5 potential trade locations for St. Louis Cardinals Brendan Donovan

He's a wanted man, and the interest in the All-Star utility player is gaining steam.
Milwaukee Brewers v St. Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee Brewers v St. Louis Cardinals | Dilip Vishwanat/GettyImages
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Los Angeles Dodgers

Here we go again!

The Los Angeles Dodgers are eyeing a utility player from the St. Louis Cardinals with two years of team control left, who is recovering from surgery. Does this ring a bell? Are we all getting flashbacks to the 2023-2024 offseason? Yes? Okay, just checking.

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Los Angeles Dodgers have inquired about Brendan Donovan. MLB's super team and the 2025 World Series champions are looking to get better on the margins, and Brendan Donovan would help them do just that.

The Dodgers received less-than-ideal production from Michael Conforto in left field last year, and Donnie seems to be able to slot in nicely there for the 2026 Dodgers. His on-base tendencies would sit well behind the gauntlet that is Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Max Muncy. Donovan would boost the floor of this potent Dodgers lineup dramatically. His defensive versatility will give manager Dave Roberts even more flexibility when filling out a lineup card.

Over the last few years, the Dodgers have leaned heavily on both quantity and quality in their rotation. They've been able to acquire pricey pitchers like Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow while filling out the rest of their rotation with homegrown pitchers such as Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski, and Gavin Stone. These pitchers all come with injury concerns, but the sheer quantity of reliable starters has boded well for Los Angeles.

I'm skeptical that Brendan Donovan would be enough by himself to acquire Emmet Sheehan. Sheehan is still young, and he was reliable for the Dodgers in the playoffs this year. There's no shortage of high-end Dodgers' prospects for Chaim Bloom to pull from should he strike a deal with the Dodgers.

Seeing Brendan Donovan, a fan favorite, join forces with Tommy Edman and the evil Los Angeles Dodgers would be a tough pill for Cardinals fans to swallow. If that happens, it would be wise of us to all remember that this is a long-term decision to trade Brendan Donovan. Hopefully, the return brings the Cardinals back to perennial contention as quickly as possible.

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