5 Brendan Donovan trade packages that Cardinals fans would actually accept

The St. Louis Cardinals have a good one in Brendan Donovan, and if they are going to cash in on his trade value this offseason, it better be for a package worthwhile.

With most teams in baseball seeming to have some level of interest in trading for Donovan, the Cardinals should be in a position of strength when it comes to negotiations. Yes, it seems like they believe trading Donovan would be best for their rebuild (even though I would personally rather keep him), but they still have two years of control. If teams don't make aggressive offers, it would be foolish to let him go.

The Cardinals have been clear in their desire to acquire cost-controlled pitching for Donovan, ideally someone with upside that can help them compete for years to come. But there are early names that people have begun to speculate that I just do not understand why that would make sense for the Cardinals to consider.

For example, the names thrown around from the Kansas City Royals thus far would be dissapointing headliners for a Donovan package. RHP Kris Bubic had a great year in 2025, but he is a free agent after the 2026 season. Noah Cameron posted a sub-3.00 ERA in his rookie campaign, but I don't see him as a player who could ever be more than a #3 starter in his best years. There are other names, but do they really make you want to trade Donovan?

If I'm Chaim Bloom, and honestly, what I truly believe he and the front office will do, is I would set the bar high for what it will take to acquire Donovan, and allow teams to bid against one another to get his services. The Cardinals hold a valuable asset, have many reasons to hold onto him, and 20+ teams who would love to take Donovan off of their hands. That screams to me a seller's market in this scenario, not a moment where the Cardinals need to settle for whatever is offered.

I've drawn up five trades that I think Cardinals fans would actually be excited about if the club pulled one of them off. Now, normally, I don't like providing specific trade package ideas, because this is truly a guessing game. What I am trying to do is put into context the kinds of arms I think St. Louis would be interested in and would be a significant return from Donovan, and I tried to find teams that actually fit that bill as a trade partner.

If you disagree on the valuation of these deals, no big deal, but the main point of this is to try and give a rough framework for what the Cardinals should be hoping for in a Donovan deal.

Here are 5 Brendan Donovan trade packages that Cardinals fans would actually accept

Cleveland Guardians

While it seems like there are more teams interested in Donovan than those who are not, one of the clubs that we've heard linked to him thus far is the Cleveland Guardians, and they really do match up well as a destination if the Cardinals do deal Donovan.

Rob Cerfolio, the Cardinals' assistant general manager of player development and performance, and Larry Day, the Cardinals' director of player development, were both hired by the Cardinals' last offseason from the Guardians organization. Given their long history with the organization, their valuations of the Guardians' pitching have to be valued highly.

Cleveland has a long track record of producing very good big league pitching, and there are some interesting arms at both the big league level and in the minor league levels that I would be interested in targeting if I were the Cardinals.

Parker Messick is far from my favorite arm that I'll discuss today, but he had a really nice first taste of big league action for the Guardians, and I think the left-hander has traits the Cardinals would value. Beyond the fact that he isn't eligible for arbitration until 2029 or free agency until 2032, Messick posted a 2.72 ERA and 2.98 FIP in his seven big league starts, striking out 23% of the batters he faced while walking just 3.6% of them.

Messick produced a good amount of swing and miss for a rookie, barely walked hitters, and had a 72.1% first-pitch strike rate. He is very quick in his delivery and rhythm on the mound, truly making hitters feel like he is on the attack at all times. The lefty has a good amount of upside and a ton of team control, something the Cardinals really need to nail in a Donovan trade.

The second piece of this trade package is further away from the Major Leagues but boasts even higher potential at a young age. Braylon Doughty, who was drafted out of high school by the Guardians with the 36th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, is a good athlete with a fluid delivery and boasts an above-average fastball with a near plus-plus curveball and plus slider. His fastball has been up to 96-97 MPH before, and if he finds a way to sit in the mid-90s, his arsenal could play up as a mid-rotation starter or even better.

Doughty doesn't turn 20 until December, but he was arguably the Guardians' most impressive pitching prospect in their system this year, posting a 3.48 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 85.1 innings for their Low-A affiliate. That may make him a tough name to grab from their system, but like I said, this deal better hurt for whoever wants to acquire Donovan.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Do I expect the Cardinals to get both River Ryan and Mike Sirota from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a trade for Donovan? Probably not. But this is what I'm asking for, and I'd hope to get something in the ballpark to part ways with the utility man All-Star if the World Champions really want him.

The Dodgers' prospect pool is really top-heavy with position players right now, so I would imagine if the Cardinals consider an offer from Los Angeles, it would potentially include one of their up-and-coming outfielders as well as a starter.

River Ryan missed the entire 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery, but he has some incredible stuff that is worth gambling on. Ryan's plus four-seam fastball sits in the mid-to-upper 90s and reaches up to 100 MPH with a ton of vertical break that makes it a hard pitch to square up and easy to miss, while his two-seam fastball stays in the mid-90s but is great for inducing ground balls. His slider is also a plus pitch, and his cutter is above-average, making for a pretty full arsenal already.

The Dodgers are loaded with pitching right now and have other prospects on the way or getting healthy again like Ryan, so I do wonder if they would be comfortable making Ryan the headliner of a Donovan package if they wanted to make the move.

Aside from Siorta, the Dodgers have a wealth of outfield prospects - headlined by Josue De Paula, Eduardo Quintero, and Zyhir Hope alongside Siorta and names like James Tibbs III and Ching-Hsien Ko. Much like how the Dodgers have an abundance of pitchers that allows them to deal from a position of strength, I wonder if they'd be open to moving Siorta to get a Donovan deal done.

