5 Brendan Donovan trade packages that Cardinals fans would actually accept

Pittsburgh Pirates

What?!?! A trade within the division? Surely there is no way! Well, my guess is it won't be happening, but it sounds like Bloom may be more open to such deals than the Cardinals have been historically as a franchise.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has some great reporting on this potential shift, and with the Pirates stocked on pitching and looking to upgrade their offense, on paper, the two sides make a lot of sense to swing a deal.

Mitch Keller has been a popular name in Pirates rumors and has even been brought up for the Cardinals, but I reaaaallllly don't like the idea of him being the headliner in a Donovan trade. Like, I don't like it at all. Not even a bit. Keller is a solid pitcher, and one I actually won't mind in a vacuum, but he's set to make $17 million, $18.5 million, and $20.5 million over the next three seasons, so he only has one year more of control and costs a lot more money than Donovan, and honestly is a mid-rotation starter at best. Donovan has to fetch you more than that.

The name I personally would be asking for from the Pirates is Braxton Ashcraft, a 26-year-old who has spent time as both a reliever and a starter for Pittsburgh but clearly showed real potential as a rotation arm down the stretch. Ashcraft posted a 2.71 ERA in 26 games (8 starts) for the Pirates in 2025, but his ERA as a starter actually dropped to 2.16 as he struck out 35 batters in 33.1 innings. Ashcraft has an upper-90s fastball and a really nasty curveball to go along with an effective sinker and slider as well. He has the tools to be a very good starter in this league.

On the prospect side of things, I went with Antwone Kelly, who Baseball America just ranked as the seventh-best prospect in the Pirates' system going into 2026. Kelly, 22, boasts a plus-plus fastball with an above-average slider and change-up, and if he can continue to refine at least one of his secondary pitches, he can be a really dynamic arm in the Cardinals' rotation in the future. If not, his stuff could surely play out of a bullpen as well. He does have above-average command thus far, so you don't have to worry about him being a guy with great stuff who can't control it.

I do believe it is notable that Joe Douglas, who the Cardinals just hired to oversee their professional scouting department, came over from Pittsburgh this offseason and was their head of player analysis. His job now is to scout other organizations, and he was literally just with the Pirates. He would have as good an idea as anyone on who to target from the Pirates' arms.

One name I do want to throw out there as well from the Pirates is Johan Oviedo, who many Cardinals fans remember from his time with the organization as a prospect and depth starter prior to being flipped at the 2022 trade deadline for Jose Quintana. The Athletic has reported that the Pirates are really high on Oviedo after the work they saw him do this year, as his fastball shapes are much improved, and he can get up to 98 MPH on his four-seam fastball. He has the same amount of control as Donovan, so the fit is interesting, but the Pirates are not opposed to moving him.