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

#5 - Cleveland Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians are another American League Central team that has been linked to Donovan often this offseason, and they match up well with the Cardinals for a number of reasons.

First, on the Guardians' side of things, their offense was awful last year, and it's only because of their pitching that they were able to make an October appearance in 2025. The Guardians ranked 29th in average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage last season and were only able to score 643 runs, which ranked 28th in all of baseball.

Adding a player like Donovan to their lineup would be a huge win for the Guardians. He fits a lot of what they like in their bats - great contact skills, high on-base percentage, and a good defender - and he would be able to plug into so many different positions for them as needed. The versatility that Donovan offers is especially valuable to a smaller market team when they don't have the resources to go spend big on holes when they pop up.

For the Cardinals, there is a natural connection with the Guardians here, as assistant general manager Rob Cerfolio spent over a decade with the Guardians before coming over to the Cardinals last offseason. If anyone knows the Guardians system, it's Cerfolio. And the Cardinals have shown over the last year a level of comfort in making deals with teams they are already familiar with.

In terms of a return for the Cardinals, the Guardians offer a variety of names that would be worth considering for St. Louis. Parker Messick is a lower-upside, MLB-ready arm that would be a dissapointing headliner but would be a welcome addition as part of the deal. Braylon Doughty, whom the Guardians selected with the 36th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, is an arm with upside that I would be interested in snagging from their farm system.

Khal Stephen, Daniel Espino, Alfonsin Rosario, Andrew Walters, and a variety of other arms and bats paried together could offer a nice return for St. Louis here. If a deal is made with Cleveland, I likely wouldn't be as disappointed as I would be with the Royals' return, but it still would lack the kind of excitement I'd get with other potential returns on this list.