If the Yankees can’t retain Cody Bellinger, there’s reportedly an outfielder drawing league-wide trade interest who could be obtained.
Cardinals outfielder Brendan Donovan is a hot commodity and could be moved this year with the team embarking on a new path with president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom.
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi specifically said a lot of the large-market teams, including the Yankees and Mets, love the 28-year-old.
“The question is not so much who is in on Donovan, but who is not,” Morosi reported Thursday night.
“I talked to a source today who said this man has about as much action as the trade market as any other player in Major League Baseball.”
The Cardinals are a proud franchise mired in mediocrity, having missed the playoffs in three straight seasons and finishing below .500 in two of those seasons, including a 78-84 campaign this year.
Bloom, the former top Red Sox, is not planning for a full rebuild, per The Athletic, but he’s entertaining offers for top players to help return the team to contender status.
Donovan earned the team’s lone All-Star berth last year and trading him could allow the franchise to obtain some young talent that could, in theory, kickstart a potential rebuild.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Cardinals hold Donovan in “high regard,” but his age and the team’s timeline to compete could lead to a deal to allow for maximum value.
Donovan made just $2.85 million last year and has two years of team control left before reaching free agency.
He plays multiple positions, having manned second base, shortstop, left field and right field in his career, and slashed .287/.353/.422 with a .755 OPS this past season.
This year’s outfield free-agency class is headlined by Bellinger and Kyle Tucker, and otherwise lacks real difference-makers.
The Cardinals could capitalize on that lack of impact bats and trade Donovan to help boost a system that already has four top-100 prospects, according to MLB.com.
St. Louis is also expected to trade veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado, per The Athletic.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
