{"id":2264822,"date":"2026-02-03T15:29:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2264822"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:29:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:29:33","slug":"why-royals-couldnt-pull-off-brendan-donovan-trade-with-cardinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/why-royals-couldnt-pull-off-brendan-donovan-trade-with-cardinals\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Royals Couldn&#8217;t Pull Off Brendan Donovan Trade With Cardinals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div q:key=\"QW_4\"><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6i q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Brendan Donovan made sense for the Kansas City Royals, but the Royals didn&#39;t make sense for the St. Louis Cardinals. <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6j q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6k\">Brendan Donovan made sense for the Kansas City Royals, but the Royals didn&#8217;t make sense for the St. Louis Cardinals. <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6l q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>On Monday, the Cardinals shipped Donovan, their All-Star second baseman, to the Seattle Mariners. The result was an absolute haul, which saw St. Louis pick up two former first-round picks, plus two Competitive Balance Round B picks in this summer&#39;s Major League Baseball Draft.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6m q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6n\">On Monday, the Cardinals shipped Donovan, their All-Star second baseman, to the Seattle Mariners. The result was an absolute haul, which saw St. Louis pick up two former first-round picks, plus two Competitive Balance Round B picks in this summer&#8217;s Major League Baseball Draft.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6o q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>All winter, it seemed like the Royals didn&#39;t want to give up on trading for Donovan. But now that they&#39;ve seen the package he went for, they can rest easy knowing that there really wasn&#39;t anything they could do to measure up.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6p q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6q\">All winter, it seemed like the Royals didn&#8217;t want to give up on trading for Donovan. But now that they&#8217;ve seen the package he went for, they can rest easy knowing that there really wasn&#8217;t anything they could do to measure up.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6r q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p><em>If you like our content,&nbsp;<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\"><em>choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6s q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6t\"><em>If you like our content,\u00a0<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\"><em>choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6u q:key=vcaa:\n\n<h2>Royals didn&#39;t have the farm system to match this deal<\/h2>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=6v q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">Royals didn&#8217;t have the farm system to match this deal<\/h2>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=6x q:key=vcaa:https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_4302,h_2419,x_0,y_121\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_royals\/01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw--><!--qv q:id=6y q:key=VjqC:mL_1--><!--qv q:id=6z q:key=deAA:7d_2--><!--qv q:s q:sref=6z q:key=--><!--qv q:id=70 q:key=deAA:7d_1--><!--qv q:s q:sref=70 q:key=--><!--qv q:id=71 q:key=cHU9:7d_0--><!--qv q:id=72 q:key=deAA:e2_0--><!--qv q:id=73 q:key=B0c2:SZ_1--><\/p>\n<figure q:key=\"9m_3\" q:id=\"74\"><!--qv q:s q:sref=73 q:key=--><!--qv q:s q:sref=72 q:key=--><\/p>\n<div class=\"overflow-hidden bg-lightGrey undefined\" on:qvisible=\"q-DcwIrSh3.js#_hW[0]\" q:id=\"75\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_121,w_4302,h_2419\/c_fill,w_360,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw.jpg 1x, &#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_121,w_4302,h_2419\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw.jpg 2x, &#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_121,w_4302,h_2419\/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 719px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_121,w_4302,h_2419\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw.jpg 1x,&#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_121,w_4302,h_2419\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw.jpg 2x, &#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_121,w_4302,h_2419\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw.jpg 3x\" media=\"(max-width: 1079px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_121,w_4302,h_2419\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw.jpg 1x,&#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_121,w_4302,h_2419\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw.jpg 2x,&#10;    https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_121,w_4302,h_2419\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Finside_the_royals%2F01kghzn68n6rxkmwbrtw.jpg 3x\" media=\"(min-width: 1080px)\"><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><\/p>\n<p><figcaption q:id=\"77\">Nov 9, 2025; Mesa, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals catcher Blake Mitchell (8) during the Arizona Fall League Fall Stars Game at Sloan Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=78 q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Because it was a three-team trade, Seattle wound up giving up four very valuable assets. They sent outfielder Tai Peete and right-handed pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje (possibly still a switch-pitcher?), plus the 68th overall pick in the draft, to St. Louis. But they also shipped slick-fielding third baseman Ben Williamson to the Tampa Bay Rays.