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

#2 - New York Yankees

The New York Yankees have expressed interest in acquiring Donovan for a long time now, and they have the roster flexibility to make the move if they finally want to cash in on their pursuit of Donovan.

Jazz Chisholm Jr., whom the Yankees acquired this past summer to bolster their offense, is someone they could flip to another team this offseason to replenish their system, or they could keep him at second base and have Donovan replace Ryan McMahon at third, who dissapointed for the Yankees upon being acquired at the deadline as well.

Considering how old and often injured the Yankees roster is, having a player like Donovan could fill in at five different positions on the field would be a major win for Aaron Boone. The Yankees have a potent offense, but their left-handed bats did rank in the bottom third in baseball in batting average and on-base percentage, something Donovan does really well, along with a 140 wRC+ against right-handed pitching.

If the Yankees are aggressive in their pursuit of Donovan, they have so many young pitchers that could be of interest to St. Louis. Any of their right-handed prospects like Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Carlos Lagrange, and Ben Hess would all be really nice headliners for a Donovan trade.

Rodriguez already has five average or above-average pitches with a plus fastball to set the tone for him and plus control of his offerings. He could very well be in the majors this year. Lagrange has a plus fastball and slider that get a ton of swing and miss, and he could see big league action as soon as 2027, possibly even 2026. Hess was the Yankees' first-round pick in 2024 and uses his plus slider alongside his average to above-average fastball, curveball, change-up, and control to get outs. His fastball has shown the ability to hit the high-90s, so if he can consistently live in the middle or upper 90s, he could be even better than he projects to be right now.

Considering the quantity of exciting young arms the Yankees have, it really wouldn't surprise me to see them turn one or two of them into Donovan. I didn't even mention other pitching prospects they have, like Bryce Cunningham or Chase Hampton, or the fact that they have Cam Schlitter, Will Warren, and Luis Gil in their rotation right now.

The Yankees really need to make a splash now if they want to make the most of Aaron Judge's prime. He'll turn 34 in 2026, so the clock is ticking to capture the Yankees' 27th World Series title with Judge in a Yankees uniform.