Justin Hollander discusses Mariners' Brendan Donovan trade as Spring Training begins

The Mariners' 11th-hour move to trade for the now-former Cardinal has the team's general manager thinking this might be the best roster he's ever assembled in Seattle

Sep 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan (33) runs to second against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

With one of the most talked-about deals of what turned out to be a long offseason finally completed, the Seattle Mariners finally got their guy on Feb. 2nd. The deal to acquire infielder Brendan Donovan from the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-way-trade involving the Tampa Bay Rays set up the squad for even more success in 2026 than they enjoyed during their AL West Championship season of a year ago.

As Spring Training is now unfolding, Mariners general manager Justin Hollander discussed the move with MLB.com, which the website posted as part of a video interview on Feb 8. In it, he talked not just about how Donovan fits the M's on the field, but in the clubhouse and community, as well.

"One of the really valuable parts about Brendan is that you don't have to decide 'this is what we're going to do for 162 games', you can adjust on the fly," Hollander stated. "He was probably our number one trade target of our offseason... It's [his] high-end skill set that - just a natural hitter, who gets on base, doesn't strike out a lot, and from what we heard, high in makeup, too. A really good cultural fit in our clubhouse."

"When we talk about players... the common traits among winning teams and winning players, I think is personified by so many different parts of our team. So, making sure we didn't tip our clubhouse in a negative direction was really important and something we spent a lot of time doing homework on."

Aug 11, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan (33) flips the ball to first base during the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

With the career .282 hitter having now taken his first rips in the batting cage down in Arizona, it won't be long before he makes his on-field debut and heads to the regular season as the newest lynchpin of the lineup. Thats something that suits Hollander just fine, as he sees this as the Mariners' shots ever at winning it all.

"I really feel like we have the most complete team that we've had going into Spring Training since I've been here."

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