Cardinals' stance on a potential Brendan Donovan trade should thrill fans

While I've made my stance clear on why I'd love to see the St. Louis Cardinals keep Brendan Donovan around long-term, I do understand why they may choose to trade him. If they do, the ask from me has always been that they better be blown away by an offer; otherwise, extending him is easily the best option.

Well, the Cardinals seem to agree, at least when it comes to whether or not they trade him this offseason.

In new reporting from Katie Woo over at The Athletic, in the aftermath of the Sonny Gray trade, the Cardinals are expected to remain active on the trade market, but they are holding a high price tag when it comes to Donovan. Woo shared that a source within the Cardinals told her that "St. Louis will not trade Donovan unless it’s blown away by an offer."

The Cardinals say they will not trade Brendan Donovan this offseason unless they are blown away by an offer

This is the exact stance the Cardinals should be taking this offseason. As I've written and talked about on a number of occasions this offseason, extending Donovan and keeping him as a part of their core long-term, especially to pour into the next generation of players and show them what a winning culture looks like, should be priority number one. He's not a "star", but he's so much better than a "complementary" player, so unless a club wants to give a haul for him, he's worth more to St. Louis long-term than a prospect package.

Now, if the Cardinals will not extend Donovan, obviously, trading him makes the most sense. And as this team source said, even if they want to extend him, given the state of their rebuild, if they are blown away with an offer, they have to strongly consider it.

Given the level of interest there is in Donovan on the trade market right now, I could see how they end up getting that kind of offer that makes them move on from Donovan. While I hate the thought of moving on from Donovan, I would understand and even support the deal if the price is truly high, but otherwise, I would be on the phone with his agent constantly figuring out what it would take to extend Donovan.

Look, the Cardinals just got two really interesting arms in return for Gray, and have other potential trades they can make this offseason to add more talent. Their payroll is almost down to $100 million before they've even traded Nolan Arenado, so they have plenty of financial flexibility to extend someone like Donovan. This would be the perfect year to give him long-term security, and to even do so by paying him more up front than what he would be getting in arbitration to bring down the AAV in later years of the deal. By doing this, the Cardinals can get Donovan at a below-market rate during what would have been his free agent years by paying him above-market dollars now, so they can invest even more money into the team during the later years of his deal when they are looking to contend.

It's good to know that the Cardinals value Donovan highly. If the league does too, he may be traded. But if they don't match the value that the Cardinals clearly see he brings, then he better be getting an extension in the near future.