5 best fits for Brendan Donovan as Cardinals near end of his trade saga

It feels like any moment now, the St. Louis Cardinals could be parting ways with All-Star utility man Brendan Donovan.

This past week, I got the chance to interview Donovan on the Dealin' the Cards podcast's annual charity livestream (you can catch that conversation here or in the embedded video below), and he's well aware of the rumors floating around regarding his future. And as we talked to beat reporters like Katie Woo, Derrick Goold, and Jeff Jones, all of them seemed to confirm that as well. The overwhelming sentiment is that Donovan will be wearing a different uniform next year.

There have been so many teams linked to Donovan at this point that it really shouldn't be a surprise if any team trades for him, but today I wanted to look at the five teams that seem to be the best fits for a Donovan trade, both in terms of their need for him, as well as their ability to match the high asking price the Cardinals have for Donovan's services.

Just missed: Kansas City Royals

One of the earliest teams linked to Donovan this offseason, to me, the Royals feel like the "floor" for a Donovan deal, and if he ends up being sent to Kansas City, I'll likely be disappointed by the return.

The name from Kansas City that has been floated around the most is left-handed pitcher Noah Cameron, who had a very successful rookie year for the Royals, but his under-the-hood metrics don't look all that favorable. He has a dynamite curveball and a highly effective slider, but his fastball is mediocre at best and needs improvement if he is going to be more than a back-end of the rotation starter long-term.

Yes, Cameron did post a 2.99 ERA in 24 starts this past year, which is excellent for a rookie, but his 4.18 FIP and 4.08 xERA tell me there was some smoke and mirrors involved in that stat line. Cameron did miss a lot of bats in the minor leagues, but if he's going to do that in the majors as well, his fastball needs to bump up from the low-90s. When a prospect has a deadly curveball or slider, it makes sense that they'll strike out a lot of minor leaguers who just don't see that kind of pitch very often. During his first full major league season, Cameron struck out just 114 batters in 138.1 innings of work.

The Cardinals' previous regime would have loved a guy like Cameron, but Chaim Bloom and his staff have been targeting young arms with plus fastballs and big-time stuff, and while Cameron's off-speed stuff fits the bill, I just don't see his fastball or overall swing-and-miss ability as being good enough to headline a Donovan deal.