><\/strong> is one of the top prospects in the sport and is knocking on the door of the majors. Masyn Winn<\/a><\/strong>, controlled for four more years, is a strong glove-first shortstop. Wetherholt is also a shortstop but his defense is not at Winn\u2019s level, so he\u2019s likely to be moved to second or third base. The Cards also have Donovan, Nolan Arenado<\/a><\/strong>, Nolan Gorman<\/a><\/strong> and Thomas Saggese<\/a><\/strong> in the mix for playing time at those spots.<\/p>\n Arenado and Gorman are coming off some poor seasons and don\u2019t have huge trade value right now. That\u2019s especially true for Arenado, considering his contract, which features a large salary and a no-trade clause. Trading Donovan is the best path for the Cards to both recoup some meaningful young talent, likely on the pitching side, while also freeing up more playing time for others.<\/p>\n President of baseball operations Chaim Bloom admitted to Goold<\/a> this week that he would likely be focused on acquiring rotation options. That could be controllable young guys or even veterans to eat innings. That will be especially true if they trade Sonny Gray<\/a><\/strong>, who is getting interest.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve definitely been listening on him,\u201d Bloom said. \u201cAnd definitely, as you would imagine, any time you have a good player, you\u2019re probably going to get some attention and people who are interested. That\u2019s not a surprise. He\u2019s still one of the better pitchers in the league. We value him very highly. Just where we are and thinking long term, we\u2019ve talked to him and we feel there might be something that makes sense. We\u2019ll continue to explore that.\u201d<\/p>\n Without Gray, the projected rotation includes Andre Pallante<\/a><\/strong>, Matthew Liberatore<\/a><\/strong>, Michael McGreevy<\/a><\/strong> and Kyle Leahy<\/a><\/strong>. Even a rebuilding club will want to do better than that. Bloom also spoke of a desire to add a veteran or two to the bullpen, though that would likely come via free agency rather than trade.<\/p>\n Given Donovan\u2019s defensive flexibility, he could make sense for almost any contending club, but the Royals are certainly a good fit. \u201cRight now we don\u2019t have somebody who can play infield and right field, and that\u2019s something we\u2019ve got to look at,\u201d Royals president of baseball operations J.J. Picollo said to Goold, speaking generally, not of Donovan specifically. \u201cIf we had somebody who could go from the infield to the outfield that\u2019s very beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n The Royals have had problems in the outfield for years. In 2025, they got a collective .225\/.285\/.348 line from their outfielders. That resulted in a wRC+ of 73, dead last in the majors. Second base was also a problem this year. Jonathan India<\/a><\/strong> and Michael Massey<\/a><\/strong> were the primary options at the keystone. India hit .233\/.323\/.346 on the year for a wRC+ of 89. Massey was even worse, with a .244\/.268\/.313 line and 57 wRC+. India is going into his final arbitration season, with a projected $7.4MM salary. Massey is projected for just $2MM and can be controlled through 2028.<\/p>\n The payroll appears to be tight<\/a> in Kansas City but moving on from India and replacing him with Donovan would actually save money. It would, however, require the Royals to give up something of value to the Cardinals. Thankfully, the Cards need controllable pitching more than anything and that\u2019s something the Royals have. Kansas City currently projects to have a rotation of Cole Ragans<\/a><\/strong>, Seth Lugo<\/a><\/strong>, Kris Bubic<\/a><\/strong> and Michael Wacha<\/a><\/strong>. That leaves just one spot for Noah Cameron<\/a><\/strong>, Stephen Kolek<\/a><\/strong>, Ryan Bergert<\/a><\/strong>, Luinder Avila<\/a><\/strong> or Ben Kudrna<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Since pitching injuries are inevitable, the Royals would presumably prefer to hang onto that depth. However, without a lot of money to spend, there\u2019s an argument for using those arms on the trade block to address their needs on the position player side. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com<\/a> reports that they are also looking for a left fielder and righty-swinging guy to platoon with Jac Caglianone<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Donovan swings from the left side and wouldn\u2019t help with the latter need, though he could help in left field if he is acquired and either Massey, India or someone like Nick Loftin<\/a><\/strong> takes hold of the second base job. Some righty platoon bats who wouldn\u2019t break the bank include Lane Thomas<\/a><\/strong>, Miguel Andujar<\/a><\/strong>, Randal Grichuk<\/a><\/strong>, Austin Hays<\/a><\/strong>, Rob Refsnyder<\/a><\/strong> and Austin Slater<\/a><\/strong> .<\/p>\n The Guards are also a sensible fit. Similar to the Royals, they have been struggling to get strong production from their outfield. As mentioned, the Royals had the worst outfield production in the league in 2025. The Guards were barely above them on that list with a .225\/.288\/.341 line and 77 wRC+. Second base was also a weak spot, with Brayan Rocchio<\/a><\/strong> and Daniel Schneemann<\/a><\/strong> getting most of the playing time this year. Rocchio finished the season with a .233\/.290\/.340 line and 77 wRC+, with Schneemann posting a .206\/.283\/.354 line and 79 wRC+.<\/p>\n For both the outfield and second base, there are some potential in-house solutions. Travis Bazzana<\/a><\/strong>, one of the club\u2019s top prospects, is a second baseman who is closing in on his major league debut. In the outfield, Chase DeLauter<\/a><\/strong> and George Valera<\/a><\/strong> both got late promotions in 2025. Given Donovan\u2019s versatility, he could move around the field depending on which of those young guys are healthy and productive. His modest projected salary is also an obvious highlight for a low-spending club like the Guardians.<\/p>\n There\u2019s often an abundance of controllable pitching depth in Cleveland but that\u2019s less the case than usual right now. Their rotation was middling in 2025, but they did just bolster their pipeline by adding Khal Stephen<\/a><\/strong> in the Shane Bieber<\/a><\/strong> trade.<\/p>\n For the Yankees and Dodgers, their situations have changed since their reported interest in Donovan in July. The Yanks grabbed Ryan McMahon<\/a><\/strong> from the Rockies ahead of the deadline, moving Jazz Chisholm Jr.<\/a><\/strong> to second. They could still fit Donovan in the outfield but they will probably try to reunite with Cody Bellinger<\/a><\/strong> and\/or Trent Grisham<\/a><\/strong>, while perhaps pursuing Kyle Tucker<\/a><\/strong> as well.<\/p>\n The Dodgers, they had Max Muncy<\/a><\/strong> on the injured list in July and Tommy Edman<\/a><\/strong> was banged up as well. Muncy got healthy by the end of the year. Edman recently underwent surgery<\/a> to address his ankle and should be good to go by spring training. Both Edman and Donovan are capable of playing both second base and the outfield, so perhaps there\u2019s a way they can co-exist. Donovan\u2019s two-year window of control would line up with recent reporting<\/a> that the Dodgers might look for a short-term outfield solution since they have so many prospects on the way. Donovan could fit into that plan but the Dodgers could also target more of a straightforward outfielder.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mlbtraderumors.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cardinals infielder\/outfielder Brendan Donovan figures to be one of the most sought after trade candidates this offseason. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Royals and Guardians are two of the clubs interested in acquiring him. Goold also mentions that the Yankees and Dodgers had interest prior to the deadline, which perhaps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2155542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[412722,404700,377394,412723],"class_list":["post-2155541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-alec-burleson","tag-brendan-donovan","tag-ivan-herrera","tag-sonny-gray"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Royals-Guardians-Among-Teams-Interested-In-Brendan-Donovan.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2155541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2155543,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155541\/revisions\/2155543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2155542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2155541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2155541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2155541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}