MLB's 'case' for Cardinals keeping Brendan Donovan is extremely convincing

If you follow my writing or podcasting, you'll know that I am a huge proponent of the St. Louis Cardinals building with Brendan Donovan, not flipping him for prospects in hopes that they, you know, find a player as good as Brendan Donovan!

While I'm not dismissive of the idea of trading Donovan and understand there are strong arguments to do so, I personally land in the camp that he is more valuable to the Cardinals than he is in a trade and that if they play their cards right, he can be a big part of their core when they are ready to compete at a high level again.

In a story on MLB.com detailing the case for and against trading the five more rumored trade pieces on the Cardinals' roster, Will Leitch presented a concise but convincing argument for why the Cardinals should keep Donovan.

"He’s their best player, first off," Leitch wrote. "He’s also probably their most popular, one who has come up in the Cardinals’ system and one Cardinals fans have come to love. Trading him is essentially an admission that the Cardinals aren’t trying that hard to contend for the next two years. Considering they already haven’t made the playoffs in three years, that might be a hard pill to swallow for the fan base.

MLB.com's Will Leitch presented a strong argument for why the Cardinals should keep Brendan Donovan.

Now, to be fair, Leitch also wrote a compelling case for why the Cardinals should trade Donovan, so I don't want to cast him in the light of a pro-keeping Brendan Donovan truther when I don't know his official take. I haven't been able to keep up with his podcast, "Seeing Red," which he does alongside my friend Bernie Miklasz, so it would be disingenuous to say I know his stance fully.

But the argument he did present does a strong job of presenting the optics of a Donovan trade and how it could hurt or further erode goodwill with a segment of Cardinals fans. Honestly, that's been the least of my concerns with a Donovan trade, but it's a strong point from Leitch.

I have been far more concerned with his actual play on the field and leadership in the Cardinals' clubhouse, which I believe continue to be vastly underrated by many. Now, if the Cardinals get an excellent offer for Donovan, they probably can't refuse it, but I honestly still don't know if I believe that a rival team will give them what I feel like is worth giving up Donovan for.

Donovan has been a top 50 position player in baseball since entering the league back in 2022, and you can easily argue that his injuries have limited him from being even more impactful than that. Add in the fact that he is a guy whom his teammates have deep respect for and that Donovan is passionate about helping his teammates grow as ballplayers, and he feels like the perfect guy to have around this young core moving forward.

Extend Donovan with some of the salary flexibility you have now and allow him to help lead the Cardinals into the future. It's the right thing to do.