Siorta is an all-around outfielder who can project to handle center field long-term as well. His ability as a defender and to steal bases gives him a good floor as a prospect, but he's also extremely disciplined at the plate (48 walks in 59 games) and could continue to develop even more power. Oh, and he's also the grand-nephew of Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford, so he's got that going for him!

If the Cardinals swung this deal, they'd be betting on the upside and recovery of Ryan, a risk I would like taking personally, while acquiring a really interesting center field prospect who most outlets consider to be a top 100 prospect in the game. Again, is this a rich package? You bet. But again, if I'm Chaim Bloom, I'm asking for the moon and not settling for anything less than the sky.

New York Yankees

Make no mistake about it, the New York Yankees have been hot for Brendan Donovan for quite some time. They really like him, and they've been rumored to be in on him for years now. Could this be the offseason they pony up and give the Cardinals an offer they can't refuse?

The Yankees are actually a really good match for the Cardinals in a Donovan trade. While Trent Grisham's return on the qualifying offer complicates things, they do have Jazz Chisholm Jr. a year away from free agency, and Ryan McMahon didn't exactly light the world on fire after being acquired at the trade deadline. The Yankees have a lot of position players who miss time due to injury, and Donovan would be the perfect Swiss-Army knife to plug in wherever they need him, whenever they need him, while providing great offensive production and leadership for their clubhouse alongside Aaron Judge. Acquiring Donovan could also allow them to be creative with moving other position players.

The Cardinals want cost-controlled pitching, and Will Warren certainly fits the bill for that. The Yankees' rotation currently is headlined by Max Fried and Cam Schlitter, with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon set to return from injuries in 2026. Alongside those names, the Yankees also have Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, and multiple exciting arms in the upper levels of the minor leagues.

So, while you can never have enough pitching, New York is as equipped as just about anyone to flip some of that to go get a player like Donovan.

Warren made 33 starts for the Yankees in his first full big league season, covering 162.1 innings of work to the tune of a 4.44 ERA and 4.07 FIP. That's not flashy, but for a rookie, it really is a great season, and his 24.1 K% and 24.6 whiff% show signs of further potential in his arm. Warren's offspeed stuff got batted around quite a bit in 2025, but his four-seam fastball graded out as a +11 run value while his sinker graded out +5.

Warren doesn't have the upside of a Schlitter, but that's not a player that the Yankees, or really any organization, would deal, barring a huge move. But Warren has already shown the ability to go pole to pole with good production, has swing and miss stuff that could get even better, and has a ton of team control.

Ben Hess, the other name in this proposal, was the Yankees' first-round pick back in 2024 out of the University of Alabama, and boasts a big fastball and nasty curveball that have talent evaluators dreaming of what his upside can be. In his professional season this year, Hess posted a 3.22 ERA in 22 starts, striking out 139 batters in just 103.1 innings of work. Seven of those starts came in Double-A, and his 2.70 ERA and 45 strikeouts in just 36.2 innings showed he's passing each challenge he's faced thus far.

Getting a duo of Warren and Hess would be quite the Haul for St. Louis. The mixture of an MLB-ready arm with real upside, paired with an arm that is further away with an even better ceiling, is probably the dream scenario for St. Louis, and the Yankees have plenty of arms that could mix and match to fit this kind of deal.

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.

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Arizona Diamondbacks' relationship with Ketel Marte has soured big time over the last few months, and it seems like there is a good chance he could be on the move this winter if the right offer comes their way. Even if they don't trade Marte, Donovan could be a really good fit for Arizona, but if they do trade Marte, he becomes an excellent fit.

The Diamondbacks have a lot of talent in their organization and want to compete with the Dodgers, Padres, and Giants in the National League West. Right now, outside of the top five hitters in their starting lineup, things are very bleak for the Diamondbacks offensively, with left field, third base, and DH being three of those problem areas. Well, Donovan can certainly help at any of those spots, along with second base.

For the Cardinals, they would need Arizona to be willing to part with some young pitching to swing this, and that's where I'd be very curious to see what Arizona would be willing to do. Cristian Mena, whom I have as the centerpiece of this deal, would be a very intriguing fit for me and someone the Cardinals would be wise to take a long look at.

Mena has very limited big league experience to this point, and so honestly, this would be a really big risk if the Cardinals went this direction with him as the headliner. Mena is just 22 years old and has already reached the big leagues, and has been a guy who can get a lot of strikeouts for a long time. His fastball sits in the mid-90s, and he has an effective cutter that he uses primarily against left-handed hitters. His offspeed stuff needs to continue to improve, but he really does have a ton of potential.

Patrick Forbes is another big arm in their system with loud stuff, but his limited arsenal of pitches and lack of control are holding him back so far. Ranked as the Diamondbacks' seventh-best prospect according to Baseball America's 2026 rankings, Forbes has a 70-grade fastball that lives in the mid to upper 90s but gets into the triple digits with ride and run, making it a nasty pitch that can get him pretty far. His sweeper is a plus-plus pitch that tunnels well with that fastball, and Arizona has been working with him to develop a few more pitches to help him be an effective starter.

Best-case scenario, Forbes can be a dude in a rotation. A really good scenario would be a middle-of-the-rotation starter. But even if those things don't pan out, he has the stuff to be a really impactful bullpen piece, and I'd love this kind of swing by Bloom if he decided to make it. Getting insanely talented arms into the system for Matt Pierpont and his team to work with is of the utmost importance right now.