Cardinals Projected to Trade Brendan Donovan to NL West Squad

Will St. Louis find the right trade partner?

Apr 30, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Brendan Donovan (33) hits an RBI single against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the second inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals offseason has slowly been building to what feels like the ultimate climax of trading away Brendan Donovan.

Already, the Cardinals purged themselves of former All-Stars Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado. Donovan should net the biggest return of the three, and there's been fairly obvious interest from teams across the board.

Throughout the offseason, we've heard the San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, and Kansas City Royals constantly linked to Donovan. Assuming he finally gets moved sometime in the next month, where is he most likely to end up?

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Giants predicted to win Donovan sweepstakes

Dec 12, 2024; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey speaks during the introductory press conference for shortstop Willy Adames (not pictured) at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images | Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

On Friday, ESPN's Bradford Doolittle predicted that the Giants would carry the day and bring in Donovan to fill their obvious hole at second base, completing one of the strongest infields in all of baseball in the process.

The Giants need a second baseman and the Cardinals are trading any hitter within sniffing distance of age 30. 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."

In a perfect world, the Cardinals' infield will include Saggese, Wetherholt, and Masyn Winn moving forward. That's an uber-talented group of young players who should all be coming into their prime when the Cardinals emerge from their current rebuild.

If St. Louis could land either pitching or power hitting from the Giants in a trade involving multiple prospects, it would have to go in the book as a win for both sides.

The Cardinals have the benefit of multiple teams at least interested, if not clamoring for Donovan's services. It's up to them now to capitalize on that demand.

More MLB: Blue Jays, Cardinals Linked As Possible Trade Partners With 3 Players Named