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=79 q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7a\">Because it was a three-team trade, Seattle wound up giving up four very valuable assets. They sent outfielder Tai Peete and right-handed pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje (possibly still a switch-pitcher?), plus the 68th overall pick in the draft, to St. Louis. But they also shipped slick-fielding third baseman Ben Williamson to the Tampa Bay Rays.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=7b q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>If we&#39;re trying to find the Royals&#39; equivalent for this trade, you probably have to swap out Peete and Cijntje for outfielder Sean Gamble, this year&#39;s first-round pick, and rising star pitcher Kendry Chourio. Former first-rounder Blake Mitchell could be spared because the Cardinals are already loaded with catching prospects. <\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=7c q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7d\">If we&#8217;re trying to find the Royals&#8217; equivalent for this trade, you probably have to swap out Peete and Cijntje for outfielder Sean Gamble, this year&#8217;s first-round pick, and rising star pitcher Kendry Chourio. Former first-rounder Blake Mitchell could be spared because the Cardinals are already loaded with catching prospects. <\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=7e q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Even then, the Royals would have to kick in some more pieces. They don&#39;t have a competitive balance pick after the second round, which the Mariners included, and sending their Competitive Balance Round A pick, which is 30th overall, seems a bit steep for this scenario.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=7f q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7g\">Even then, the Royals would have to kick in some more pieces. They don&#8217;t have a competitive balance pick after the second round, which the Mariners included, and sending their Competitive Balance Round A pick, which is 30th overall, seems a bit steep for this scenario.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=7h q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Then again, the Royals don&#39;t have an equivalent of Williamson, a 25-year-old who has work to do with the bat, but provides a super high floor with a fantastic glove at third base. So perhaps the Royals would have had to toss in that 30th overall pick and call it a day.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=7i q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7j\">Then again, the Royals don&#8217;t have an equivalent of Williamson, a 25-year-old who has work to do with the bat, but provides a super high floor with a fantastic glove at third base. So perhaps the Royals would have had to toss in that 30th overall pick and call it a day.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=7k q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p>Arguably, the Royals then would have been giving up three of the five most valuable assets they had on the farm. Even for a stud contributor like Donovan, that move was fraught with risk and not at all guaranteed to get them into the top echelon of American League contenders.<\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=7l q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7m\">Arguably, the Royals then would have been giving up three of the five most valuable assets they had on the farm. Even for a stud contributor like Donovan, that move was fraught with risk and not at all guaranteed to get them into the top echelon of American League contenders.<\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--qv q:key=QW_2--><!--qv q:id=7n q:key=vcaa:\n\n<p><em><strong>More MLB: <\/strong><\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/royals\/onsi\/news\/vinnie-pasquantino-offers-honest-thoughts-on-11m-royals-extension-jackson3\"><em><strong>Vinnie Pasquantino Offers Honest Thoughts on $11M Royals Extension<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n--><!--qv q:id=7o q:key=lY4S:mL_1--><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7p\"><em><strong>More MLB: <\/strong><\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/royals\/onsi\/news\/vinnie-pasquantino-offers-honest-thoughts-on-11m-royals-extension-jackson3\"><em><strong>Vinnie Pasquantino Offers Honest Thoughts on $11M Royals Extension<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><!--\/qv--><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brendan Donovan made sense for the Kansas City Royals, but the Royals didn&#8217;t make sense for the St. Louis Cardinals. On Monday, the Cardinals shipped Donovan, their All-Star second baseman, to the Seattle Mariners. The result was an absolute haul, which saw St. Louis pick up two former first-round picks, plus two Competitive Balance Round [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2264823,"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":[],"class_list":["post-2264822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Why-Royals-Couldnt-Pull-Off-Brendan-Donovan-Trade-With-Cardinals.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2264822","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=2264822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2264822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2264824,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2264822\/revisions\/2264824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2264823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2264822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2264822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2264822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}