Cardinals Do Right By Brendan Donovan With $5.8M Agreement

The St. Louis Cardinals avoided any distractions with All-Star utility man Brendan Donovan on Thursday.

The deadline came and went for teams and arbitration-eligible players to file salary numbers for the 2026 season. Unlike last offseason, the Cardinals avoided arbitration with Donovan. MLB.com's John Denton reported the news on X on Thursday.

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"Cardinals All-Star second baseman Brendan Donovan agreed to a $5.8 million salary for the 2026 season with the club on Thursday to avoid arbitration, a source confirmed," Denton wrote on X. "Donovan, who hit a career-best .287 in 2025, gets a substantial raise over the $2.8 million he made last year."

The Cardinals made the right call

Sep 15, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan (21) poses for a photo after Donovan is named the St. Louis Cardinals 2025 Roberto Clemente nominee prior to their game against the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Puetz-Imagn Images | Joe Puetz-Imagn Images

Last offseason, Donovan and the Cardinals weren't able to avoid arbitration. Rumors surfaced about the possibility of a potential multi-year extension, like what the club did with Tommy Edman back in 2024. But the Cardinals were unable to get a deal to the finish line. They went into an arbitration hearing and St. Louis won.

He responded with the best season of his career to this point and is getting a healthy raise in response, and doesn't have to go to a hearing. It's a bit above MLB Trade Rumors' projections as well. He was projected to land a $5.4 million deal by MLB Trade Rumors. So, he cashes in with a well-deserved deal.

If you're wondering if this changes anything on the trade chatter around him, it does not. Donovan has been the most popular trade candidate on the Cardinals this offseason. Now that his salary for the 2026 season is known, it doesn't change anything about the trade process. St. Louis could still flip him at any time, and the rumors out there have been pointing to this idea all offseason to this point.

The four teams that have been most consistently linked to Donovan are the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Kansas City Royals, and the Boston Red Sox. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Thursday that the Mariners, Giants, and Royals have "maintained some level of interest" in Donovan and the Red Sox have had interest "pending other moves."

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